Simplifying Data Center Sustainability Governance

Written by Mike Jackson, general manager, data centers and industrial software, Eaton

How to streamline data center sustainability governance

Data centers are at the heart of digital economies worldwide. As digitalization accelerates, power loads, cooling costs and water usage are skyrocketing. By 2026, data center electricity use alone is expected to double (source: International Energy Agency, Electricity 2024). How can data centers address increasing pressures to reduce their carbon footprints as digitalization takes off ever faster? Regulators, communities, customers and shareholders are paying attention.

The good news is that relatively small adjustments in data center operations will invariably add up and have a big effect on sustainability. From grid to chip, Eaton’s vast experience as a manufacturer of critical infrastructure and digital solutions will help improve how data centers use energy through meaningful insights that will lead to informed decisions.

Getting ahead of compliance matters 
Traditional metrics like power usage effectiveness (PUE) are becoming insufficient and incomplete to assess and address data center sustainability. PUE only tells you how much power is going in and used for IT equipment. It doesn’t tell you anything about how you’re using water or the effectiveness of your equipment.

The International Organization for Standardization / International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 30314 provides a better framework to understand and optimize data center operations. This methodology addresses key performance indicators (KPIs), such as PUE, Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), renewable energy factor (REF), energy reuse factor (ERF), IT equipment energy efficiency for servers (ITEEsv), IT equipment utilization for servers (ITEUsv), cooling efficiency ratio (CER) and more. Utilizing the ISO/IEC 30314 framework can help data centers better identify areas for improvements.

Beyond providing the metrics data centers need to comply with global standards like ISO/ IEC 30314, we can enable the customized reporting required for your organizational, regional or local compliance requirements.

Holistic approach to impact data center sustainability 
Achieving sustainability goals requires a broad and detailed understanding of energy systems and how, where and when power is used.

Our Brightlayer Data Centers suite includes the industry’s first digital platform to natively provide asset management, IT and operational technology (OT) device monitoring, IT automation, power quality metrics and one-line diagrams in a single, configurable application. Leveraging decades of expertise in the data center industry—from low- and medium-voltage switchgear and transformers to uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), battery storage and power distribution units (PDUs)—our platform brings together information that has been traditionally siloed in disparate applications into a single, simple and comprehensive view of your energy and environmental footprint.

Optimizing data center operations by putting compliance requirements to work 
From end to end, our platform advances sustainability and improves operation by enabling monitoring, management, reporting and optimization.

It includes three solutions that can be used independently or together based on data center needs:

• Data Center Performance Management software (DCPM) monitors and manages IT assets to help drive operational efficiencies and maximize space, power and cooling resources through powerful visualizations, automated reports and dashboards, providing traditional data center infrastructure management (DCIM) capabilities and much more.
• Electrical Power Monitoring System software (EPMS) helps you understand where and when energy is flowing through your facility. Providing real-time and historical visibility for water, air, gas, electricity and steam (WAGES)—it gives you the data-driven insights and reporting needed to reduce energy consumption and comply with sustainability reporting requirements.
• Distributed IT Performance Management software (DITPM) provides remote management and control of network-connected assets, no matter where they are located or who made them. Further, DITPM can help to proactively identify and automate actions to prevent IT equipment from going down providing increased resiliency in your increasingly critical edge locations.

Our proven and holistic digital approach is optimizing and digitalizing global energy systems—from data centers to the electric grid and across commercial and industrial applications. Through our software and digitally-enabled hardware, we are giving customers everywhere an integrated solution and the ability to optimize their operations—from a single core facility to thousands and all the way the edge.

More effective data and reporting on sustainability will help future-proof for compliance and uncover opportunities to reduce resource consumption, increase customer satisfaction and differentiate your business. This is about increasing data center performance by applying digitalization to make your assets work harder, smarter and more sustainably.

Not sure where to start? Request a consultation with one of our solution architects to learn how Eaton can help take data center operations to the next level.

Contact:

Kristin Somers
+1.919.345.3714
Kristincsomers@eaton.com

Regina Parundik
Cobblestone Communications
+1.412.559.1614
Regina@cobblecreative.com