Implementing NABERS across

the Data Centre

Tony Gaunt, Director IDC Asia,

Emerson Network Power
 Issues we are facing today include;
• Lack of common metrics/comparison tools
• Increasing focus on the operating costs of
our data centres, for good reasons:
– Electricity costs exceeding inflation four-fold*
across the country. Queensland increased
13.3% from 2010 to 2011. Due to;
– Rising network charges
– Capacity increases (look’s like it’s our own fault…)
– Asset upgrades
– Higher reliability standards

*RBA – How are electricity prices set in Australia?

Issues we are facing today include;
• If you are in the Colo/hosting sector then you
also face increasing competition.
– How do you gain a competitive advantage?

• If you are outsourcing your data centre, then

you have access to this competitive market.
– How do you compare suppliers?

• Globalisation does not restrict data centre

providers to onshore.
 But… the Opex discussion has
always centered on the Facility.
• So we have traditionally focused on the
operating costs and designs of;
– UPS, cooling, power distribution & generation,
balancing redundancy with reliability,
maintainability, etc.
• Why don’t we also focus on the efficiency and
effectiveness of the load within the data
center?
• the data center is where the majority of an enterprise
servers and storage are located, operated and
managed*
• any room larger than 500 square feet dedicated to data
processing**

* www.cio.com 2009
** www.datacenterknowledge.com 2010
NABERS for Data Centres
NABERS for Data Centres
NABERS for Data Centres
No universal measure exists for
Data Centres
 NABERS considers and provides a universal
measure of the performance of the entire
facility

IT equipment
Infrastructure
Whole facility
Measures the energy Measures efficiency of Measures efficiency of both
efficiency of IT equipment infrastructure services IT equipment and
using processing and Based on PUE infrastructure services
storage capacity
Energy Logic Model - 500m2 Data Center
Energy Logic: The ‘Cascade’ Effect

1 Watt saved at the server component level

results in cumulative savings of about
2.84 Watts in total consumption
 Impact of the ‘Cascade Effect’
• If we take a data centre with a PUE of
1.9*, saving just 1W at each processor
creates a 2.84W saving at the facility
level.

• So, on average, from grid to chip, we

consume >3 times the amount of power
we actually use for processing
 So why not just use PUE, after all it’s
“standard”, right..?

Annual Data Centre Industry Survey 2013, Uptime Institute Symposium, >1000 respondents
 PUE is defined as;
“measuring infrastructure energy efficiency for data centres”*

*The green grid WP#49; PUETM: A comprehensive examination of the metric

PUE is defined as;
“measuring infrastructure energy efficiency for data centres”
 Yet the IT equipment provides
the biggest single impact
• In a recent survey by Intel*;
– “older” servers (defined as >3 years old) accounted
for 60% of energy consumption, but only delivered
4% of processing performance.
NABERS does consider the processing within the
Data Centre (after all, processing data is the raison d’etre of a Data Centre...)

IT equipment
Infrastructure
Whole facility
Measures the energy Measures efficiency of Measures efficiency of both
efficiency of IT equipment infrastructure services IT equipment and
using processing and Based on PUE infrastructure services
storage capacity
Rightly, NABERS is not a “quick fix” or
short-term goal
 To gain the optimum benefit from NABERS, IT
& Facilities MUST work together...

• Recognise where the biggest gains can be

achieved:
– At the server?
• Power and virtualization
– In the facility?
• UPS & Cooling

• Historically, we have typically focused on the

latter, but is that still the right place to start
“Average” Data Center PUE 2.2
Impact of Poor ITC Systems
Similar Poor ITC Systems & Good
Infrastructure
Benefits of Across-the-Board
Improvements
 Achieving NABERS by utilizing Energy
Logic Savings Strategies
• Overview
– New lower-power processors, memory, storage, switches
– Higher efficiency DC-DC and AC-DC PSUs
– Improved idle performance – EPA ENERGY STAR® for servers
– Improved IT network configurations
– Increase Virtualization – servers, storage, network, desktop, etc.
– New power architectures
– New airflow management techniques
– Economizers & variable capacity cooling
– High-density, ultra-high efficiency cooling platforms
– DCIM (Trellis) – monitoring & control systems
 Deploy scalable, intelligent UPS’

Input conditions (t)

250/460V 45/66 HZ

Input conditions (t)

400V 50HZ
Load Type (t) linear

Input conditions (t) 340/460V

Load Type (t) non linear
 Optimize your cooling methodology
• Return Air –shrinking trend
– Gives a mixed return air temperature. Ramping servers can vary
the temperature making it unreliable.
– Does not give an accurate representation of the temperature to
the servers
• Static Pressure Control –
– Underfloor pressure is a measurement of potential to flow air, not
actual air flow or temperature
– Does not adjust to step changes in loads without changing floor
tiles
• Supply Air – fast growing trend
– Supplies a consistent temperature to the cold aisle
– Without knowing what is going on at the rack, there could be too
much or too little air supplied
• Optimized Aisle™
– Supply Air control for temperature control
– Aisle control for Fan speed
– Maximized Return Air Temperature to the Cooling Unit
NEW Energy Logic:
Prioritized Energy Saving Strategies

Online monolith UPS Optimize scalability,

VFD/VI/VFI auto operation

743 kW
 Using Strategies & the Cascade Effect

• PUE alone is not a good indicator of ‘problems’

• ITC choices have single largest impact
• PUE helps guide analysis process
• Map IT & Facility pain points to Cascade model of data
center for improved clarity
• Remember – “Identical” PUEs aren’t!
• Focus on Total Energy Consumption and pain points
– PUE will sort itself out in the end

Note: do not tie your compensation plan to PUE

Data Center Output:
No Universal Measure Exists?
 It can be done
• MEASURES the key variables of
revenue, cost, performance, and
environmental impact based on
user consumption of services
provided
• • TUNES the infrastructure engine
by identifying the knobs that can
be adjusted at all levels
• • OPTIMIZES effectiveness by
striking a balance between the
interconnected variables

http://dse.ebay.com/
 Real life benefits
• eBay can make more informed decisions on how to optimize every aspect
of its technical infrastructure, including the sourcing of electrical power, data
center infrastructure, IT infrastructure, and the software that delivers
services to users

• First, our transactions per kWh increased 18% year

over year. The growth of eBay Marketplaces and
continued focus on driving efficiencies have contributed
to this increase.
• • Second, our cost per transaction decreased by 23%
in Q1 alone, already exceeding our initial goal.
• • Third, our carbon per transaction showed a net
decrease of 7% for the quarter

Http://dse.ebay.com
http://dse.ebay.com/sites/default/files/eBay-DSE-130305.pdf
 4 Key Takeaways for
Optimization for NABERS
1. Start by reducing consumption at the IT equipment level and then work
your way back through the supporting equipment
Every watt saved at the equipment level has a cascading effect upstream.

2. Availability & Flexibility do not have to be compromised in order to

increase data center efficiency.
- Efficiency Without CompromiseTM

3. High Density Architecture contributes toward increased efficiency

- IT consolidation, cooling efficiencies

4. In addition to improving energy efficiency by reducing consumption,

implementing these strategies frees up capacity of key constraints:
power, cooling and space

Original Energy Logic White Paper Available

http://www.liebert.com/common/ViewDocument.aspx?id=880