Ask HN: I work in a data centre and we have to make it greener. Ideas?
31 comments
With 10,000 servers I think one of the things you could do is refresh old hardware.
New hardware is vastly more efficient than older hardware. If there's some place where you can accelerate the refresh, you could find yourself condensing servers. Otherwise, you can factor in future growth with the same number as servers you have now, which is definitely a savings.
Consider virtualizing smaller pieces of hardware if you haven't already.
Ensure your room has proper airflow. Sometimes air gets stagnant in the corners of the hot or cold rows, resulting in less efficient cooling. Small fans can get the air moving again. You may also need to put fans under your raised floor, or to exhaust waste heat.
Taking the back doors off the racks will drop the server temps (particularly in blade racks). That in turn suggests you could run less A/C and bump the temp up to where they were at.
New hardware is vastly more efficient than older hardware. If there's some place where you can accelerate the refresh, you could find yourself condensing servers. Otherwise, you can factor in future growth with the same number as servers you have now, which is definitely a savings.
Consider virtualizing smaller pieces of hardware if you haven't already.
Ensure your room has proper airflow. Sometimes air gets stagnant in the corners of the hot or cold rows, resulting in less efficient cooling. Small fans can get the air moving again. You may also need to put fans under your raised floor, or to exhaust waste heat.
Taking the back doors off the racks will drop the server temps (particularly in blade racks). That in turn suggests you could run less A/C and bump the temp up to where they were at.
In a manufacturing facility I worked at last summer we had a company paint the roof white. It was previously black and attracted much more heat. We noticed a material change in the temperature in the building after painting it white and could reduce our air conditing usage.
A simple payback analysis will allow your firm to calculate how long it will take to recoup the initial cost of painting the roof white with savings in reduced electricity consumption.
Well, from a purely consequentialist standpoint, it would very likely be much more cost-efficient to donate the money you could use to make the data centre green to charities.
Then again, I'm plenty cynical to realize that going green is most often a PR-move, in which case donating to charities doesn't quite cut it. Nevertheless, if nature is the priority, a good charity (there are some bad, or at least inefficient ones, too) is best.
Then again, I'm plenty cynical to realize that going green is most often a PR-move, in which case donating to charities doesn't quite cut it. Nevertheless, if nature is the priority, a good charity (there are some bad, or at least inefficient ones, too) is best.
By "greener" they mean "we want to lower our utilities bill."
Exactly. By greener I mean save money, which I really need to do to safeguard my job in the current turbulent financial market.
That's not what "greener" means. That's just "reducing opex", which is a much simpler question.
Is there any capex budget for reducing opex? If so, any time frame limitation for recognized savings?
Is there any capex budget for reducing opex? If so, any time frame limitation for recognized savings?
#1: Reduce the load of the IT Equipment through server refresh, server virtualization, and storage virtualization. Do a server audit and remove servers that are no longer in use. It is common for large data centers to have servers that are not being used still in the racks, these servers are still eating up power and rejecting heat. Reducing the IT Equipment load has a cascading effect and reduces the energy consumption of the cooling plant (chillers and CRACs) as well as electrical equipment (PDUs and UPSs) losses.
#2: Once the IT Equipment load is reduced, look at optimizing airflow. Install variable speed drives on the CRAC supply fans to match the load. Consider installing a hot aisle or cold aisle containment system. This prevents the hot server exit air mixing with the cool conditioned air. Containment solutions will also enable you to be more aggressive with raising the temperature setpoint to reduce the load on the cooling equipment (i.e. your chiller or DX CRAC Units)
#3: Upgrade the cooling plant to more efficient equipment. The key efficiency metric is kW/ton. The lower the kW/ton, the more efficient the equipment is.
#4: Contact your local utility and ask them for ideas. I work a company that contracts with Utilities to provide assessment and energy efficiency incentive programs. Most data center projects I have worked on, the incentive is $50k+. Yes, some utilities will pay you to be more energy efficient
Also, check out the DC Profiling tool from the Department of Energy.
#2: Once the IT Equipment load is reduced, look at optimizing airflow. Install variable speed drives on the CRAC supply fans to match the load. Consider installing a hot aisle or cold aisle containment system. This prevents the hot server exit air mixing with the cool conditioned air. Containment solutions will also enable you to be more aggressive with raising the temperature setpoint to reduce the load on the cooling equipment (i.e. your chiller or DX CRAC Units)
#3: Upgrade the cooling plant to more efficient equipment. The key efficiency metric is kW/ton. The lower the kW/ton, the more efficient the equipment is.
