PG&E and Altera
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Transcript of PG&E and Altera
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PG&E and Altera
Data Center Energy Efficiency Project
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PG&E and Altera: A History of Energy Efficiency
• After hours cooling project• Chiller VFD retrofit• CDA compressor replaced with
VFD CDA compressor• Data Center Efficiency Project
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PG&E and Altera: A History of Energy Efficiency
Chiller VFD Retrofit
Project Cost: $139k ROI: 3.8 yearsPG&E Rebate: $31k Annual Savings: $29k
Project Cost: $110kROI: 3 yearsPG&E Rebate: $15k Annual Savings: $32k
Project Cost: $78k ROI: 1.1 yearsPG&E Rebate: $36k Annual Savings: $39k
After Hours Cooling Project
VFD CDA Compressor Retrofit
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Altera Data Center Energy Efficiency Project Objectives• Keep servers between
68° and 77° F (ASHRAE)• Reduce energy use• Accommodate server growth• Increase server and data center
reliability
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Data Center Layout
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Data Center Before Improvements
Portable AC unit
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Two Interests Meet• Altera had a temporary cooling unit in
place to serve a ‘hot spot’ and was looking at ways to handle planned load increases.
• In PG&E’s territory, improving data center energy efficiency by 15% would save 100 GWh of electricity – the equivalent of powering 15,000 homes for a year or taking almost 8,000 cars off the road.
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Why is Airflow a Problem in Data Centers?• Wasted energy• Wasted money• Less capacity• Less reliability
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Why Do These Problems Exist?In a typical data center…• Only 40% of AC air is used to cool servers Robert 'Dr. Bob' Sullivan, Ph.D. Uptime Institute
• HVAC systems are 2.6 times what is actually needed
Robert 'Dr. Bob' Sullivan, Ph.D. Uptime Institute
• Not a big concern when power density was low but it continues to grow (about 150w/sqft)
• The culprit: allowing hot and cold air to mix
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First Step: Assess Current Situation
• Data loggers placed in the inlet and discharge air streams of each cooling unit.
• Four loggers placed in each cold aisle.• Current transformers installed on the
electrical distribution circuits feeding the two roof-top condensing units.
• Total rack kW load was recorded to establish baseline.
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Findings
• Temperature across cooling units ranged from 12° to 18°F.
• Temperature variance of up to 14° degrees from one server to another.
• Approximately 45 kW could be saved in theory if air flow was ideal
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Second Step: Implement Ideas from Meeting with PG&E• ALL servers must be in hot/cold
aisles (HACA)• Blanking plates between servers• Strip curtains at ends of aisles • Remove perforated tiles from
hot aisles• Partitions above racks
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Third Step: Altera Adopts Changes
• APC in-row coolers installed
• Temporary cooling unit removed
• Blanking plates added
• Installed strip curtains to separate the computing racks from the telecom area
• Shutting off CRAC unit
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Addition of APC IRCs’
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Simple changes, big benefits
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Simple Changes, big benefit
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Final Measurement and Review
• Even after Altera made all of these changes, excess cooling capacity still existed.
• PG&E recommended shutting down a second CRAC unit, thus putting all primary cooling on chilled water units.
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Altera’s New and Improved Data Center
• Temporary mobile cooling unit gone• Two CRAC units shut off• Server temperature variance a
mere 2° F• Net electricity reduction of 44.9 kW• Annual energy savings of 392.9 MWh• Overall energy savings: 25%
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Moral of the Story?
• Improving airflow is a safe and sensible strategy to simultaneously make data centers greener, more reliable, higher capacity, and more economical to operate.
• To achieve results such as Altera’s, it takes teamwork between IT, Facilities, HVAC experts, and PG&E.