Uptime CEO: Low PUE Numbers ‘Scientifically Meaningless’

August 26, 2008

Email this story Print this post Add your comments

The Power Utilization Effectiveness metric can potentially be useful for determining the gross performance of data center electrical and mechanical systems. However, Kenneth Brill, executive director at Uptime Institute, which developed the concept, warns that PUE claims of 0.9, 1.2 or 1.6 in marketing materials are probably misleading. The typical numbers seen by the Uptime Institute? 2.0 or higher, Forbes reports.

PUE – which is being promoted by the Green Grid – measures the energy going into the data center and the energy delivered to IT equipment, with the difference being “power and cooling overhead.” A PUE of 2.0 means that for every two watts at the meter, only one watt gets to the IT hardware.

Brill writes that PUE claims of 0.9 are “scientifically meaningless, because the marketer making this claim would need to have invented a perpetual motion machine with more energy coming out than coming in.”

Here are some tips Brill recommends:

1. Ask for PUE numbers to be tied to a utility bill and verified by an independent third party to prevent the numbers from being altered.

2. Be aware that electricity is only one of a number of data center energy sources, so some PUE numbers may appear better than they really are.

3. Power is measured at an instant in time, whereas energy is power over time, so a PUE of 1.2 or 1.6 might be accurate but only true at a very carefully selected instant in time.

4. Benchmarking is useful only if you are comparing yourself with others with similar power and cooling equipment types, percentages of load utilization, tier design levels and ZIP codes.

A recent report, developed in part by Uptime, called for an immediate overhaul of corporate management practices and a doubling of the energy efficiency of large-scale corporate computing facilities by 2012.

Email this story Print this post Add your comments

Advertisers

Make sustainability part of your strategy.

Get equipped at the SAP Sustainability Resource Center. >>

Unclear about the EPA's new GHG Rule?

Learn how it could affect your business. >>

EPA mandatory emissions reporting starts Jan 1st

CSA Standards can help your organization get ready for compliance. Find out how. >>

Survey Results: Product Environmental Compliance Best Practices

How to achieve compliance at a significantly lower cost. Download the full report. >>

Join the Discussion

Reader Comments

I don’t think that the Uptime Institue developed PUE. The DOE/EPA created the ratio, the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) in their August 2007 study. The Green Grid then branded the same ratio as PUE.

Jacque Swartz | January 14th, 2009

Recent Daily News [ see all ]

11/20/2009
11/19/2009
11/18/2009

Charts [ see all ]

European Paper Industry Cuts CO2 Emissions by 42% since 1990

S. America Takes Most Urgent View of Copenhagen Talks

Nike Tops Annual Climate Action Scores

Oceans May Trap more Carbon than Forests

Jobs

View All Jobs >> Post a Job >>

Comments and Discussions

Trade Association on Trade Group on EPA Chemical Regs: ‘If Everything is a Priority, Then Nothing is a Priority’
"Seriously… that..."

Gary Markowitz on Supermarkets Tackle Emissions Reductions, Fuel Efficiency
"Supermarkets waste over 10 percent of their energy through improper..."

peter in ireland on Ontario May Follow California’s Lead on TV Energy Efficiency
"Governor Schwarzenegger is shooting himself in the foot! 1...."

Environmental Leader on S. America Takes Most Urgent View of Copenhagen Talks
"The survey respondents (the PDF report mentions 4,000 respondents in 38..."

Jake on UPS Trying New Hydraulic Hybrid Trucks
"A point of clarification: the Reuters press release referenced herein reports that 20 UPS will purchase..."

Custom Organic Shirts on S. America Takes Most Urgent View of Copenhagen Talks
"90% of North Americans believe it is urgent to get a global climate..."

peter dublin on California City’s Green Building Ordinance Applies to Commercial Buildings
"Why energy efficiebnt regulation on buildings –..."

Environmental Leader