Data Centers

QuEST’s data center initiatives address the duel challenges of reducing energy use and operating expenditures while maintaining the superior reliability that a large segment of the population depends on.

Data center facilities are typically over-cooled and operated inefficiently. Common control strategies regulate the supply return temperatures of CRAC/CRAH units and supply fans operate at a fixed, high speed. No temperature feedback information is available at the server level, so supply temperatures are set conservatively low. As a result, the fans deliver more supply air than necessary and thus consume more energy than required to meet the cooling demand.

To address these and other inefficiencies, QuEST conducts a detailed engineering analysis of current energy use, cooling strategies, and temperatures throughout the data center. Opportunities for energy savings are identified, and QuEST provides support for implementing these measures. Example measures include installing temperature control systems to adjust cooling in real time based on server inlet temperature, use of economizers to capture “free” cooling using outside air, installation of variable frequency drives (VFD) to scale fan energy use as a function of cooling load, and implementation of hot/cold aisle configurations.

QuEST recognizes that each data center is unique and will provide recommendations specific to each facility that are both feasible and cost effective.