Syracuse University enlists DC power, liquid cooling for Green Data Center

Fueled by increased demand for Internet-delivered services and the ongoing data explosion, new data center projects continue to crop up around the country, despite the sad state of the economy. Fortunately, data center architects are not only embracing best practices for making their facilities as energy efficient as possible, they’re also sharing some of their sustainability secrets while pushing the environmental envelope.

One of the most interesting data center announcements I’ve seen of late comes out of Syracuse University (SU). With public funds as well as support and funding from IBM, the institution recently completed its brand-new, $12.4 million, 12,000-square-foot Green Data Center (GDC), which will use about 50 percent less energy than a typical data center. The facility will be a base from which SU and Big Blue offer research and analysis services for organizations looking to build or renovate energy-efficient data centers.

It’s good to live in DC Part of GDC’s energy savings can be attributed to its use of DC power. Early last year, InfoWorld contributor Logan Harbaugh described how energy waste occurs in data centers built around AC:

In a typical data center environment, power conversions abound along the path from the outside utility pad to the servers. With each conversion, some power is lost. The power starts at the utility pad at 16,000 VAC (volts alternating current), then is converted to 440 VAC, to 220 VAC, then to 110 VAC before it reaches the UPSes feeding each server rack. Each UPS converts the incoming AC power to DC power, then back to AC. The UPSes then distribute that AC power to their respective servers — where it’s converted back to DC. As much as 50 to 70 percent of the electricity that comes into the data center is wasted throughout this long and winding conversion process.

In the GDC, DC power is delivered directly at the appropriate voltage to IBM System z10 servers, thus eliminating waste from conversions. Big Blue’s Power- and z-series servers readily accept either 380 or 575 volts DC directly, according to Edward Seminaro, chief hardware systems engineer for IBM: “When the energy efficiency is combined with the benefits of running an end-to-end DC environment, it is difficult to deploy a system that is greener or more reliable.”

By embracing DC, the school also manages to reclaim precious floor space that would otherwise be lost to additional conversion equipment — plus, there’s the overall green benefit of having fewer pieces of IT equipment manufactured and delivered to the institution.

If other new data center projects have embraced DC power, it’s news to me. Notably, vendors of AC power systems have made their equipment more energy efficient, thereby reducing energy loss between conversions — though eliminating conversion must be the greenest and most efficient approach of all. Perhaps the use of DC will gain more momentum as companies see the sustainability-oriented benefits of the technology.

Off the grid The new Syracuse University facility boasts additional green features that are becoming increasingly common among data centers. For example, the school has its own on-site electrical trigeneration system that runs on natural gas and supplies the data center with all the power it needs. Hence, the data center can operate entirely off the grid, likely a significant cost saver and most certainly a means of reducing the school’s overall carbon footprint.

Syracuse isn’t alone in its strategy of generating power on-site. Intel recently announced plans to implement eight large-scale solar power installations at various sites. Google’s main campus is home to an enormous solar power installation as well, while Fujitsu has a hydrogen fuel cell at its Sunnyvale, Calif., campus.

Keeping it cool IBM and SU also came up with clever approaches to make cooling as efficient as possible in the GDC. For starters, they created a liquid cooling system that uses double-effect absorption to convert the exhaust heat from the aforementioned power generator into chilled water to cool not only servers, but also an adjacent building. Server racks incorporate “cooling doors” that use chilled water to remove heat from each rack more efficiently than conventional room-cooling methods.

The data center also employs sensors to monitor server usage and temperatures to tailor the amount of cooling delivered to each System z10, thus improving efficiency.

A bulk of the funding for the GDC came from IBM, which provided more than $5 million in equipment, design services, and support. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) contributed $2 million to the project, while the New York State Senate is handing over another $500,000.

New York State Senator David Valesky justified the use of public funding in the project, calling it a “smart investment.” He said, “By partnering with public and private organizations, Syracuse University will set a great example and provide much-needed resources for companies and organizations who are looking to reduce both IT costs and their carbon footprint.”

This story, “Syracuse University enlists DC power, liquid cooling for Green Data Center,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in green IT at InfoWorld.com.