Comments on: Cooling Data Centers Could Prevent Massive Electrical Waste http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/ Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Fri, 25 May 2012 16:14:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Yahoo is Crowing Over New Energy Efficient Chicken Coop…Er, Data Center, That Is – CleanTechnica http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-28544 Yahoo is Crowing Over New Energy Efficient Chicken Coop…Er, Data Center, That Is – CleanTechnica Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:01:12 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-28544 [...] DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Renewable Energy Laboratory are working on new data center technologies that could achieve efficiencies of up to 90 [...] [...] DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Renewable Energy Laboratory are working on new data center technologies that could achieve efficiencies of up to 90 [...]

]]> By: sandrar http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1378 sandrar Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:08:22 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1378 Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post... nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R. Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.

]]> By: sandrar http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-18002 sandrar Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:08:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-18002 Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post... nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R. Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.

]]> By: LH http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-18001 LH Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:31:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-18001 I'm interested in the liquid metal cooling idea. I know of a company called nanocoolers that proposed a cooling system that used gallium as the coolant. They couldn't get any traction with the idea and have since gone out of business. Is there someone else that's working on it again? Also the industry is working very hard to promote and improve energy efficiency. There are two relavent industry agencies: ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) technical committee 9.9 and The Green Grid. T.C 9.9 has published several books: Best Practices for Datacom Facility Energy Efficiency, High Density Data Centers - Case Studies and Best Practices, Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers which can be purchased at the ASHRAE.com bookstore. They are also hosting 5 free workshops in NY, http://www.ashrae.org/pressroom/detail/16615. The Green Grid's website is thegreengrid.org. I’m interested in the liquid metal cooling idea. I know of a company called nanocoolers that proposed a cooling system that used gallium as the coolant. They couldn’t get any traction with the idea and have since gone out of business. Is there someone else that’s working on it again?

Also the industry is working very hard to promote and improve energy efficiency. There are two relavent industry agencies: ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) technical committee 9.9 and The Green Grid. T.C 9.9 has published several books: Best Practices for Datacom Facility Energy Efficiency, High Density Data Centers – Case Studies and Best Practices, Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers which can be purchased at the ASHRAE.com bookstore. They are also hosting 5 free workshops in NY, http://www.ashrae.org/pressroom/detail/16615. The Green Grid’s website is thegreengrid.org.

]]> By: LH http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1377 LH Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:31:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1377 I'm interested in the liquid metal cooling idea. I know of a company called nanocoolers that proposed a cooling system that used gallium as the coolant. They couldn't get any traction with the idea and have since gone out of business. Is there someone else that's working on it again? Also the industry is working very hard to promote and improve energy efficiency. There are two relavent industry agencies: ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) technical committee 9.9 and The Green Grid. T.C 9.9 has published several books: Best Practices for Datacom Facility Energy Efficiency, High Density Data Centers - Case Studies and Best Practices, Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers which can be purchased at the ASHRAE.com bookstore. They are also hosting 5 free workshops in NY, http://www.ashrae.org/pressroom/detail/16615. The Green Grid's website is thegreengrid.org. I’m interested in the liquid metal cooling idea. I know of a company called nanocoolers that proposed a cooling system that used gallium as the coolant. They couldn’t get any traction with the idea and have since gone out of business. Is there someone else that’s working on it again?

Also the industry is working very hard to promote and improve energy efficiency. There are two relavent industry agencies: ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) technical committee 9.9 and The Green Grid. T.C 9.9 has published several books: Best Practices for Datacom Facility Energy Efficiency, High Density Data Centers – Case Studies and Best Practices, Liquid Cooling Guidelines for Datacom Equipment Centers which can be purchased at the ASHRAE.com bookstore. They are also hosting 5 free workshops in NY, http://www.ashrae.org/pressroom/detail/16615. The Green Grid’s website is thegreengrid.org.

]]> By: Al http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1376 Al Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:03:33 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1376 A couple of quick points: 1) While industry is using some sub-optimum AC/DC power supplies, the limit of power supplies efficiency may not be at 75% that you referenced. "Power-converter efficiencies are in the upper nineties and quickly approaching the magic 100% barrier." (Hearst Electronic Products Monday June 30th 2008, LOU PECHI Power-One, Camarillo, CA http://www.power-one.com) 2) A more easily achievable goal would be to increase the server use from "6%". Virtualization is available for most server platforms and increase the usage factor significantly. This approach to reducing the heat load in a data center is true heat savings (Planning figures are about 10 to 1, that is one virtualized server can handle 10 current servers load). 3) New technology hard drives, i.e. solid state drives (SSD), decrease the heat load in a data center by reducing the power needed to turn drives. While still fairly expensive compared to conventional drives, SSDs can quickly pay for themselves by reduced power and heat. If I remember correctly they require about 10% of a conventional HD. A couple of quick points:

1) While industry is using some sub-optimum AC/DC power supplies, the limit of power supplies efficiency may not be at 75% that you referenced.

