How to Respond to Increased Data Center Demand & Energy Cost in 2023

As the New Year dawns, Data Center Operators are faced with rising energy prices stemming from diverse factors such as Inflation, Ukraine, and supply chain issues. Meanwhile, the demand for storage and processing of digital information has never been greater. What can the busy Data Center manager do with the increased cost and increased demand in 2023?

Figure 1: Purkay Labs’ Static Heat Map to Baseline your Aisles

One method  is to create a cooling optimization plan for your Data Center. This means auditing your environment to see if there are areas that are too hot or too cold, or if there are some low hanging fruit to eliminate, like gaps in the servers or tiles. If your environment is doing well, then this might be the time to evaluate whether you can increase inlet air temperatures and improve the delta-T across the server. 

The challenge is to find where. This requires detailed measurement of air temperatures for both the inlet and outlet temperatures for the entire data center. Unfortunately, few Data Centers have sensors in all the cabinets to yield the data to identify where the opportunities for improvement lie. 

Figure 2: AUDIT-BUDDY On-Site

We designed the AUDIT-BUDDY system with this objective in mind. With the carbon fiber rod and three sensor design, Data Center Manager easily measure the entire data center without affecting operations.  Armed with this data, the manager now can find areas of opportunity. Once those issues are addressed, the air flow will be optimized. This is a gift that keeps on giving. Once the airflow is reduced, this in turn reduces the operating cost. This improved the PUE, reduces the carbon footprint, and makes the C-Suite very happy. 

Using the AUDIT-BUDDY system is akin to hooking the car to the computer for the annual inspection. Just like the diagnostic codes, AUDIT-BUDDY  will highlight where the issues lie within the Data Center. This is a must have tool to fight the inflationary pressures that the Data Center Manager is facing today. Regular thermal audits of the entire data center will allow the user to manage the energy costs going forward, reducing OpEx despite a turbulent geopolitical environment outside.