Riello UPS General Manager Leo Craig explains how modern uninterruptible power supplies can help facilities managers cut their data centre power consumption.
Smart technologies and the rising importance of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are having a significant impact on the facilities management sector.
There’s a growing number of onsite data centres that facilities managers need to effectively manage. For any data centre, operational uptime is the key objective. However, energy consumption is another important criteria to consider.
Premises and Facilities Management (PFM) magazine spoke to several leading industry figures to get their opinions on how to encourage data centre efficiency for facilities managers.
UPS Power Supplies For Facilities Managers
Our General Manager Leo Craig shares his insight on the role UPS systems can have on minimising a server room’s power requirements.
Leo explains how a UPS is a vital safety net for estate managers. A reliable UPS power supply minimises the damage caused by blackouts and other electrical issues. He goes on to explain how recent technological developments have helped enhance UPS efficiency.
“Until recent years, UPS systems arguably contributed to the issue of high data centre energy consumption. They were the big black boxes in the server room, needing lots of air conditioning to operate safely and using transformer-based technology that wasn’t particularly efficient.
“Thankfully, technology has come on in leaps and bounds. Firstly, most modern UPS are transformerless, which can boost operational efficiency by around 5%.
“We’ve also seen the evolution of modular UPS, compact yet power-packed systems which closely match a data centre’s actual load requirements, reducing the risk of wasteful oversizing at initial installation and during day-to-day operations.
– Leo Craig of Riello UPS
Our General Manager also highlights the rise of smart grid-ready UPS. These standby power systems use battery storage to save energy that can either be used instead of expensive peak-time mains supply or fed back into the grid through demand side response (DSR).
Either way, such modern power supplies help facilities managers keep their data centre electricity use in check.
Other experts contributing to the feature mention several other popular efficiency methods. These include data centre cooling, thermal management, cleaning, and security.
Read more about improving data centre efficiency for facilities managers from p14 of May’s PFM magazine
