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Tag Archive for: ASHRAE 90.4

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October 24, 2017 by Rittal Marketing (https://www.rittalenclosures.ca/author/rittalmarketing/)
ASHRAE’s new energy standard for data

centers
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new-energy-standard-for-data-centers/)
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By Bill Kosik, PE, CEM, LEED AP, BEMP; exp, Chicago
ASHRAE Standard 90.4 is a exible, performance-based energy standard that goes beyond current
ASHRAE 90.1 methodology.
Learning objectives:
Explain ASHRAE Standard 90.1.
Understand the fundamentals of ASHRAE Standard 90.4.
Explore how ASHRAE 90.4 will impact data center mechanical/electrical system design.
(https://www.rittalenclosures.ca) /
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The data center industry is fortunate to have many dedicated professionals volunteering their time to provide
expertise and experience in the development of new guidelines, codes, and standards. ASHRAE
(https://www.ashrae.org/resources--publications/bookstore/standards-15--34), U.S. Green Building Council
(http://www.usgbc.org/), and The Green Grid, among others, routinely call on these subject matter experts to
participate in working committees with the purpose of advancing the technical underpinnings and long-term
viability of the organizations’ missions. For the most part, the end goal of these working groups is to establish
consistent, repeatable processes that will be applicable to a wide range of project sizes, types, and locations. For
ASHRAE, this was certainly the case when it came time to address the future of the ASHRAE 90.1: Energy Standard
for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (https://www.ashrae.org/resources--
publications/bookstore/standard-90-1) vis-à-vis how it applies to data centers.
ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and data centers
ASHRAE 90.1 has become the de facto energy standard for U.S. states and cities as well as many countries around
the world. Data centers are considered commercial buildings, so the use of ASHRAE 90.1 is compulsory to
demonstrate minimum energy conformance for jurisdictions requiring such. Speci c to computer rooms, ASHRAE
90.1 has evolved over the last decade and a half, albeit in a nonlinear fashion. The 2001, 2004, and 2007 editions of
ASHRAE 90.1 all have very similar language for computer rooms, except for humidity control, economizers, and how
the baseline HVAC systems are to be developed. It is not until the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 edition where there are more
in-depth requirements for computer rooms. For example, ASHRAE 90.1-2010 contains a new term, “sensible
coe cient of performance” (SCOP), an energy benchmark used for computer and data processing room (CDPR) air
conditioning units. The construct of SCOP is dividing the net sensible cooling capacity (in watts) by the input power
(in watts). The de nition of SCOP and the detail on how the units are to be tested comes from the Air Conditioning,
Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) in conjunction with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and
was published in AHRI/ANSI Standard 1360: Performance Rating of Computer and Data Processing Room Air
Conditioners (http://www.ahrinet.org/App_Content/ahri/ les/STANDARDS/ANSI/ANSI_AHRI_Standard_1360_I-
P_2013_with_Addendum_1.pdf).
With the release of ASHRAE 90.1-2013, additional clari cation, and requirements related to data centers including
information for sizing water economizers and an introduction of a new alternative compliance path using power-
usage e ectiveness (PUE) were included. As a part of the PUE alternate compliance path, cooling, lighting, power
distribution losses, and information technology (IT) equipment energy are to be documented individually. But since
the requisites related to IT equipment (ITE) listed in ASHRAE 90.1 were originally meant for server closets or
computer rooms that consume only a piece of the energy of the total building, there were still di culties in
demonstrating compliance. Yet there was no slowdown in technology growth; projects began to slowly include full-
sized data centers with an annual energy usage greater than the building in which they are housed. Even with all the
revisions and additions to ASHRAE 90.1 relating to data centers, there were still instances that proved di cult in
applying ASHRAE 90.1 for energy-use compliance.
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Fortunately, as the data center community continued to evolve in terms of sophistication in designing and operating
highly energy-e cient facilities, so did ASHRAE 90.1 with the release of the 2013 edition. But even before ASHRAE
90.1-2013 was released, the data center community was pushing for clearer criteria for energy-use compliance. It
was crucial that these criteria would not sti e innovation, but at the same time provide logic and consistency on
how to comply with ASHRAE 90.1. Many in the data center engineering community (including ASHRAE) knew
something needed to change.
ASHRAE Standard 90.4-2016
Given the long history of ASHRAE 90.1 (dating back to 1976) and its demonstrated e ectiveness in reducing energy
use in buildings, several questions needed to be addressed before new criteria could be developed. What would be
the best way to develop new language for data center facility energy use? Should it be an overlay to the existing
standard? Should it be a stand-alone document? Should it be a stand-alone document and duplicate all the
language in ASHRAE 90.1? How should the technical processes developed by The Green Grid and U.S. Green
Building Council be folded into the standard? Would it be able to keep up with the fast-paced technology
developments that are truly unique to data centers?
Fast-forward a few years and in mid-2016, ASHRAE published ASHRAE 90.4-2016: Energy Standard for Data Centers
(http://beta.hpac.com/air-conditioning/energy-standard-data-centers-published-ashrae?
utm_test=redirect&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F). Coming in at just 68 pages, ASHRAE 90.4
doesn’t seem to be as detailed as compared with other standards released by ASHRAE (ASHRAE 90.1 weighs in at
just over 300 pages). But this is by design—instead of trying to weave in data center-speci c language into the
existing standard, ASHRAE wisely chose to create a (mostly) stand-alone standard that is only applicable to data
centers and contains references to ASHRAE 90.1. These references mainly are for building envelope, service-water
heating, lighting, and other requirements. Using this approach avoids doubling up on future revisions to the
standard, minimizes any unintended redundancies, and ensures that the focus of ASHRAE 90.4 is exclusive to data
center facilities. Also, issuing updates to ASHRAE 90.1 will automatically update ASHRAE 90.4 for the referenced
sections. In the same way, updates to ASHRAE 90.4 will not a ect the language in ASHRAE 90.1. Using ASHRAE 90.1
will not automatically require the use of ASHRAE 90.4. In fact, since many local jurisdictions operate on a 3-year
cycle for updating their building codes, many are still using the ASHRAE 90.1-2013 or earlier. The normative
reference in ASHRAE 90.4 is ASHRAE 90.1-2016; however, the nal say on an administrative matter like this will
always fall to the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).
Fundamentals of ASHRAE 90.4
ASHRAE 90.4 gives the engineer a completely new method for determining compliance. ASHRAE introduces new
terminology for demonstratingABOUT
compliance: design and annual
US (/ABOUT-US/) mechanicalINDUSTRIES
PRODUCTS load component (MLC) and electrical-
loss components (ELC). ASHRAE is careful to note that these values are not comparable to PUE and are to be used
only in the context of ASHRAE 90.4. The standard includes compliance tables consisting of the maximum load
components for each of the 19 ASHRAE climate
DISTRIBUTORS zones. Assigning an energyRISOURCES
(/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/) e ciency target, either in the form of
design or an annualized MLC to a speci c climate zone, will certainly raise awareness to the inextricable link
between climate and data center energy performance (see gures 1 and 2). Since strategies like using elevated
temperatures in the data center and (HTTPS://WWW.RITTALENCLOSURES.CA/SERVICES/)
SERVICES employing di erent forms of economization are heavily dependent on the
climate, an important goal is to increase the appreciation and understanding of these connections throughout the
data center design community.
Design mechanical-load component

