Monitoring IT Energy Usage
An article in the June 2016 issue of Networking+ magazine (www.networkingplus.co.uk) revealed that many of London’s councils are not monitoring IT energy usage when it comes to the power consumption of their desktop computers. All 32 London boroughs were sent Freedom of Information requests and asked questions about the power consumption of their desktop computers, and if they had strategies to reduce IT energy consumption. 25 London boroughs responded, and of those 25 only seven of them were able to accurately calculate power consumption.
So why is monitoring IT energy usage so important?
Unless power consumption is being effectively monitored it is extremely difficult to know how best to make improvements, turning IT equipment off at night or when it’s not in use may save energy but how much? When equipment is being proactively monitored it’s possible to identify which equipment may need to be replaced with a more energy efficient version, maybe one brand of computer is more energy efficient than another or maybe a piece of equipment requires reconfiguring to make it more efficient for example enabling power saving modes.
There are various solutions on the market for monitoring energy usage in any environment from simple power clamps to fully wired or wireless monitoring systems. Here are a few that are available from EDP Europe:
Intelligent PDUs
EDP Europe offers intelligent PDUs from a number of manufacturers including our own iPower range. Most intelligent PDUs provide overall power monitoring so you’ll be able to see exactly how much power has been consumed by all of the connected equipment. Some are available with outlet monitoring this enables you to monitor the power consumption of a specific piece of equipment connected to an individual outlet on the PDU. You can also purchase intelligent PDUs that give you the facility to remotely turn on or off outlets so enabling equipment to be powered down or power cycled.
iMeter
iMeter is a flexible and scalable system that can be implemented without any downtime required. An intelliAmp current sensor is installed onto the power cord of an existing PDU or individual piece of equipment and connected to a master control unit. The control unit can then be accessed over IP via a standard web browser to see all the power consumption data.
Packet Power
Packet Power forms its own self-configuring wireless network that provides the easiest, most cost effective way to capture detailed power and temperature information. Smart AC power cables can be connected to equipment or PDUs and automatically form a mesh network to transmit data to an Ethernet Gateway. The captured data can then be viewed using the Packet Power EMX portal via a web browser. The Packet Power solution can be expanded as your requirement grows and can even be used to monitor power directly from busway systems or can also incorporate DC power monitoring.
Which ever method of power monitoring you go for, once you know how much power your facility is using you can make more informed decisions regarding how best to make changes to improve its energy efficiency, or in the case of co-location data centres how much you should be charging clients for their energy usage.
For more information or assistance on which system would be best for your requirement contact our sales team.
