May Monthly Meeting, Data Center Cooling in Hot Arid Climates

Leila Karimi and Kerri Hickenbottom from The University of Arizona have written a paper titled, Modeling Cooling Infrastructure for Energy and Water Conservation in Data Center Buildings: Insights from a Hot-Arid Climate Study and would like to present it to people in our industry.  

Abstract:

Data centers (DCs) growth has resulted in increased energy and water usage for computer room cooling, influenced by climate conditions. This study developed 8760-energy and water models to estimate the hourly energy and water use in Phoenix, AZ DCs, and examined three cooling systems (air-cooled chillers, water-cooled chillers, and evaporative cooling) with a particular emphasis on seasonal effects. The models also estimate the energy and water savings using air-side and water-side economizers (ASE and WSE) year-round. The air-cooled chillers consume the most energy and source water annually, while water-cooled chillers have the largest onsite water use. Utilizing ASE results in approximately 24% energy and source water savings for air-cooled chillers and 32% onsite water savings for water-cooled chillers, contributing to reduced environmental impacts. Integrating pre-cooling effects in air cooled chillers results in 8% annual energy savings. Chillers can be operational throughout the year, while evaporative systems integrated with ASE provide cooling for only 51% of the year. Without computer room aisle containment, ASE can cool the DCs for approximately 36% of the year, while WSE can cool the DCs for approximately 3% of the year. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing energy and water usage in DC cooling that inform future DC design and operation, with a focus on minimizing environmental impacts and promoting sustainability.

We hope everyone can attend and provide feedback.