Resources on Data Center Energy Efficiency
Energy 101 Video: Efficient Data Centers
DOE offers this short video as an introduction to energy-efficient data center design and operation.
FEMP compiled the following resources to help Federal agencies increase data center energy efficiency. The resources are organized by:
Best Practices
The following resources outline data center energy efficiency best practices surrounding design and operations:
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FEMP Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design
: Best practices for energy-efficient data center design spanning systems, environmental conditions, air management, cooling and electrical systems, on-site generation, and heat recovery.
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Quick Start Guide to Increase Data Center Energy Efficiency
: Quick guide providing useful first steps towards increasing data center efficiency.
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Reducing Data Center Loads for a Large-Scale, Low-Energy Office Building: Report detailing the design, implementation strategies, and continuous performance monitoring of the National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL) Research Support Facility data center.
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NREL Research Support Facility Data Center Case Study: Abbreviated case study outlining the design and implementation of NREL's Research Support Facility data center.
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Retro-Commissioning Increases Data Center Efficiency at Low Cost
: Success story detailing a retro-commissioning project at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site to increase data center energy efficiency.
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Data Center Energy Management: Information and resources focused on data center energy management for both the public and private sector.
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High Performance Data Centers: Design Guidelines Sourcebook
: Resource providing viable alternatives to inefficient building and data center inefficiencies.
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LBNL Best Practices Summary: Summary of best practices in high performance buildings for high-tech industries. Resources span heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); power systems; IT equipment; and cross-cutting and miscellaneous issues.
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Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office: DOE work with U.S. computer data centers to reduce energy consumption.
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DOE Leadership in Green IT: Highlights of key accomplishments in green IT and data centers at 17 DOE laboratories.
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Data Center Video: Video tour of the NREL data center within the laboratory's Research Support Facility (RSF).
Power Supplies
![Image of an on button](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120920213303im_/http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/images/dc_resources1.jpg)
The following resources outline data center power supply technologies and best practices to improve energy efficiency:
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Efficiency of Power Supplies in the Active Mode: Information intended to spark a global dialogue on energy-efficient power supplies, especially surrounding power consumption in the active or "on" mode of product operation.
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80 PLUS® Energy-Efficient Technology Solutions: Forum to unite electric utilities, the computer industry and consumers to bring energy-efficient technology and solutions to the market.
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Quantitative Efficiency Analysis of Power Distribution Configurations for Data Center
: Green Grid study of the end-to-end efficiency of eight simplified, non-redundant data center power distribution configuration.
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High Performance Buildings: Data Centers Uninterruptible Power Supplies
: Investigates uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) used in data centers and other high-tech facilities to guard against service interruptions from electrical outages.
Servers and Storage
![Image of the back of servers](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120920213303im_/http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/images/dc_resources2.jpg)
The following resources outline server and storage technologies and best practices to improve energy efficiency:
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ENERGY STAR® Program Requirements for Computer Servers, Version 1.0
: Product specifications for ENERGY STAR qualified computer servers.
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ENERGY STAR Enterprise Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Initiatives: Initiatives to assist data centers in assessing site energy efficiency.
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ENERGY STAR Enterprise Servers for Consumers: Overview of ENERGY STAR requirements and specifications for enterprise servers.
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Energy-Efficient Data Center Storage: PROCESSOR article from February 2008 covering energy efficiency and electricity savings through data storage and management.
Cooling Systems
![Image of a fan](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120920213303im_/http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/images/dc_resources3.jpg)
The following resources outline cooling system technologies and best practices to improve energy efficiency:
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DOE Energy 101 Video: Efficient Data Centers: Short video offering an introduction to data center energy efficiency as part of DOE's Energy 101 series.
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Improving Data Center Efficiency with Rack or Row Cooling Devices: Overview of a comparison demonstration on server cooling, which became known as "Chill-Off 2."
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Data Center Airflow Management Retrofit
: Increased energy savings for cooling can be realized by optimizing airflow pathways within the data center.
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Wireless Sensors Improve Data Center Energy Efficiency
: Wireless sensor network technology can deliver energy savings for cooling by gathering and using information to efficiently manage the data center.
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Data Center Rack Cooling with Rear-Door Heat Exchanger
: Technology case study outlining data center rack cooling with rear-door heat exchangers.
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Lessons Learned from Benchmarking 22 Data Centers: Data center best practices gleaned during a 2006 ACEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.
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High-Density Server Cooling: Engineered Systems article from August 2005 covering high-density server cooling.
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Throwing Water at the Heat Problem: PROCESSOR article from September 2005 on reducing data center server temperatures through liquid cooling.
Data Center Metrics and Benchmarking
![Image of a multi-tiered graph](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120920213303im_/http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/images/dc_resources4.jpg)
The following resources outline data center metrics and benchmarking best practices to improve energy efficiency:
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NSIDC Data Center–Energy Reduction Strategies: Effort significantly reduces the energy use of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
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High Performance Computing (HPC) Data Center Metering Protocol
: Methods for measurement in HPC data centers and document system strategies used to increase energy efficiency.
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Green Grid Data Center Power Efficiency Metrics: PUE and DCiE
: Green Grid metrics to measure productivity and energy efficiency for all power-consuming systems in the data center.
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Green Grid Library and Tools: Definitions and tools to simplify and streamline data center operational and energy efficiency.
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DC Pro Software Tool: Saving Energy in Data Centers: Tool to identify and evaluate data center energy efficiency opportunities.
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Self-Benchmarking Guide for Data Center Infrastructure
: Guide describing energy efficiency metrics and benchmarks used to identify and track opportunities to reduce data center energy use in HVAC and electrical systems.
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Self-Benchmarking Guide for High-Tech Buildings - Data Centers: LBNL guide describing energy efficiency metrics and benchmarks used to track performance and identify potential energy efficiency opportunities in data centers.
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Self-Benchmarking Guide for Data Center Energy Performance Version 1.0
: Guide to performing a comprehensive measurement, or benchmarking, of facility data center energy use.
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Green Grid Free Cooling Estimated Savings: Calculator to determine free-cooling estimated savings.
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LBNL Data Center Energy Benchmarking Case Studies: Series of anonymous site reports summarizing data center energy benchmarking results and efficiency improvement opportunities.
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Energy Efficiency for Network Equipment; Two Steps beyond Greenwashing: Measurement-based approach for defining network efficiency with respect to power consumption.