“Power-converter efficiencies are in the upper nineties and quickly approaching the magic 100% barrier.” (Hearst Electronic Products Monday June 30th 2008, LOU PECHI Power-One, Camarillo, CA

http://www.power-one.com)

2) A more easily achievable goal would be to increase the server use from “6%”. Virtualization is available for most server platforms and increase the usage factor significantly. This approach to reducing the heat load in a data center is true heat savings (Planning figures are about 10 to 1, that is one virtualized server can handle 10 current servers load).

3) New technology hard drives, i.e. solid state drives (SSD), decrease the heat load in a data center by reducing the power needed to turn drives. While still fairly expensive compared to conventional drives, SSDs can quickly pay for themselves by reduced power and heat. If I remember correctly they require about 10% of a conventional HD.

]]> By: Al http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-18000 Al Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:03:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-18000 A couple of quick points: 1) While industry is using some sub-optimum AC/DC power supplies, the limit of power supplies efficiency may not be at 75% that you referenced. "Power-converter efficiencies are in the upper nineties and quickly approaching the magic 100% barrier." (Hearst Electronic Products Monday June 30th 2008, LOU PECHI Power-One, Camarillo, CA http://www.power-one.com) 2) A more easily achievable goal would be to increase the server use from "6%". Virtualization is available for most server platforms and increase the usage factor significantly. This approach to reducing the heat load in a data center is true heat savings (Planning figures are about 10 to 1, that is one virtualized server can handle 10 current servers load). 3) New technology hard drives, i.e. solid state drives (SSD), decrease the heat load in a data center by reducing the power needed to turn drives. While still fairly expensive compared to conventional drives, SSDs can quickly pay for themselves by reduced power and heat. If I remember correctly they require about 10% of a conventional HD. A couple of quick points:

1) While industry is using some sub-optimum AC/DC power supplies, the limit of power supplies efficiency may not be at 75% that you referenced.

“Power-converter efficiencies are in the upper nineties and quickly approaching the magic 100% barrier.” (Hearst Electronic Products Monday June 30th 2008, LOU PECHI Power-One, Camarillo, CA

http://www.power-one.com)

2) A more easily achievable goal would be to increase the server use from “6%”. Virtualization is available for most server platforms and increase the usage factor significantly. This approach to reducing the heat load in a data center is true heat savings (Planning figures are about 10 to 1, that is one virtualized server can handle 10 current servers load).

3) New technology hard drives, i.e. solid state drives (SSD), decrease the heat load in a data center by reducing the power needed to turn drives. While still fairly expensive compared to conventional drives, SSDs can quickly pay for themselves by reduced power and heat. If I remember correctly they require about 10% of a conventional HD.

]]> By: Tom Nats http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-17999 Tom Nats Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:14:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-17999 This is a great article and it shows how the times are changing. We are currently undertaking a air-side economizer project for our data center. You can read more about it here: http://redrocksdatacenter.com/green and we've started a blog to cover the construction: http://ae.redrocksdatacenter.com In addition, we'll begin construction on a new building next year that will be 100% DC. We sit on over 85 acres and are planning on putting up > 30Kw of solar arrays. These are fun projects and hopefully other data center owners will take notice. Tom Nats Red Rocks Data Center rrdc_info @ redrocksdatacenter.com This is a great article and it shows how the times are changing.

We are currently undertaking a air-side economizer project for our data center. You can read more about it here: http://redrocksdatacenter.com/green and we’ve started a blog to cover the construction: http://ae.redrocksdatacenter.com

In addition, we’ll begin construction on a new building next year that will be 100% DC. We sit on over 85 acres and are planning on putting up > 30Kw of solar arrays. These are fun projects and hopefully other data center owners will take notice.

Tom Nats

Red Rocks Data Center

rrdc_info @ redrocksdatacenter.com

]]> By: Tom Nats http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1375 Tom Nats Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:14:20 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1375 This is a great article and it shows how the times are changing. We are currently undertaking a air-side economizer project for our data center. You can read more about it here: http://redrocksdatacenter.com/green and we've started a blog to cover the construction: http://ae.redrocksdatacenter.com In addition, we'll begin construction on a new building next year that will be 100% DC. We sit on over 85 acres and are planning on putting up > 30Kw of solar arrays. These are fun projects and hopefully other data center owners will take notice. Tom Nats Red Rocks Data Center rrdc_info @ redrocksdatacenter.com This is a great article and it shows how the times are changing.