#4: Contact your local utility and ask them for ideas. I work a company that contracts with Utilities to provide assessment and energy efficiency incentive programs. Most data center projects I have worked on, the incentive is $50k+. Yes, some utilities will pay you to be more energy efficient
Also, check out the DC Profiling tool from the Department of Energy.
Here's a few ideas.
Buy the ASHRAE books on Datacenter/Datacom HVAC design, implementation and operations.
Most IT equipment runs optimally with air entering the front face up to around 78 degrees F -- and can run with some decreased reliability up to 85. I've been in datacenters where I need to grab a hoodie to work for any length of time -- that's a waste. Once you read and understand these books and do some data gathering, you should be able to either turn up the thermostat in your datacenter to 75-80 degrees F. (it's probably too cold) Also, If humans are comfortable working in hot aisles, it's way too cold -- the airflow is screwed up and you're cooling down air that doesn't need to be cold.
For a modest expenditure, you may be able to install blank panels in your racks, ducting or other equipment to make your cooling more effective.
You said that you have 10,000 servers. Time to get aggressive about virtualization. Did your company skip a refresh cycle or two because of the poor economy? If "yes", congratulations, you have some Intel Pentium 4 space heaters churning away in your datacenter. Good news is that you should be replace them on a 5:1 basis (very conservative) with virtual host servers, and show a net savings.
Install motion-activated LED lighting. Talk to your power utility or government agency charged with energy efficiency and see if grants are available. Lighting accounts for much more power consumption in datacenters than you may think!
Buy the ASHRAE books on Datacenter/Datacom HVAC design, implementation and operations.
Most IT equipment runs optimally with air entering the front face up to around 78 degrees F -- and can run with some decreased reliability up to 85. I've been in datacenters where I need to grab a hoodie to work for any length of time -- that's a waste. Once you read and understand these books and do some data gathering, you should be able to either turn up the thermostat in your datacenter to 75-80 degrees F. (it's probably too cold) Also, If humans are comfortable working in hot aisles, it's way too cold -- the airflow is screwed up and you're cooling down air that doesn't need to be cold.
For a modest expenditure, you may be able to install blank panels in your racks, ducting or other equipment to make your cooling more effective.
You said that you have 10,000 servers. Time to get aggressive about virtualization. Did your company skip a refresh cycle or two because of the poor economy? If "yes", congratulations, you have some Intel Pentium 4 space heaters churning away in your datacenter. Good news is that you should be replace them on a 5:1 basis (very conservative) with virtual host servers, and show a net savings.
Install motion-activated LED lighting. Talk to your power utility or government agency charged with energy efficiency and see if grants are available. Lighting accounts for much more power consumption in datacenters than you may think!
Paint it green?
On a serious note: Heat the building with server heat, cool it using grey/waste water instead of air conditioning, add insulation and let outside air in at night, put plants all around, keep the lights off unless you're working in an area, etc. There's too many possible methods without knowing the setup and layout of your facility.
Hell, just start carpooling and that'll be greener already. Maybe see if the company will throw in for gas or tolls for any vehicle that shows up with 3 or more employees in it.
On a serious note: Heat the building with server heat, cool it using grey/waste water instead of air conditioning, add insulation and let outside air in at night, put plants all around, keep the lights off unless you're working in an area, etc. There's too many possible methods without knowing the setup and layout of your facility.
Hell, just start carpooling and that'll be greener already. Maybe see if the company will throw in for gas or tolls for any vehicle that shows up with 3 or more employees in it.
Verne Global has a new data center in Iceland that is run completely off of geothermal-based electricity. Maybe offload some of your computing up there?
