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Permalink Reply by Paul Poetsma on October 7, 2010 at 19:57

Where to start depends on what your current status is. Get started with #4 including environmental monitoring. If you have no data then you have no clue where to start and what the effect of changes are. Take facility equipment and IT equipment in the scope to see the impact of cooling adjustments to your IT devices, and to understand where the power goes.

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Permalink Reply by Vasiliki Georgiadou on October 11, 2010 at 11:41

I personally applaud this comment; as already said you cannot control what you cannot monitor in the first place; first step would be to gather as much data as possible on your energy consumption on as a granular level as possible; you can then focus on the low-hanging fruits that come up from a quick analysis of these data (possibly by virtualizing, consolidating and actually turning-off unused resources)

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Permalink Reply by Terry Fockler on October 7, 2010 at 20:39

We can help green your data center with our portable, modular data centers, they save up to 70% energy.

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Permalink Reply by Jari P. Angesleva on October 20, 2010 at 15:46

this is our article that will be published shortly in DC Dynamics magazine. The Finnish way of doing the GreenIT solution for DC's



Finland – the place to be for datacenters

In the 1980s, when the British comedy troupe Monty Python was affectionately singing “Finland, Finland, Finland, the country where I want to be…”, Finland was still seen as a remote and neglected outpost somewhere up in northern Europe. Apart from the geographic location, some changes have taken place since then. For example, a Finnish company called Nokia has made the news once or twice. And Finland has turned out to be one of the world’s leading innovation-led economies.
With Newsweek magazine recently declaring Finland as the best country in the world and Google currently constructing its most energy efficient datacenter in a former paper mill on the Finnish coast, the Finns have realised that their northern outpost is in fact an ideal location for the new generation of energy efficient datacenters.
“Finland has a complete package for datacenter location that saves money, energy and the environment, so we have decided to stop being too modest to sing our own praises,” says Jari P. Ängeslevä, Senior Business Development Director at Invest in Finland, a government agency providing free consultancy services to international companies. “Any company looking for a sustained competitive advantage in this sector should come and see what we can offer.”
Cool country, no polar bears
So why exactly does it makes sense to locate datacenters in Finland? “For a start, this is a uniquely stable and secure country with a political system that provides the kind of continuity that the rest of the planet can only dream of. We also have green energy readily available and the price of electricity is among the lowest in Europe,” says Ängeslevä.
Finland’s traditional tourism profile as the home of Father Christmas and the “land of a thousand lakes” has unexpectedly turned out to be a stroke of marketing genius as far as datacenters are concerned. The cold climate, long coastline and plentiful water resources provide free cooling potential up to 365 days a year, significantly decreasing energy consumption and investments. “Thanks to existing infrastructure that can utilize the excess heat produced by servers, some datacenters located in Finland are already selling heat to their local district heating networks,” explains Ängeslevä.
Finland also has world class expertise in energy research, engineering and project management. Prominent companies like ABB, Fortum and Helsingin Energia know what they are doing when it comes to datacenters and energy technology. Finland’s highly skilled workforce is the product of the best education system in the world, according to almost every international comparison, including Newsweek’s. It’s no surprise that Finland is one of the most digitally connected countries in the world, and is currently fourth in the global Digital Economy Rankings by The Economist and IBM. International companies locating in Finland can also take advantage of a highly competitive package of regional funding incentives.
Reliable, cheap electricity
Due to Finland’s location and dependence on imported oil and coal, energy has historically been a precious commodity. “We have always taken good care of energy intensive investments and have a great deal of experience that datacenters can benefit from,” says XXXX from Fortum, a leading Finnish energy company.
Finland’s national grid is among the most efficient in the world, with a transmission reliability of 99.9997% in 2009. Finland’s electricity price is also among the lowest in the EU. In comparison, the price of electricity for industrial consumers in Finland is about a third lower than in the UK and half the price compared to Germany.
Renewable energy sources provide 28.5% percent of Finland’s total energy consumption and account for more than a quarter of its power generation, compared to an EU average of 14%. Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production are 0.24kg/kWh in Finland compared to about 0.60-0.65kg/kWh in the UK and Germany. Thanks to a combination of low-carbon electricity and lower energy consumption, datacenters located in Finland have a demonstrably lower carbon footprint than the competition.
According to IDC, datacenters’ energy and cooling expenses will grow eight times faster than the amount of money spent on purchasing new servers in 2010. The infrastructure and energy costs of a datacenter will far outweigh the cost of its IT. However, in Finland energy-guzzling datacenters are also seen as an opportunity for saving the planet. “Eco-efficient datacenters can save a considerable volume in electric energy and utilize wasted heat,” says Juha Sipilä, Project Manager at Helsingin Energia, which satisfies the electricity and heat demands of the City of Helsinki.
Eco-efficiency in action
Helsingin Energia was given the prestigious Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Award at the Uptime Institute 2010 annual Symposium for the world’s most eco-efficient computer hall. Its innovative solution transfers recovered heat from computers to heat buildings and water in Helsinki. Working in cooperation with ICT service provider Academica Oy, Helsingin Energia has reduced CO2 emissions from computer hall cooling by 80%.
Academica’s computer hall is situated in Helsinki, in cave premises in the Uspenski bedrock. The heat produced by the computers is piped into the district heating network to heat up buildings and domestic water in the city. The computers are cooled by district cooling produced by heat pumps, cold seawater and thermal energy from energy generation that would otherwise be wasted.
Beneath Helsinki lies a ready-made district cooling and -heating network and an abundance of subterranean premises. At its current capacity, Helsingin Energia can direct 100 MW of district cooling to datacenters. This volume is equivalent to district heating output that could heat a town of 30,000 inhabitants. “It is possible that in the future, a significant proportion of the buildings in Helsinki will be heated by thermal energy generated by datacenters,” says Juha Sipilä. Not surprisingly, many operators at home and abroad have expressed an interest in the datacenter technology that Helsingin Energia is developing.
Greenfield or Google-style
Anyone who has driven a car in Finland in any direction for more than two hours can testify that this country has one small population for a whole lot of land – ideal for Greenfield investors looking for privacy and space for their datacenter. Land is also relatively inexpensive, which is why a picturesque lakeside holiday cottage is a must for any self-respecting datacenter manager living in Finland.
Alternatively, Finland can offer a choice of industrial sites like former paper mills, which have integrated CO2-free electricity from the grid and cooling solutions on-site. Tailored services can include excess heat recovery through heat pumps, absorption cooling, dynamic or static UPS, and reserve capacity generators on-site. This ensures a highly cost-efficient energy supply with no capital required from the data center owner.
Google considered many alternative sites in different countries for its 200 million euro datacenter before opting for the former paper mill in Summa, located in the Hamina region of south-eastern Finland. “We were the first people in the world to think of putting a datacenter in a paper mill,” says a proud Jari P. Ängeslevä from Invest in Finland.
Google loved the idea and construction work on the 125 hectare site should be completed in early 2011. What makes this datacenter especially energy efficient is its sea water cooling system that produces no emissions. “This is a simple and elegant cooling system and we are very happy with our choice of location in Finland,” says XXXXX from Google.
Another former paper mill site has been snapped up by the CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd, which is establishing a highly eco-efficient datacenter in Kajaani, northern Finland. The facility will be jointly constructed by CSC and the UPM, one of the leading forest product companies in the world, and will provide a state-of-the-art environment for supercomputers, data storage, and other demanding IT systems. Construction work will be completed in early 2012.
The biggest datacenter in Finland belongs to HP, which has located more than 50,000 servers inside the solid bedrock of Vantaa, near the capital city Helsinki, in what is one of the company’s largest facilities in Europe.
Newsweek loves Finland
And datacenters love being next to Russia. In August 2010, Newsweek ranked Finland as the best country in its study on health, education, economy, politics and quality of life around the world. “Newsweek did forget to mention something important, however,” says Jari P. Ängeslevä. “Finnish laws guarantee first rate security for data. Unlike some Western democracies that give a legal right for the authorities to spy on data, Finland does no such thing and we are proud of it.”
Several Russian companies are currently thinking about locating their datacenters in Finland for this very reason. The strategic location of Google’s new datacenter’s just 35km from the Russian border is also unlikely to be a coincidence.
The future is Green and Finnish
Ängeslevä believes that Finland is ideally placed to respond to the major trends driving the datacenter business, like the greater focus on publicly reported PUE values, high density systems, and new methods for utilizing energy for maximum benefit and minimum waste. “The combination of low energy prices, free cooling and advanced infrastructure to utilize excess heat offers a sustainable competitive edge for datacenters located in Finland. And that is good news for both profits and the environment.”
According to the latest forecasts, the global carbon footprint of datacenters will exceed the airline industry by the year 2020. “Our considered view is that your new green datacenter should already be operating in Finland by then,” says Ängeslevä.