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MLC can be calculated in one of two ways to determine compliance. The rst is a summation of the peak power of
the mechanical components in kilowatts, as well as establishing the design load of the IT equipment, also in
kilowatts. ASHRAE 90.4 has a table of climate zones with the respective design dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures
that are to be used when determining the peak mechanical system load. The calculation procedure is shown below.
It must be noted that when comparing the calculated values of design MLC, the analysis must be done at both
100% and 50% ITE load; both values must be less than or equal to the values listed in Table 6.2.1 (design MLC) in
ASHRAE 90.4.
Design MLC=[cooling design power (kW)+pump design power (kW)+heat rejection design fan power (kW)+air handler unit
design fan power (kW)]÷data center design ITE power (kW)
Annualized mechanical-load component
The concepts used for the annualized MLC path are like the design MLC, except an hourly energy analysis is
required when using the annualized MLC path.
This energy analysis must be done using software speci cally designed for calculating energy consumption in
buildings and must be accepted by the rating authority. Some of the primary requirements of the software include
the dynamic characteristics of the data center, both inside and outside. The following are some of the software
requirements used in the modeling:
Test in accordance with ASHRAE Standard 140: Standard Method of Test for the Evaluation of Building Energy
Analysis Computer Programs (http://www.techstreet.com/standards/ashrae-140-2014?product_id=1885610).
Able to evaluate energy-use status for 8,760 hours/year.
Account for hourly variations in IT load,(/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/)

