Paper concludes that many data centers can realize overall operational cost savings by leveraging looser environmental controls within the wider range of supported temperature and humidity limits as established by equipment manufacturers. Given current historical data available, data centers can achieve these reductions without substantively affecting IT reliability or service availability by adopting a suitable environmental control regime that mitigates the effects of short-duration operation at higher temperatures. Further, given recent industry improvements in IT equipment efficiency, operating at higher supported temperatures may have little or no overall impact on system reliability. Additionally, some of the emerging IT solutions are designed to operate at these higher temperatures with little or no increase in server fan energy consumption. How organizations deploy wider operating ranges may be influenced by procurement lifecycles and equipment selection decisions.
Author(s): The Green Grid