Power Assure Products Used in UNFCC Methodology

Data center infrastructure and energy management provider Power Assure Inc. has announced that two of its products form “the foundation” of a new United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change monitoring methodology.

Power Assure’s EM/4 Dynamic Power Management product and PAR4/UL2640 for IT equipment baseline measurements are the basis of the UNFCCC’s baseline and monitoring methodology AM105: “Energy efficiency in data centres through dynamic power management.”

This methodology is based on the protocol NM0350 “Improving Energy Efficiency in Data Centers through Dynamic Power Management,” prepared and proposed by Power Assure and carbon finance specialist Carbonomics.

The UN methodology aims to help data centers realize potential energy savings and carbon reduction. The methodology has a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region and other developing countries where carbon emission reduction credits can be traded and sold to buyers in industrialized countries that have reduction targets under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. CDM credit trading is now a multi-billion dollar market, Power Assure says.

With financial incentives, data centers can move from an “always-on” model to an “always-available” model, where only the amount of equipment needed to support actual application demand runs – unlike today, when all servers, storage and cooling equipment is turned on in expectation of a utilization spike, irrespective of the actual need, the company says.

The data center market is growing rapidly in Asia-Pacific and other developing region markets, and will represent a significant proportion – over 10 percent – of total grid loads in some regions.  According to the 2011 Gartner Data Center Market Study, the number of data centers of all sizes in developing countries is increasing rapidly compared to rest of world. As such, this methodology provides a mechanism for the data center to monetize its operational IT efficiency improvements, Power Assure says.

The UN and the World Bank are currently using CDM credits to encourage pig farms in the Philippines to cut emissions. The UNFCCC registered a Programme of Activity for piggeries under the Methane Recovery from Waste Management Project, which allows farms across the Philippines to generate carbon credits by installing proper waste management systems and reduce the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The Spanish Carbon Fund, administered by the World Bank, is buying the piggeries’ carbon credits.