PUSHING the limits of data centre efficiency
WRITTEN BY : HARRY MENEAR
As data centre PUE scores get lower , designers are fighting harder for smaller gains . Darren Watkins , Managing Director , VIRTUS Data Centres
Brian Johnson , Data Centre Segment Head , ABB
Data centre power usage effectiveness ( PUE ) scores have remained relatively stagnant for the past decade , as diminishing returns make it harder and harder to squeeze more efficiency out of a facility .
Back in 2008 , Google ’ s earliest hyperscale facilities were running at average PUEs of around 1.21 more than a decade ago . Microsoft was hitting PUE scores of 1.22 that same year . In 2021 , Google ’ s global data centre footprint regularly hits annual average PUEs of 1.1 , with its hyperscale facility in Quilicura , Chile , reporting an annual PUE for the past 12 months of 1.08 - meaning that virtually all but a fraction of the power consumed by those sites was being used power IT equipment , as opposed to lighting , cooling , and security systems .
Those figures are well below the current Uptime Institute ’ s estimated industry average of 1.58 , even though that average itself hads fallen from 1.8 several years ago . However , as data centre operators ( hyperscalers in particular ) start to push their designs to the very limits of what can 96 October 2021