We are currently undertaking a air-side economizer project for our data center. You can read more about it here: http://redrocksdatacenter.com/green and we’ve started a blog to cover the construction: http://ae.redrocksdatacenter.com

In addition, we’ll begin construction on a new building next year that will be 100% DC. We sit on over 85 acres and are planning on putting up > 30Kw of solar arrays. These are fun projects and hopefully other data center owners will take notice.

Tom Nats

Red Rocks Data Center

rrdc_info @ redrocksdatacenter.com

]]> By: Jimmy Dolittle http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1374 Jimmy Dolittle Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:23:26 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1374 The hospital I work for has spent a LOT of money on HVAC for their server rooms. I am talking a LOT of moola. JT www.FireMe.to/udi The hospital I work for has spent a LOT of money on HVAC for their server rooms. I am talking a LOT of moola.

JT

http://www.FireMe.to/udi

]]> By: Jimmy Dolittle http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-17998 Jimmy Dolittle Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:23:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-17998 The hospital I work for has spent a LOT of money on HVAC for their server rooms. I am talking a LOT of moola. JT www.FireMe.to/udi The hospital I work for has spent a LOT of money on HVAC for their server rooms. I am talking a LOT of moola.

JT

http://www.FireMe.to/udi

]]> By: Kevin http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1373 Kevin Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:47:07 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1373 Uh, heat sinks, fans, liquid cooling, etc., don't make things more efficient. They simply provide a way to move heat from one place to another. Once the heat is given up, it is lost with respect to being useful computationally. I think you're not understanding this important fact. Uh, heat sinks, fans, liquid cooling, etc., don’t make things more efficient. They simply provide a way to move heat from one place to another. Once the heat is given up, it is lost with respect to being useful computationally. I think you’re not understanding this important fact.

]]> By: Kevin http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-17997 Kevin Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:47:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-17997 Uh, heat sinks, fans, liquid cooling, etc., don't make things more efficient. They simply provide a way to move heat from one place to another. Once the heat is given up, it is lost with respect to being useful computationally. I think you're not understanding this important fact. Uh, heat sinks, fans, liquid cooling, etc., don’t make things more efficient. They simply provide a way to move heat from one place to another. Once the heat is given up, it is lost with respect to being useful computationally. I think you’re not understanding this important fact.

]]> By: Ov3rTheHill http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-1372 Ov3rTheHill Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:53:40 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-1372 ...oh and tansformers don't work on DC. So the inside of your server, which needs oh I dunno maybe +5VDC at 100 Amps, +12VDC at 5 Amps, +1.blah VDC at a few Amps all out of one power supply is NOT going to get that magically from ONE DC power bus in the data center. It's going to get it the way it has for the last 30 years, whith an efficient switching power supply. These rectify the AC line, make high freq AC with an oscillator, use a toroidal transformer with multiple secondary windings to supply raw low volt AC, and having rectifiers, filters and regulation after each winding to supply the different regulated DC voltages needed inside the box. Now... the DC power bus proposal would ONLY eliminate the front-side diodes and caps rectifying the input AC input power, i.e. converting it to DC. So every switching power supply takes lo freq hi volt lo current AC in, rectifies it to hi volt lo current DC, uses an oscillator to convert that to low current high volt AC, uses a transformer to step that down to various lo volt AC high current outputs, each of which is independently rectified (very efficiently with synchronous rectifiers) to the various lo volt high current DC power levels needed inside the server box. So the proposed HV DC power bus would only eliminate the front side AC to DC rectification in the switch mode power supply, but not the rest of it. No.... an idle CPU is still burning watt-hours, and I agree that virtualization will yield far more efficiency gains than going to a non-standard-for-the-next-10-years power distribution bus. We will pay thru the nose for that, until economies of scale bring its cost down, and its... oh i dunno... ?5%? power savings might take 30 years to recoup? Show us what THIS bright idea will cost and what real percentage power savings it will bring. Show us some real numbers, and we will compare that to unplugging 2 or 3 servers because virtualization might let us do that, depending on the application loads. …oh and tansformers don’t work on DC. So the inside of your server, which needs oh I dunno maybe +5VDC at 100 Amps, +12VDC at 5 Amps, +1.blah VDC at a few Amps all out of one power supply is NOT going to get that magically from ONE DC power bus in the data center. It’s going to get it the way it has for the last 30 years, whith an efficient switching power supply. These rectify the AC line, make high freq AC with an oscillator, use a toroidal transformer with multiple secondary windings to supply raw low volt AC, and having rectifiers, filters and regulation after each winding to supply the different regulated DC voltages needed inside the box. Now… the DC power bus proposal would ONLY eliminate the front-side diodes and caps rectifying the input AC input power, i.e. converting it to DC. So every switching power supply takes lo freq hi volt lo current AC in, rectifies it to hi volt lo current DC, uses an oscillator to convert that to low current high volt AC, uses a transformer to step that down to various lo volt AC high current outputs, each of which is independently rectified (very efficiently with synchronous rectifiers) to the various lo volt high current DC power levels needed inside the server box. So the proposed HV DC power bus would only eliminate the front side AC to DC rectification in the switch mode power supply, but not the rest of it. No…. an idle CPU is still burning watt-hours, and I agree that virtualization will yield far more efficiency gains than going to a non-standard-for-the-next-10-years power distribution bus. We will pay thru the nose for that, until economies of scale bring its cost down, and its… oh i dunno… ?5%? power savings might take 30 years to recoup? Show us what THIS bright idea will cost and what real percentage power savings it will bring. Show us some real numbers, and we will compare that to unplugging 2 or 3 servers because virtualization might let us do that, depending on the application loads.

