Google Leverages Key Environmental Monitoring for Optimal Performance

Environmental monitoring within the data center is essential to ensure the controlled use of resources and optimal performance of the supported network and applications. Google (News - Alert) has developed an innovative approach to power use within the data center that ensures efficiency without compromising functionality.

A recent DatacenterDynamics report featured a breakdown of Google’s design approach in the data center. The company’s changes cut power use and helped to contribute to a 12-month average PUE of 1.15 for facilities of 5MW and higher. To ensure optimal environmental monitoring, the company used a very efficient voltage regular module to ensure the highest energy users were the same components doing the actual computing work.

Google was also able to cut out two of the AC/DC conversation stages simply by placing backup batteries on the server racks. With environmental monitoring in place, Google servers lose only a little more than 15 percent of the electricity they pull from the wall during power conversion steps, which is half of what is typically lost in a server. The company has estimated that its environmental monitoring efforts will contribute annual savings of more than 500 kWh per server compared to the standard system.

In the Growth in Data Center Electricity Use 2005 to 2010 report, Jonathan Koomey highlighted that Google’s data center electricity use is roughly 0.01 percent of total worldwide electricity use, and less than 1 percent of global data center electricity use in 2010. Google focuses on the development of highly optimized servers and the use of environmental monitoring technologies.

Google also optimizes servers and tacks to ensure the minimal use of fan power. The fans are controlled to spin only as fast as necessary to ensure server temperature is below a specific threshold. The company also encourages all suppliers to produce components that operate efficiently while they are idle, at lower usage levels, or at full capacity. Internal environmental monitoring studies conducted by Google have determined that more energy-proportional systems can cut the total energy used by large data center operations in half.

Google recommends that data centers switch off dehumidifying and reheating functions on the CRACS. The company highlighted that most environmental monitoring tools are set to dehumidify the air to 40 percent and reheat the same air if the return air is to cold. These functions, according to Google, are simply not needed.

It is critical that all data centers implement effective environmental monitoring tools and capabilities to track energy usage in the data center and protect components and technologies from environmental factors that could interrupt operation.