(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The Green Grid (www.thegreengrid.org) announced on Thursday that the Power Usage Effectiveness metric, which it published in 2007, has now achieved industry alignment specific to recommendations on how to measure PUE in dedicated data center facilities.
The organization’s report, “Recommendations for Measuring and Reporting Overall Data Center Efficiency – Version 1 – Measuring PUE at Dedicated Data Centers,” documents the combined recommendation of The Green Grid in collaboration with 7×24 Exchange, ASHRAE, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, U.S. Department of Energy Save Energy Now Program, US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program, United States Green Building Council, and Uptime Institute.
The PUE metric identifies data center infrastructure efficiency by comparing the total amount of energy consumed by the data center to the total amount of energy consumed by the IT equipment.
“Driving industry alignment of PUE through consistent measurement and reporting processes represents a significant step in improving data center energy efficiency,” says Dan Azevedo, Symantec representative and Board member of The Green Grid. “The guidance specific to calculating PUE for data centers that use multiple energy sources (electric, natural gas, water, etc.) is substantial to ensuring PUE is measured and reported equitably. This task force is working to drive clear, consistent recommendations with a single voice.”
In addition to affirming PUE as the industry’s preferred data center infrastructure efficiency metric, the report from the task force provides other information for data center operators.
The report offers guidance on how to calculate PUE from weighted energy types, based on source energy, outlines four recommended measurement categories for PUE, as a subset of The Green Grid’s measurement methods, and guidance for renewable energy sources, combined heat and power plants, and reuse of data center energy.
The Green Grid is working on dozens of strategic and tactical projects to improve data center energy efficiency.
In addition to its many published white papers, The Green Grid released earlier this year a range of PUE-related tools available free of charge to the data center community, including online courses from The Green Grid Academy, PUE Reporting Database and PUE Estimator Online Tool.
