Yes folks, with a little hard work, attention to detail, a few well positioned utility-grade power meters, and some fine data collection, management, and reporting software and you too could qualify your data center for the US EPA ENERGY STAR® rating. It all starts with the simple process of joining the ENERGY STAR program.

Okay, let’s put this program into perspective starting with the basic questions – how much energy is your data center using, daily, weekly, monthly, and on an annual basis, what are the prime sources of that energy, how large is your data center, where is it located, how much energy goes to the IT equipment, and who do you favor in the World Cup? (The last one is part of the secret tie-breaker formula) All of which leads to an understanding of the data center’s energy intensity (a typical building efficiency metric) and the infrastructure power ratio aka PUE. Something I’ll address in another column but in passing PUE, though a perfectly fine ratio for the neophyte data center operator, has nothing to do with IT productivity.

See, this ENERGY STAR rating system isn’t too hard to figure out. One merely has to enter some basic information into the EPA Portfolio Manager, agree to develop an energy management policy, benchmark your facility against your peers, and score in the top quartile to earn the rating. But don’t just take my word; get the details from the EPA FAQs on this new rating system for data centers. (Alright, so it isn’t all that easy after all. And you are probably wondering who in your organization will be given this task to fill in the report on a monthly basis.)

Now sad to say but anecdotal evidence leads me to believe that most data center operators don’t currently know how much power their data center is using. Often this is related to a lack of appropriate meters along with the need for an integrated monitoring and reporting system. No problem, one or more of your current data center infrastructure suppliers (like Liebert) can probably help you with a bolt-on solution. While you’re at it this may be a good time to consider having a data center energy efficiency audit conducted to help ensure you don’t receive a poor rating. Plus they can set you up with some easy-to-use meters and an automated reporting system that will make it easy for you to participate in the program.

This brings me to the really big question of the day – are you going to report one or more of your data centers in the new EPA ENERGY STAR for Data Centers program?

Post a reply or send me an email. We can compare notes.