Digital Realty to Publish PUE Data for Its Sites
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) has begun publishing energy efficiency data about its data center facilities using the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric. Digital Realty said it is now using PUE for measuring and reporting energy efficiency in its portfolio of 70 facilities spanning 12.6 million square feet across North America and Europe. The company said it will also publish benchmarks that will support industry-wide initiatives to make datacenters greener and reduce expenditures on energy.
PUE is an emerging standard promoted by The Green Grid and others in the data center industry to provide a consistent way to measure the ratio of power delivered to IT equipment versus the total amount of power used by the facility. PUE allows data center managers to calculate how much power is driving the actual IT equipment versus non-IT elements such as cooling and lighting.
"PUE is a compelling way to measure energy efficiency in datacenter facilities because it offers our industry an apples-to-apples comparison similar to the miles-per-gallon (MPG) fuel efficiency rating that the auto industry uses," said Jim Smith, Vice President of Engineering at Digital Realty Trust. "Regardless of whether you are driving a pickup truck or a sports car, miles per gallon is a clear standard for measuring efficiency across all makes and models – and PUE provides that same kind of standard to evaluating efficiency in the datacenter world."
So which of Digital Realty's data centers have the best PUE?
Thus far the company has published information on a handful of facilities. Here's a review of the available data (numbers closer to 1 indicate more efficient facilities):
- The entire facility at 3011 Lafayette Street in Santa Clara, California has a PUE of 1.49
- Suite 102 at 1100 Space Park in Santa Clara has a PUE metric of 1.51.
- Suite 106 at 200 Paul Avenue in San Francisco has a PUE of 1.56.
- Suite 160 at 200 Paul Avenue in San Francisco has a PUE of 1.65
- Suite 230 at 3 Corporate Place in Piscataway, New Jersey has a PUE of 1.68
"This is just the first phase in providing valuable energy performance data to our customers," said Smith. "By the fourth quarter of 2008, we expect to deliver password protected portal access which will enable a customer to see real-time graphical representations of their energy utilization. Through the publication of PUE performance and the delivery of this real time data, Digital Realty Trust will be placing critical information into our customers hands, allowing them to monitor their energy usage more efficiently and make fact-based decisions to help them reduce their on-going energy costs."
"Companies are seeking more information about how to achieve their green IT goals and are looking for guidance from the data center industry about standards for doing so," said Chris Crosby, Senior Vice President at Digital Realty Trust. "No other datacenter facility company is supporting customers in this way, and we are proud to be at the forefront of the energy efficiency movement."
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By Rich Miller 
May 01, 2008 | Permalink | >Get Posts By E-mail
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