DISTRIBUTORS which cascades down to electrical system e ciency, cooling system
RISOURCES
operation, and miscellaneous equipment power.
Include provisions for daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal building-use schedules.
Use performance curves for cooling equipment, adjusting power use based on outdoor conditions as well as
evaporator and condenser temperatures.
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Calculate energy savings based on economization strategies for air- and water-based systems.
Produce hourly reports that compare the baseline HVAC system to a proposed system to determine
compliance with the standard.
Calculate required HVAC equipment capacities and water- and air ow rates.
Since ASHRAE 90.4 categorizes compliance metrics based on climate zone, it is imperative that the techniques used
in simulating the data center’s energy use are accurate based on the speci c location of the facility. As such, the
simulation software must perform the analysis using climatic data including hourly atmospheric pressure, dry-bulb
and dew point temperatures as well as wet-bulb temperature, relative humidity, and moisture content. This data is
available from di erent sources and in the form of typical meteorological year, (TMY2, TMY3), and EnergyPlus
Weather (EPW) les that are used as an input to the main simulation program.
This compulsory hourly energy-use simulation considers uctuations in mechanical system energy consumption,
particularly in cases where the equipment is designed for some type of economizer mode, as well as energy
reductions in vapor-compression equipment from reduced lift due to outdoor temperature and moisture levels.
This approach seems to be the most representative of determining the energy performance of the data center, and
since it is based on already established means of determining building energy use (i.e., hourly energy-use simulation
techniques), it also will be the most understandable. Again, it must be noted that when comparing the calculated
values of annualized MLC, the analysis must be done at both 100% and 50% ITE load; both values must be less than
or equal to the values listed in Table 6.2.1.2 (annualized MLC) in the ASHRAE standard. It also is important to note
that both the design and annualized MLC values are tied to the ASHRAE climate zones. When energy use is
calculated using simulation techniques, it becomes obvious that the energy used has a direct correlation to the
climate zone, primarily due to the ability to extend economization strategies for longer periods of time throughout
the year. If we compare calculated annualized MLC values for data centers with the MLC values in ASHRAE 90.4, the
ASHRAE requirements are relatively at when plotted across the climate zones. This means the calculated MLC
values in this example have energy-use e ciencies that are in excess of the minimum required by the standard (see
Figure 7).
Annual MLC=[cooling design energy (kWh)+pump design energy (kWh)+heat rejection design fan energy (kWh)+air handler
unit design fan energy (kWh)]÷data center
ABOUT USdesign ITE energy (kWh)
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Design electrical-loss component

Using the ASHRAE 90.4 approach to calculate the ELC de nes the electrical system e ciencies and losses. For the
purposes of ASHRAE 90.4, the ELC consists of three parts of the electrical system architecture:
1 Incoming electrical service segment
2 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) segment
3 ITE distribution segment.
The segment for electrical distribution for mechanical equipment is stipulated to have losses that do not exceed 2%,
but is not included in the ELC calculations. All the values for equipment e ciency must be documented using the
manufacturer’s data, which must be based on standardized testing using the design ITE load. The nal submittal to
the rating authority (the organization or agency that adopts or sanctions the results of the analysis) must consist of
an electrical single-line diagram and plans showing areas served by electrical systems, all conditions and modes of
operation used in determining the operating states of the electrical system, and the design ELC calculations
demonstrating compliance. Tables 8.2.1.1 and 8.2.1.2 in ASHRAE 90.4 list the maximum ELC values for ITE loads less
than 100 kW and greater than or equal to 100 kW, respectively. The tables show the maximum ELC for the three
segments individually as well as the total.
The electrical distribution system’s e ciency impacts the data center’s overall energy e ciency in two ways: the
lower the e ciency, the more ABOUT
incoming
USpower is needed toPRODUCTS
(/ABOUT-US/) serve the IT load. In addition, more air conditioning
INDUSTRIES
energy is required to cool the electrical energy dissipated as heat. ASHRAE 90.4, Section 6.2.1.2.1.1, is explicit on
how this should be handled: “The system’s UPS and transformer cooling loads must also be included in [the MLC],
evaluated at their corresponding part-load e(/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/)
DISTRIBUTORS ciencies.” The standard includes an approach on how to evaluate
RISOURCES
single-feed UPS systems (e.g., N, N+1, etc.) and active dual-feed UPS systems (2N, 2N+1, etc.). The single-feed
systems must be evaluated at 100% and 50% ITE load. The dual active-feed systems must be evaluated at 50% and
25% ITE load, as these typesSERVICES
of systems will not normally operate at a load greater than 50%.
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Addressing reliability of systems and equipment