For more information please contact

Jari P. Ängeslevä

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Permalink Reply by Richard Sebastian on October 20, 2010 at 16:52

Quick wins? Hmmm... Assuming an already existing infrastructure with "traditional" perimeter cooling and central power distribution?

1. Virtualization! Without question, virtualization would be the number 1 (end state) quick win. However, converting an entire enterprise from "pizza boxes" to VM's requires a lot of brain power and probably additional hardware to accomplish properly. So it's more than likely not going to be a "quick" win. But it will be the smartest fix.

2. Add containment. Whether you choose hot or cold aisle, use some form of air containment!

3. Set points. Make sure it's not snowing in your data center! Modern IT gear can withstand higher inlet temperatures these days. There's no need to keep your data center at 62F anymore.

4. Tile placement/size. Make sure you have tiles where you need them, and; more importantly; no tiles where you don't need them! Use high flow tiles for blade racks and "standard perf" tiles for everything else. Seal off all the leak points.

5. Power management. Servers from almost every major vendor come with dynamic power control features. Use them! Throttle down servers with low utilization to save power ($).

6. Long term. Get rid of the perimeter cooling units and install close coupled a/c units with variable speed fans. They are infinitely more efficient and will pay for themselves over the life of the data center compared to the perimeter units.

As was already stated, monitor EVERYTHING! You can't control it if you can't see it

My $0.02.

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Permalink Reply by Mikhail Balkarov on October 23, 2010 at 1:20

A lot of good recipes before.
Few things else:
- decrease ventilation volume to allowable minimum.
- check water vapors insulation, maybe add vapor proof paint.
- check humidity - its better to maintain it at lowest limits, about 40% on the racks front.
- increasing water temperature in the chilled water systems if you have only a part of the project load.
- optimize water flow in the chilled or glycol water systems.

And a caution! Increasing a return air temperature via setpoints or containerization, definitely increasing efficiency, but in the case of the DX systems you are ready to cross unit upper operational limits with this.

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