IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v183y2016icp1528-1549.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy, environmental and economical saving potential of data centers with various economizers across Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Habibi Khalaj, Ali
  • Scherer, Thomas
  • K. Halgamuge, Saman

Abstract

One of the main concerns in designing and operating data centers is the significant energy consumption of the cooling systems. Over the past years, developing and applying more energy efficient cooling strategies to reduce the environmental footprint and the total cost of ownership of data centers has drawn considerable attention. Cooling systems with air-side economizer cycle provide one of the most efficient methods. Their effectiveness in terms of energy and exergy, and the environmental and economical impact have been analyzed quantitatively in this research. Since the effectiveness highly depends on the local climate conditions, the analysis has been carried out for 23 locations across Australia. First, a detailed cooling load of the data center has been estimated by considering the workload and heat generation characteristics of the running IT equipment. Then, a comprehensive energy, exergy, environment and economic model of nine different air-side economizer cycles has been developed. Finally, the effectiveness and profitability of each economizer cycle has been compared to a conventional cooling system by evaluating the annual and monthly saving potential at each location. The air-side economizers can yield maximum savings of 84%, 80%, 75% and 85% in the annual cooling energy consumption, exergy destruction, CO2 emission and cooling costs, respectively. The power usage effectiveness (PUE) of the data centers can be also reduced from an average of 1.42 to 1.22. These savings and efficiency enhancements are highly correlated with the type and geographic location of the air-side economizers. In general, the saving potential increases as we move further south in Australia, due to more favorable climate conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Scherer, Thomas & K. Halgamuge, Saman, 2016. "Energy, environmental and economical saving potential of data centers with various economizers across Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1528-1549.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:183:y:2016:i:c:p:1528-1549
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.09.053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916313551
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.09.053?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Durand-Estebe, Baptiste & Le Bot, Cédric & Mancos, Jean Nicolas & Arquis, Eric, 2014. "Simulation of a temperature adaptive control strategy for an IWSE economizer in a data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 45-56.
    2. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Scherer, Thomas & Siriwardana, Jayantha & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2015. "Multi-objective efficiency enhancement using workload spreading in an operational data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 432-444.
    3. Bulut, Hüsamettin & Aktacir, Mehmet Azmi, 2011. "Determination of free cooling potential: A case study for Istanbul, Turkey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 680-689, March.
    4. Wang, Jiangjiang & Zhai, Zhiqiang (John) & Jing, Youyin & Zhang, Chunfa, 2010. "Particle swarm optimization for redundant building cooling heating and power system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 3668-3679, December.
    5. Sun, Xiaoqin & Zhang, Quan & Medina, Mario A. & Liu, Yingjun & Liao, Shuguang, 2014. "A study on the use of phase change materials (PCMs) in combination with a natural cold source for space cooling in telecommunications base stations (TBSs) in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 95-103.
    6. Ebrahimi, Khosrow & Jones, Gerard F. & Fleischer, Amy S., 2014. "A review of data center cooling technology, operating conditions and the corresponding low-grade waste heat recovery opportunities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 622-638.
    7. Dai, Jun & Das, Diganta & Pecht, Michael, 2012. "Prognostics-based risk mitigation for telecom equipment under free air cooling conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 423-429.
    8. Ham, Sang-Woo & Kim, Min-Hwi & Choi, Byung-Nam & Jeong, Jae-Weon, 2015. "Energy saving potential of various air-side economizers in a modular data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 258-275.
    9. Siriwardana, Jayantha & Jayasekara, Saliya & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2013. "Potential of air-side economizers for data center cooling: A case study for key Australian cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 207-219.
    10. Depoorter, Victor & Oró, Eduard & Salom, Jaume, 2015. "The location as an energy efficiency and renewable energy supply measure for data centres in Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 338-349.
    11. Cho, Jinkyun & Kim, Yundeok, 2016. "Improving energy efficiency of dedicated cooling system and its contribution towards meeting an energy-optimized data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 967-982.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leehter Yao & Jin-Hao Huang, 2019. "Multi-Objective Optimization of Energy Saving Control for Air Conditioning System in Data Center," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Deymi-Dashtebayaz, Mahdi & Norani, Marziye, 2021. "Sustainability assessment and emergy analysis of employing the CCHP system under two different scenarios in a data center," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    3. Maria Avgerinou & Paolo Bertoldi & Luca Castellazzi, 2017. "Trends in Data Centre Energy Consumption under the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Abdulla, Khalid & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2018. "Towards the stand-alone operation of data centers with free cooling and optimally sized hybrid renewable power generation and energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 451-472.
    5. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2017. "A Review on efficient thermal management of air- and liquid-cooled data centers: From chip to the cooling system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1165-1188.
    6. Jin-Hyun Lee & Yong-Shik Kim & Jae-Hun Jo & Hyun Cho & Young-Hum Cho, 2018. "Development of Economizer Control Method with Variable Mixed Air Temperature," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Hu, Zhi-Hua & Zheng, Yu-Xin & Wang, You-Gan, 2022. "Packing computing servers into the vessel of an underwater data center considering cooling efficiency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    8. Mahbod, Muhammad Haiqal Bin & Chng, Chin Boon & Lee, Poh Seng & Chui, Chee Kong, 2022. "Energy saving evaluation of an energy efficient data center using a model-free reinforcement learning approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    9. Xin Yan & Min Chen & Mu-Yen Chen, 2019. "Coupling and Coordination Development of Australian Energy, Economy, and Ecological Environment Systems from 2007 to 2016," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Isazadeh, Amin & Ziviani, Davide & Claridge, David E., 2023. "Global trends, performance metrics, and energy reduction measures in datacom facilities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    11. Vesterlund, Mattias & Borisová, Stanislava & Emilsson, Ellinor, 2024. "Data center excess heat for mealworm farming, an applied analysis for sustainable protein production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    12. Sikai Zou & Chang Yue & Ting Xiao & Xingyi Ma & Yiwei Wang, 2023. "Study on Effects of Operating Parameters on a Water-Cooled Loop Thermosyphon System under Partial Server Utilization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, August.