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One of the distinctive design requirements of data centers is the high degree of reliability. One manifestation of this
is the use of redundant mechanical equipment. The redundant equipment will come online when a failure occurs or
when maintenance is required without compromising the original level of redundancy. Di erent engineers use
di erent approaches based on their clients’ needs. Some will design in extra cooling units, pumps, chillers, etc. and
have these pieces of equipment running all the time, cycling units on and o as necessary. Other designs might
have equipment to handle more stringent design conditions, such as ASHRAE 0.4% climate data (dry-bulb
temperatures corresponding to the 0.4% annual cumulative frequency of occurrence).
And yet others will use variable-speed motors to vary water and air ow, delivering the required cooling based on a
changing ITE load. Since these design approaches are quite di erent from one another, Table 6.2.1.2.1.2 in ASHRAE
90.4 provides methods for calculating MLC compliance under these scenarios.
Performance-based approach
ASHRAE 90.4 uses a performance-based approach rather than a prescriptive one to accommodate the rapid
change in data center technology and to allow for innovation in developing energy e ciency cooling solutions.
Some of the provisions seem to especially encourage innovative solutions including:
Onsite renewables or recovered energy. The standard allows for a credit to the annual energy use if onsite
renewable energy generation is used or waste heat is recovered for other uses. Data centers are ideal candidates
for renewable energy generation, as the load can be constant through the course of the daytime and nighttime
hours. Also, when water-cooled computers are used with high-discharge water temperatures, the water can be
used for building heating, boiler-water preheating, snow melting, or other thermal uses.
Derivation of MLC values. The MLC values in the tables in ASHRAE 90.4 are considered generic to allow
multiple systems to qualify for the path. The MLC values are based on systems and equipment currently available
in the marketplace from multiple manufacturers. This is the benchmark for minimum compliance that must be
met. But ideally, the project would go beyond the minimum and demonstrate even greater energy-reduction
potential. ABOUT US (/ABOUT-US/) PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES
Design conditions. The annualized MLC values for air systems are based on a delta T (temperature rise of the
supply air) of 20°F and a return-air temperature of 85°F. However, the proposed design is not bound to these
values if the design temperatures are in agreement with the performance characteristics of the coils, pumps, fan
capacities, etc. This provision from the standard gives the engineer a lot of room to innovate and propose
nontraditional designs, such as water cooling of the ITE equipment.
Trade-o method. Sometimes mechanical and electrical systems have constraints that may disqualify them
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from meeting the MLC or ELC values on their own merit. The standard allows, for example, a less e cient
mechanical system to be o set by a more e cient electrical system and vice versa. Another bene t of using this
approach comes from the mechanical and electrical engineer having to collaborate by going through an iterative,
synergistic design process.
Publishing ASHRAE 90.4-2016 is a watershed moment—to date, there has not been a code-ready, technically robust
approach to characterize mechanical and electrical system designs to judge conformance to an energy standard.
This is no small feat, considering that data center mechanical/electrical systems can have a wide variety of design
approaches, especially as the data center industry continues to develop more e cient ITE equipment requiring
novel means of power and cooling. And since ASHRAE 90.4 is a separate document from ASHRAE 90.1, as computer
technology changes, the process to augment/revise ASHRAE 90.4 should be less di cult because they are two
separate documents. While certainly not perfect, ASHRAE 90.4 is a major step along the path of ensuring energy
e ciency in data centers.
Bill Kosik is a senior mechanical engineer at exp (http://www.exp.com/en/home) in Chicago. Kosik is a member of the
Consulting-Specifying Engineer editorial advisory board.
(https://www.csemag.com/single-
article/ashraes-
new-energy-
standard-for-
data-centers)
View the original article and related content on Consulting Specifying Engineer (https://www.csemag.com/single-
article/ashraes-new-energy-standard-for-data-centers)
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ABOUTOF INTEREST: INDUSTRIAL

DISTRIBUTORS (/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/) RISOURCES

ABOUT US (/ABOUT-US/) PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES

Tag Archive for: ASHRAE 90.4

ASHRAE’s new energy standard for data

 COLOCATION RESOURCES (HTTPS://WWW.RITTALENCLOSURES.CA/CATEGORY/COLOCATION-RESOURCES/)

By Bill Kosik, PE, CEM, LEED AP, BEMP; exp, Chicago

Explain ASHRAE Standard 90.1.

Understand the fundamentals of ASHRAE Standard 90.4.

DISTRIBUTORS (/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/) RISOURCES

ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and data centers

DISTRIBUTORS (/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/) RISOURCES

ASHRAE Standard 90.4-2016

Fundamentals of ASHRAE 90.4

Design mechanical-load component

Annualized mechanical-load component

Able to evaluate energy-use status for 8,760 hours/year.

Account for hourly variations in IT load,(/DISTRIBUTOR-LOCATOR/)

Design electrical-loss component

1 Incoming electrical service segment

2 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) segment

3 ITE distribution segment.

Addressing reliability of systems and equipment

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