Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) in today’s Data Centers
Noun
Sounds like: "pow-er us-age ef-fec-tive-ness"
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), introduced by The Green Grid, quantifies how efficiently a data center uses energy. It’s defined as the total facility power divided by the power consumed by IT equipment. A PUE of 1.0 denotes perfect efficiency every watt entering the site powers IT gear, with no overhead for cooling, lighting, or distribution losses. In practice, most operators aim for a PUE of 1.5 or lower, with newer facilities targeting 1.4 or better.
The formula to calculate PUE is:
PUE = Total Facility Energy / IT Equipment Energy
Establishing the total facility energy is typically done with a utility meter.
However, installing a “shadow meter” allows data center managers to record daily measurements of the total facility power usage rather than having to wait for a monthly utility bill.
Calculating energy consumed by IT equipment in the data center is done by summing up the power readings at the power distribution units (PDUs) that distribute power to the IT cabinets. This data may also be captured by remote power panels (RPPs), uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), or intelligent rack PDUs. If the floor PDUs or RPPs are not instrumented, many vendors offer aftermarket branch circuit meters with split-core current transformers that snap into existing panels. This data can be recorded manually or automatically collected over a network and fed into an energy management or power monitoring solution that can automatically trend and report on PUE across all your data centers.
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software automatically calculates PUE in real-time and consolidates that information into actionable reports to enable data center managers to save power and money while driving green data center and data center sustainability initiatives.
Want to see how Sunbird’s world-leading DCIM software makes it easy for you to automatically calculate PUE in real time across all sites? Get your free test drive now!
Data Center Management refers to the role of individuals (data center managers) tasked within a data center to oversee technical and IT issues.
This includes management of computer and server operations, large amounts of data, services and applications, and the protection and security of the data. While some of these tasks must be directly managed, many can be automated, thereby reduce the number of on-site employees, eliminate unnecessary manual tasks, and reduce associated business costs.
Intelligent PDUS
Sunbirds Data Center DCIM provides Outlet-metered intelligent rack PDUs that enable monitoring and management of power consumption at each outlet, providing device-level data that offers a granular view of power usage and capacity in the data center.
Some even integrate with temperature and humidity sensors to provide environmental information at the rack.
Sunbird’s DCIM software complements outlet-metered intelligent rack PDUs by collecting, storing, alerting, and reporting on the data they generate, delivering actionable insights and enabling more informed decision-making.
In this eBook, we will explain the practical advantages of deploying intelligent rack PDUs and Sunbird DCIM. By leveraging these tools, you can maximize the value of both investments and dramatically simplify how you manage your data center.
Data Center Infrastructure Management
Why DCIM?
Power and cooling expenses alone were projected to increase from $25 billion in 2005 to $45 billion by 2010. Data center managers consistently cite rack density, cooling, and power usage as top concerns.
As responsibilities across facilities, networking, and systems have evolved, aligning these functions to reliably, securely, and cost-effectively support the business has become increasingly difficult—making DCIM tools a critical necessity.