ATLANTA - According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), more than 50 percent of the total energy consumption of data centers can be attributed to the cooling and power infrastructure that supports the IT equipment housed in them. A new book released by ASHRAE aims to help reduce that energy use through easy-to-implement tips, said the organization.

Green Tips for Data Centersidentifies techniques for optimizing energy efficiency in existing datacom facilities. Many of the techniques can be implemented through simple operational changes, upgrades or modifications that require a relatively low investment and that cause little disruption to the existing operations of the IT equipment, noted ASHRAE.

“The book has particular relevance right now since there is a significant focus on energy efficiency in data centers,” said Don Beaty, co-founder of ASHRAE Technical Committee (TC) 9.9, Mission Critical Facilities, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment. “While it is fun and exciting to look at how we can design new data centers to be energy efficient, the fact is that there are many, many existing data centers in operation.”

Among the 26 tips from the book are:

• Optimize supply air temperatures;

• Install monitoring equipment;

• Improve lighting efficiency;

• Optimize data storage; and

• Improve transformer efficiencies.

“The tips provide insight into practical techniques that have proven successful in other datacom facilities and give owners and operators the confidence to implement similar techniques in their own facilities,” Beaty said.

The book is part of the ASHRAE Datacom Series, developed to provide a more comprehensive treatment of datacom cooling and related subjects.

The cost ofGreen Tips for Data Centersis $54 ($46, ASHRAE members). To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, or visit www.ashrae.org/datacenterefficiency. Bulk discounts are available.

Publication date:02/07/2011