Energy Studies
Our Energy Study Services provide both the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) rating and the DCIE (Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency) percentage of the data center. SET3’s energy study gives important information to help a data center manager or facility manager better understand the efficiency of their data center and the actual current usage compared to the available power capacity and UPS rating.
Members of the Green Grid developed DCIE to provide the data center manager a figure to work from to understand the current state of the Data center in comparison with current standards and how implementing changes can improve the data center’s efficiency. Some examples of change may include opportunities to repurpose energy for additional IT equipment.
In SET3’s Energy Study – measurements will be made using various hand-held meters as well as a power monitor will be installed to evaluate the energy used over a period of 72 hours. A report will be provided that will list all measurement data and all energy calculations, conclusions and recommendations.
Capacity Review
A capacity review of the data center provides information regarding the present power and cooling usage compared to the available capacity. This is a limited study that would supply measured data of present power and cooling usage compared to present availability.
SET3 can detail the capacity available for future growth both from available generator capacity, UPS power, and from the air conditioning distribution. This review would look at the present KW load in the data center, how that load is distributed between the UPS and compare it to the total KW available.
PUE
PUE is an industry recognized measurement standard representing the overall efficiency of the IT infrastructure and its power usage. Members of the Green Grid, an industry group focused on data center energy efficiency, created the PUE standard.
PUE is determined by dividing the amount of power entering a data center by the power used to run the computer infrastructure within it. The smaller the PUE number, the more efficient the data center is.
The PUE rating gives the data center manager a benchmark figure to understand how efficient the data center is regarding power usage. PUE rating is expressed as a ratio, with overall efficiency improving as the quotient decreases toward 1.
| PUE | TabDescription |
| 1 | Industry Leading Energy Efficiency |
| 1.6 | Optimized Power Usage |
| 2 | Efficient |
| 2.4 | Average |
| >3 | Innefficient |
The total facility power consists of the mechanical load (cooling), lighting, fire suppression, and IT equipment. A PUE of 2 or below is considered optimum and as low as 1.6 is achievable for most data centers, whereas a PUE of 3 is typically the range where most of the world’s data centers are today.
SET3 Consulting takes PUE measurements over a 48-hour period from start of the testing to finish. Contact Us today for your PUE testing and consultation.