Trendpoint Systems Proposes New Approach for Managing Data Center Efficiency to Meet EPA Energy Star Standards

SAN RAMON, Calif., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Trendpoint Systems, a leader in data center energy management solutions, today announced the availability of a new whitepaper that will help companies better comply with the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards required to gain the coveted Energy Star label for data center efficiency.  

The new EPA requirements are based on a metric called PUE (Power Utilization Efficiency), originally developed by The Green Grid, and adopted by the EPA as the new standard for calculating the overall energy efficiency of data centers.   Many companies on the leading edge of the energy efficiency movement have begun to publish their PUE numbers, demonstrating the wide-spread acceptance of this metric.  The need to conserve energy in data centers is acute as these facilities are projected to surpass the airline industry as the world's biggest polluters by 2020 according to a McKinsey study.

While PUE has gained wide-spread acceptance as a single reporting metric, it has also received criticism for its lack of granularity and its usefulness as a day-to-day management tool.  In a new whitepaper by Trendpoint, called "Micro PUE: The Key to Data Center Energy Savings" (http://trendpoint.com/PDF/Micro-PUE.pdf ), TrendPoint proposes a major supplement to that metric – Micro PUE.   Micro PUE is a calculation of PUE from the perspective of each cooling unit and provides a key management tool to help users understand where their inefficiencies lie.

Micro PUE tied to cooling efficiency

Micro PUE is derived by measuring the energy used by each cooling unit, together with the heat energy removed by each unit. By using the same formula as the general PUE calculation and substituting the numbers from each cooling unit, Micro PUE highlights each cooling unit's efficiency vis-a-vis other units.  The results allow users to see where energy waste is taking place in order to take corrective action. Perhaps most importantly, by measuring Micro PUE continuously, site managers can see the results of their corrective actions in real time and, for the first time, can actually tune each cooling unit to their desired Micro PUE specification.

"There's a well-known principal that states 'you can only manage well what you can measure accurately,'" said Bob Hunter, CEO of Trendpoint.  "The PUE metric is a helpful macro-level figure that indicates the overall energy efficiency of the data center.  But, it provides little actionable information about the specific energy problem areas and how to address them.   What companies need is a practical tool that allows them to discover where their energy utilization problems are, and enables them to make the appropriate adjustments. That's what our new metric, Micro PUE provides."  

The Trendpoint whitepaper includes a careful examination of the various factors affecting the results of PUE calculations.  While it is a commonly held assumption that IT load (the energy consumed by IT server equipment) is the dominant factor in data center PUE, Trendpoint's analysis shows that cooling energy consumption is actually the primary factor influencing the calculation of PUE.  According to Trendpoint, PUE can be more accurately viewed as the efficiency of cooling energy usage as compared to IT loading.  

One example given in the whitepaper demonstrates how a 10% reduction in IT load actually raises the overall PUE by over 4% while a 10% reduction in cooling energy usage leads to 4% reduction in overall PUE. The whitepaper proposes that in order to get control of data center energy usage, managers must re-focus on lowering cooling energy in relation to IT load in order to have the greatest impact on reducing PUE.

Trendpoint proposes that measuring and managing energy usage for individual cooling units could well be the missing link that data center managers have been looking for in their attempts to lower overall PUE.  

About Trendpoint

TrendPoint is the leader in precision energy measurement and management systems for data centers.  Customers who standardize on their systems include the Federal Aviation Administration, VMWare, Springnet and dozens of others.  Channel partners include Schneider Electric and CA (the former Computer Associates). For data centers with a mandate to become more energy efficient and lower the environmental impact, Trendpoint provides the industry's first complete data center energy management and cooling control solution.  Trendpoint will be launching its EnviroCube Micro PUE management product in October, 2010.  Trendpoint is headquartered in San Ramon, California.  For more information, visit www.trendpoint.com.  

SOURCE Trendpoint Systems