There are three things to look at:
1) consume less resources - when passive ways are there to cool your server room that would allow you to cut back on the cooling system
2) seek greener alternative sources - could you supplement your current source of electricity with solar power, even if it is just to reduce your usage of power from less green resources
3) what waste (heat probably) could be used to, for example, heat up the water that is used in the building. Perhaps use it to run a greenhouse for yourself or a charity / community project (good PR that)
But first you must be in a position to measure the effectiveness of any solution. Get records of your power usage, preferably by task - how much is used to run the servers, how much to run the cooling etc. Including the cost! Make it more than a PR exercise, you could save some money too (in the long run)
1) consume less resources - when passive ways are there to cool your server room that would allow you to cut back on the cooling system
2) seek greener alternative sources - could you supplement your current source of electricity with solar power, even if it is just to reduce your usage of power from less green resources
3) what waste (heat probably) could be used to, for example, heat up the water that is used in the building. Perhaps use it to run a greenhouse for yourself or a charity / community project (good PR that)
But first you must be in a position to measure the effectiveness of any solution. Get records of your power usage, preferably by task - how much is used to run the servers, how much to run the cooling etc. Including the cost! Make it more than a PR exercise, you could save some money too (in the long run)
Maybe by "whipping" programmers and forcing them to optimise the software they write .. so that you won't need so much computing power and so much storage. Less servers less electricity consumed, less CO2 etc.
On another note, consider investing in some newer and more efficient equipment; keep cables tidy, well organized so that they do not block the air-flow (wrong: http://www.dcig.com/wrong4.jpg and right: http://www.dcig.com/right1.jpg); keep things clean (dust is bad for cooling).
If you really want to go green and have a budget.. switch the energy provider for one that supplies energy from renewable sources (it may be more expensive... but it's green).
On another note, consider investing in some newer and more efficient equipment; keep cables tidy, well organized so that they do not block the air-flow (wrong: http://www.dcig.com/wrong4.jpg and right: http://www.dcig.com/right1.jpg); keep things clean (dust is bad for cooling).
If you really want to go green and have a budget.. switch the energy provider for one that supplies energy from renewable sources (it may be more expensive... but it's green).
Take a look at the temperature, many people have their data centre cooler than needed. Intel advised a few years ago that their processors can run warmer than people expect.
Also take a look at your lighting, can you automatically switch them off?
You really need to specify your current buildout, budget, ROI requirements, and timeline. There are multitudes of possibilities, but good choices depend on your reasons and limitations.
The place to start is with a professional design team experienced in similar projects. Yes, you can cook something up yourself or turn to the internet for advice. You can do the same thing for legal matters as well.
Based on your description the requirements are specific to the facility and its operations, and that's the sort of challenge that benefits from comprehensive a design approach rather than scatter shot measures without integration.
Based on your description the requirements are specific to the facility and its operations, and that's the sort of challenge that benefits from comprehensive a design approach rather than scatter shot measures without integration.
[deleted]
Need more specifics, however;Google is testing a new system whereby servers are segregated from humans and run at much hotter temperatures.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2012/03/23/too-h...
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2012/03/23/too-h...
Work with your energy supplier to run your site from generators during scheduled or peak times, thereby taking the load off the national grid and reducing costs. A number of factors to be considered of course, such as the cost of fuelling your generators, and the increased risk. Savings could be in 10's or 100's of thousands.
Keyword is PUE (power usage effectiveness)
e.g. water cooling or use heat from data centre as heating for buildings.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/05/18/green-grid-pub...
e.g. water cooling or use heat from data centre as heating for buildings.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/05/18/green-grid-pub...
Pigments can sometimes be stubborn things. But I find that folks tend agree that darker greens are 'greener' than lighter greens. So for best results I'd use a dark green with a glossy finish. It should produce the greener hue that you are looking for.
Raise your operating temperature by a degree or two and reduce cost of air conditioning. There's a wealth of things you can do. Would be interested in novel ideas aswell so hopefully lots of responses to this post!
Ask a LEED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_in_Energy_and_Enviro...) person.
These folks have some interesting HVAC automation solutions to reduce energy costs.
http://www.vigilent.com/
http://www.vigilent.com/
> We have to make it greener.
Is this to comply with an edict from your boss, or to comply with some a piece of legislation or a law?
Is this to comply with an edict from your boss, or to comply with some a piece of legislation or a law?
It's not legislation or law - more just me wanting to impress and come up with some good ideas.
Pot plants ?
For example my company used to have screensavers on all their machines (and desktops) - I suggested we remove these and that the monitors turn straight to standby after a period of un use instead. This resulted in huge savings. This got me thinking that there must be more simple, effective green ideas for IT companies - especially in the data centre space.