Achieving a Green Data Center

Data center cooling typically consumes 35-45% of the energy used in a Data Center.  Cooling energy consists of  used air movement, heat rejection, and humidity control.  Looking at these factors, we find inefficiencies that can be addressed.  The major inefficiency in Data Center cooling is caused by mixing cool and warm air inside the Data Center.  What this means is the cooled supply air is mixed with warm return air before getting to the server intakes.  The result of this mixing is compromised server cooling and the CRAC setpoints are lower than they need to be.  Each 1°F higher setpoint allowed equates to 4% in cooling energy efficiency improvement. 

There are a number of solutions to this problem.  Closed coupled cooling adds cooling distribution units while rack or overhead cooling coils to bring water or pumped refridgerant closer to the racks.  AdaptivCool's Room Scale Intelligent Cooling (RSIC) solves the same problem of server hotspots by working with the existing raised floor architecture and employs completely unobstrusive active airflow components without any downtime or infrastructure changes required.  Likewise, inefficient humidity control is also addressed by AdaptivCool's RSIC by balancing the airflow within the room, allowing the existing CRAC units to control humidity without fighting.  Implementation of RSIC typically provides 20-30% reduction in cooling energy and requires to infrastructure changes or downtime to implement.