Energy Efficiency
Best Practice Assessment

Best Practice Assessment

The Best Practice Assessment (BPA) is 42U's flagship data center assessment. A non-invasive data center health check, the BPA identifies ways to cut energy expense and pre-empt risks to uptime and availability.

A point-in-time data center audit including:

• Mechanical Systems Analysis
• Electrical Systems Analysis
• Infrastructure Observations & Measurements
• General Environmental Observations
• Risk Identification
• Efficiency Assessment (PUE)

BPA Deliverable: A detailed report with findings, improvement recommendations, and projected payback periods.

The BPA and its concluding report will evaluate the following areas in your data center and recommend efficiency improvements where appropriate:

Who should consider a Best Practice Assessment?

All data centers stand to benefit from a Best Practice Assessment. If the following scenarios apply to you, you may find the Best Practice Assessment particularly relevant:

• I'm nearing or I've exceeded my power and cooling threshold.
• My data center has been in production for years, but I've never benchmarked my energy use.
• I have plenty of cooling capacity in my data center, but I still experience hotspots.
• My company's carbon initiative includes the data center, but I don't know where to begin.

This assessment provides a baseline on how to improve data center energy efficiency and reliability. The resulting report suggests areas for improvement, identifies best practice opportunities, and provides guidance for prioritization of efficiency projects, which our professional service team can help you undertake.

Air Conditioning System Design and Capacity

• Air Flow - Evaluate volume, velocity, cold air supply and hot air return
• Plenums - Assess volume and pressure in plenum spaces to ensure sufficient server intake airflow
• Relative Humidity Findings - Evaluate relative humidity for ASHRAE compliance and issues
• Temperature Findings - Gauge the thermal conditions for ASHRAE compliance and situations where temperatures could impact equipment reliability or availability

Electrical System Design and Capacity

• Standby Generators - Evaluate generator capacity relative to current and planned equipment loads
• UPS - Examine maintenance and testing strategy as well as assess redundancy attributes

Infrastructure Observations and Measurements

• Cable Management - Evaluate cable sub-system for airflow blockage situations
• Fire Protection - Assess viability of fire protection system and impact on hardware if activated
• Overhead Ducting - Evaluate the airflow in ducting or opportunity for conversion of false ceiling space as a return airflow plenum
• Raised Floor - Inspect the floor structure for strength, seismic design, test for electrical noise levels and grounding best practices

General Environmental Conditions

• Cleanliness - Physical inspection of the data center that identifies situations and practices that can contribute to excessive particulate matter and other issues
• Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) - Evaluate the environment for magnetic fields that can effect equipment performance
• External Environmental Considerations - A more broad review of the site and installation that identifies external conditions that can cause data center performance issues
• Noise Levels - Measure ambient noise levels to ensure OSHA compliance
• Radio Frequency (RF) Emissions - Determine presence and level of high frequency interference
• Security - Evaluate site security relative to industry standards

Efficiency Assessment

• Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) - Establish a value for and describe the implications of this widely recognized efficiency benchmark from The Green Grid that enables benchmarking for tracking efficiency improvements over time
• Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) - Establish a value for and describe the implications of this widely recognized efficiency benchmark from The Green Grid that enables benchmarking for tracking efficiency improvements over time

Efficiency Improvement Recommendations

• PUE/DCiE Improvements - Identification of specific steps that can be taken to improve these measures
• Sub-Systems - Sub-System-specific recommendations that will improve efficiency and reliability

This assessment provides an excellent starting point for determining how to improve data center energy efficiency and reliability. The resulting report suggests areas for improvement and identifies best practice opportunities. The report also provides guidance for prioritization of efficiency projects.

Contact us to find the best Efficiency Service for your data center.

Our engineers can help you select the best Efficiency Solution.
Click here or Call 1-800-638-2638 for a free energy efficiency consultation.