    13. Zhou, Jing & Kanbur, Baris Burak & Le, Duc Van & Tan, Rui & Duan, Fei, 2023. "Multi-criteria assessments of increasing supply air temperature in tropical data center," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    14. Silva-Llanca, Luis & Ortega, Alfonso & Fouladi, Kamran & del Valle, Marcelo & Sundaralingam, Vikneshan, 2018. "Determining wasted energy in the airside of a perimeter-cooled data center via direct computation of the Exergy Destruction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 235-246.
    15. Gupta, Rohit & Asgari, Sahar & Moazamigoodarzi, Hosein & Pal, Souvik & Puri, Ishwar K., 2020. "Cooling architecture selection for air-cooled Data Centers by minimizing exergy destruction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    16. M. Hasan Jamal & M. Tayyab Chaudhry & Usama Tahir & Furqan Rustam & Soojung Hur & Imran Ashraf, 2022. "Hotspot-Aware Workload Scheduling and Server Placement for Heterogeneous Cloud Data Centers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Cristina Ramos Cáceres & Suzanna Törnroth & Mattias Vesterlund & Andreas Johansson & Marcus Sandberg, 2022. "Data-Center Farming: Exploring the Potential of Industrial Symbiosis in a Subarctic Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-23, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Borkowski, Mateusz & Piłat, Adam Krzysztof, 2022. "Customized data center cooling system operating at significant outdoor temperature fluctuations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    2. Xiaofei Huang & Junwei Yan & Xuan Zhou & Yixin Wu & Shichen Hu, 2023. "Cooling Technologies for Internet Data Center in China: Principle, Energy Efficiency, and Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-31, October.
    3. Cho, Jinkyun & Kim, Yundeok, 2016. "Improving energy efficiency of dedicated cooling system and its contribution towards meeting an energy-optimized data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 967-982.
    4. Chu, Wen-Xiao & Wang, Chi-Chuan, 2019. "A review on airflow management in data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 84-119.
    5. Li, Jian & Jurasz, Jakub & Li, Hailong & Tao, Wen-Quan & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yan, Jinyue, 2020. "A new indicator for a fair comparison on the energy performance of data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Heran Jing & Zhenhua Quan & Yaohua Zhao & Lincheng Wang & Ruyang Ren & Ruixue Dong & Yuting Wu, 2022. "Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer and Flow Characteristics of Split Natural Cooling System for Data Center Based on Micro Heat Pipe Array," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2017. "A Review on efficient thermal management of air- and liquid-cooled data centers: From chip to the cooling system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1165-1188.
    8. Zhang, Hainan & Shao, Shuangquan & Tian, Changqing & Zhang, Kunzhu, 2018. "A review on thermosyphon and its integrated system with vapor compression for free cooling of data centers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 789-798.
    9. Petrović, Stefan & Colangelo, Alessandro & Balyk, Olexandr & Delmastro, Chiara & Gargiulo, Maurizio & Simonsen, Mikkel Bosack & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2020. "The role of data centres in the future Danish energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    10. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Abdulla, Khalid & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2018. "Towards the stand-alone operation of data centers with free cooling and optimally sized hybrid renewable power generation and energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 451-472.
    11. Isazadeh, Amin & Ziviani, Davide & Claridge, David E., 2023. "Global trends, performance metrics, and energy reduction measures in datacom facilities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    12. Vesterlund, Mattias & Borisová, Stanislava & Emilsson, Ellinor, 2024. "Data center excess heat for mealworm farming, an applied analysis for sustainable protein production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    13. Ying Wang & Xiang Huang & Junjie Chu & Yan Du & Xing Tang & Cong Dai & Gang Ma, 2022. "Analysis of an Evaporative Condensation System Coupled to a Microchannel-Separated Heat Pipe for Data Centers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-18, November.
    14. Sijun Xu & Hua Zhang & Zilong Wang, 2023. "Thermal Management and Energy Consumption in Air, Liquid, and Free Cooling Systems for Data Centers: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-25, January.
    15. Wang, Wei & Abdolrashidi, Amirali & Yu, Nanpeng & Wong, Daniel, 2019. "Frequency regulation service provision in data center with computational flexibility," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Han, Zongwei & Ji, Qiang & Wei, Haotian & Xue, Da & Sun, Xiaoqing & Zhang, Xueping & Li, Xiuming, 2020. "Simulation study on performance of data center air-conditioning system with novel evaporative condenser," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    17. Dai, Jun & Das, Diganta & Ohadi, Michael & Pecht, Michael, 2013. "Reliability risk mitigation of free air cooling through prognostics and health management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 104-112.
    18. Zhang, Hainan & Shao, Shuangquan & Xu, Hongbo & Zou, Huiming & Tian, Changqing, 2014. "Free cooling of data centers: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 171-182.
    19. Zhang, Hainan & Shao, Shuangquan & Xu, Hongbo & Zou, Huiming & Tang, Mingsheng & Tian, Changqing, 2017. "Simulation on the performance and free cooling potential of the thermosyphon mode in an integrated system of mechanical refrigeration and thermosyphon," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1604-1612.
    20. Cristina Ramos Cáceres & Suzanna Törnroth & Mattias Vesterlund & Andreas Johansson & Marcus Sandberg, 2022. "Data-Center Farming: Exploring the Potential of Industrial Symbiosis in a Subarctic Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-23, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:183:y:2016:i:c:p:1528-1549. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.