Justifying return on investment
(ROI) is often times one of the biggest challenges faced by data
center managers working to implement new and upgraded solutions -
especially when it comes to more innovative methods of thermal
management and data center cooling.
In a recently released white paper prepared by the Green
Grid, entitled "Case Study: The ROI of Cooling System
Energy Efficiency Upgrades," Chatsworth Products, Inc.
(CPI) Thermal Design Manager, Travis North, joins a collection of
industry-wide experts to independently investigate the ROI for
various non-contained system upgrades while evaluating the Power
Usage Effectiveness (PUE) per upgrade.
In this comprehensive, year-long study, every piece of a Green
Grid member company's (MC) data center cooling infrastructure was
evaluated, including cabinet selection, room air handlers, external
chiller plant performance and the measured results of all actual
energy savings.
In-depth analysis includes how the MC's external ambient
temperature had a significant impact on the efficiency of the
cooling system, how cooling energy consumption varied throughout a
given day, how control significantly impacted CRAH performance, and
the difficulty in properly matching a room's CRAH to its
pre-designated zones.
Ultimately, the MC was able to reduce all working CRAH fans from
maximum speed to minimum by verifying cooling load performance,
thus saving the customer over 300kW or 10% of their daily
total energy consumption.
As an excellent resource for those wishing to justify ROI on
similar projects, we encourage you to take a moment and read this valuable
white paper in full. Jeff Cihocki,
eContent Specialist