]]> By: Ov3rTheHill http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/27/cooling-data-centers-could-prevent-massive-electrical-waste/#comment-17996 Ov3rTheHill Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:53:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=586#comment-17996 ...oh and tansformers don't work on DC. So the inside of your server, which needs oh I dunno maybe +5VDC at 100 Amps, +12VDC at 5 Amps, +1.blah VDC at a few Amps all out of one power supply is NOT going to get that magically from ONE DC power bus in the data center. It's going to get it the way it has for the last 30 years, whith an efficient switching power supply. These rectify the AC line, make high freq AC with an oscillator, use a toroidal transformer with multiple secondary windings to supply raw low volt AC, and having rectifiers, filters and regulation after each winding to supply the different regulated DC voltages needed inside the box. Now... the DC power bus proposal would ONLY eliminate the front-side diodes and caps rectifying the input AC input power, i.e. converting it to DC. So every switching power supply takes lo freq hi volt lo current AC in, rectifies it to hi volt lo current DC, uses an oscillator to convert that to low current high volt AC, uses a transformer to step that down to various lo volt AC high current outputs, each of which is independently rectified (very efficiently with synchronous rectifiers) to the various lo volt high current DC power levels needed inside the server box. So the proposed HV DC power bus would only eliminate the front side AC to DC rectification in the switch mode power supply, but not the rest of it. No.... an idle CPU is still burning watt-hours, and I agree that virtualization will yield far more efficiency gains than going to a non-standard-for-the-next-10-years power distribution bus. We will pay thru the nose for that, until economies of scale bring its cost down, and its... oh i dunno... ?5%? power savings might take 30 years to recoup? Show us what THIS bright idea will cost and what real percentage power savings it will bring. Show us some real numbers, and we will compare that to unplugging 2 or 3 servers because virtualization might let us do that, depending on the application loads. …oh and tansformers don’t work on DC. So the inside of your server, which needs oh I dunno maybe +5VDC at 100 Amps, +12VDC at 5 Amps, +1.blah VDC at a few Amps all out of one power supply is NOT going to get that magically from ONE DC power bus in the data center. It’s going to get it the way it has for the last 30 years, whith an efficient switching power supply. These rectify the AC line, make high freq AC with an oscillator, use a toroidal transformer with multiple secondary windings to supply raw low volt AC, and having rectifiers, filters and regulation after each winding to supply the different regulated DC voltages needed inside the box. Now… the DC power bus proposal would ONLY eliminate the front-side diodes and caps rectifying the input AC input power, i.e. converting it to DC. So every switching power supply takes lo freq hi volt lo current AC in, rectifies it to hi volt lo current DC, uses an oscillator to convert that to low current high volt AC, uses a transformer to step that down to various lo volt AC high current outputs, each of which is independently rectified (very efficiently with synchronous rectifiers) to the various lo volt high current DC power levels needed inside the server box. So the proposed HV DC power bus would only eliminate the front side AC to DC rectification in the switch mode power supply, but not the rest of it. No…. an idle CPU is still burning watt-hours, and I agree that virtualization will yield far more efficiency gains than going to a non-standard-for-the-next-10-years power distribution bus. We will pay thru the nose for that, until economies of scale bring its cost down, and its… oh i dunno… ?5%? power savings might take 30 years to recoup? Show us what THIS bright idea will cost and what real percentage power savings it will bring. Show us some real numbers, and we will compare that to unplugging 2 or 3 servers because virtualization might let us do that, depending on the application loads.

]]>