Comments on: British Computer Manufacturer Offers Green Servers for Free

By: Curious Green » Server energy use

Curious Green » Server energy use — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:05:23 +0000

[...] energy use From The Hot Aisle: British Computer Manufacturer Offers Green Servers for Free Published by Steve O’Donnell [...]

By: thehotaisle

thehotaisle — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:58:18 +0000

My understanding from Peter is that VeryPC Servers use less electricity but deliver the same performance as big brand servers, just that they are better designed.

I am very interested in DC power and agree that there can be significant advantages, I think some of your quoted numbers are incorrect. DC Data Centers have a single conversion AC -> DC, AC Data Centers have three conversions AC -> DC -> AC -> DC. Losses in these additional conversions vary by load factor but typically result in a 15% loss.

Some DC designs require huge quantities of copper for low voltage buss bars. High voltage systems can be more sparing of copper but develop lethal DC voltages that kill 100% of the time an operator hangs himself off the wires.

Too dangerous for my tastes.

I plan to deliver a special DC article shortly.

Steve

By: thehotaisle

thehotaisle — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:58:18 +0000

By: Ron Croce

Ron Croce — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:12:49 +0000

I couldn't agree more that in today’s energy-conscious climate, the sticker price of a server is almost laughable compared to what you are going to pay in energy costs over the life cycle of that server. And, while I find this “Free Green Server Trade in Initiative” interesting, I”m not sure it addresses the entire problem. The reason that businesses buy not-so-green servers in the first place is that they are powerful, reliable, and handle the workloads of their business. A nice balance between what VeryPC is doing, and the typical high performance servers, is to look at DC power distribution. DC power distribution is up to 50% more efficient than traditional AC power because of having only 2 conversions (AC to DC) and transformations (higher voltage to lower voltage) from the utility to the point-of-use at the server, compared to 5-7 in AC powered datacenters. Each conversion generates heat (that must be cooled), and by minimizing those steps you can increase your efficiency dramatically. Also, this increases reliability (significantly less physical equipment required for AC power), which in turn enables a denser data center. Not to mention, because of the significantly lower use of copper and other metals required for DC power distribution systems, the carbon footprint is minimized by 50% (http://www.validusdc.com)