February 2009

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Focus On Operations To Improve Data Center Efficiency

By Marcus Hassen

For the facility executive who isn’t ready to invest significant capital or just wants a near-term path to reduce energy expenditure, concentrating on the low-hanging fruit is a proper first step. The following additional strategies may yield the right results:

• Increase filter changes — dirty filters use more fan energy.
• Distribute the supply air at the highest temperature possible to maintain a server inlet temperature within the 65 degrees F to 80.6 degree range consistent with ASHRAE TC 9.9 guidelines.
• Decrease hours of dehumidification on the raised floor by increasing leaving air temperature (LAT) set points, as lower LATs result in wasteful overcooling, excessive pumping energy consumption and longer chiller compressor runtimes.

Marcus Hassen, P.E., LEEP AP, is an associate partner at Syska Hennessy Group with more than 19 years of engineering and project management experience, focusing on critical facilities including data centers, biotech and pharmaceutical facilities and general industrial sectors. Vali Sorell, P.E., Syska Hennessy Group, contributed to this article.