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Storage: Big Data Centers Protest Cooling Requirements
It’s not often that you’ll see tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Nokia publicly agree to anything. But these companies are united against a new standard that controls how they build and operate their data centers. The complaints are against a standard issued by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). ASHRAE sets efficiency standards that are used in building construction. This new standard, ASHRAE Standard 90.1, would affect the building of data centers. An example of the dislike of the new standard can be seen in this posting by Google.
The tech companies are worried that the new guidelines are too “prescriptive” and will block them from innovating different ways to cool their data centers. The requirement specifically calls out the use of air or water economizers. Air economizers bring in outside fresh air to supplement the cooling from mechanical air conditioners, and their use can often reduce overall energy use. It should be noted that Google is currently seeking patents on Data Cooling methods that differ from air economizers.
Nik Simpson from the Burton group commented that “the truth is that economizers are just one approach to achieving more efficient energy usage and the best approach will vary based on a host of factors. For example, one company might favor widespread adoption of server virtualization as a way to reduce energy consumption, while another might be able to scavenge energy from the waste heat produced by the data center and use it to heat buildings.”
James Hamilton, and engineer with Amazon, said that “I think we’re all uniformly in agreement with ASHRAE in the intent of 90.1. What’s needed to make it a truly influential and high-quality standard is that it be changed to be performance-based rather than prescriptive.”
In a parallel development, recently the US, Japan and Europe have agreed to a metric (The Power Usage Effectiveness Metric) for measuring data center efficiency.
