Goldman Sachs predicts that data center demand will rise by 50% by 2027 and by as much as 165% by 2030. This astronomical increase in data center usage puts a major strain on natural resources, as these facilities need substantial supplies of water to keep their servers and equipment cool. Currently, large data centers consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, and that number will continue to rise as data centers continue to flourish.
How can you maintain a well-running data center while promoting sustainability? This is a difficult balance to strike, but solutions are available.
The Data Center Cooling Problem
Data center energy efficiency is measured by its Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). To calculate your facility’s PUE, divide your total facility power by IT equipment power. For example, if your data center consumes 60,000 kWh total and the IT equipment uses 40,000 kWh, the PUE is 1.5.
The ideal PUE is 1.0; this signifies total energy efficiency. 1.05-1.2 is very efficient, 1.2-1.5 is good, 1.5-2.0 is average, and anything beyond 2.0 is poor. With data center demand skyrocketing and AI/GPU workloads generating dramatically more heat than traditional server workloads, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to maintain an acceptable PUE.
These pressures combined with SEC climate disclosure rules on material risks, emissions, and climate-related risk reporting mean that data center managers can no longer solely rely on evaporative cooling to maintain proper temperatures. Introducing a more robust and sustainable cooling method is essential to long-term success.
5 Ways To Improve Data Center Energy Efficiency with Air-to-Air Heat Exchangers
Heat exchangers are an efficient and cost-effective method to cool data centers. Here’s how:
- Free cooling hours: Whenever the outdoor temperature is at least 7°F lower than the indoor data center temperature, heat exchangers can unlock “free cooling hours” by transferring heat to the outside environment without using any energy. The number of available free cooling hours vary depending on a data center’s climate, but in general, North America data centers can utilize thousands of free cooling hours each year.
- Water savings: Unlike equipment such as chilled water systems or direct-to-chip cold plates, air-to-air heat exchangers require no water to function. This is crucial as many regions are enacting water scarcity regulations.
- Air quality: Because heat exchangers do not mix the incoming and outgoing air, there is no risk of outside contaminants like gas fumes or seasonal allergens impacting your data center equipment.
- Scalability: PRE-heat can design a custom modular heat exchanger system for your facility, which means that we can add more heat exchangers and more cooling capacity as your demand grows – without expanding your footprint.
- Reliability: The simple design of air-to-air heat exchangers have significantly fewer failure points than traditional HVAC systems; PRE-heat systems last 15-20 years on average. They also require less maintenance over time than HVAC and systems that need water to function.
Heat Exchanger Integration and Design Considerations
While heat exchangers provide an excellent cooling solution for data centers, an off-the-shelf standardized model won’t deliver the best results. Heat exchanger engineers must consider how your data center can comply with ASHRAE thermal guidelines, particularly the narrowed 64.4F°-71.6°F range for high-density computing as well as the humidity maximum (70% or 50% depending on pollutants present at your data center).
The location of your data center matters, too. Heat exchanger engineers need to assess how to best mitigate noise, minimize pressure drop, and control airflow for a system that disturbs the outside environment as little as possible. This is especially important if your data center is near a populated urban area.
Heat exchanger engineers must also consider how to implement a seamless integration into your facility. Modern data centers run on sophisticated monitoring systems, such as a building management system (BMS) to track mechanical and electrical systems and a data center infrastructure management (DCIM) system to track physical and IT equipment. A well-integrated heat exchanger system works seamlessly with these systems, and careful planning is necessary to get there.
Partner with the Leader in Heat Exchanger Energy Efficiency
Installing a heat exchanger in your data center is an efficient and cost-effective solution that can transform your facility’s sustainability metrics. In order to maximize your heat exchanger investment, partner with a company like PRE-heat that has an in-house engineering team to design a heat exchanger system that’s custom built to your facility. Contact us today to get started.
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