General Recommendations for a Federal Data Center Energy Management Dashboard Display (FEMP, July 2014)

Overview

This document is a guidance paper dated July 2014, prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for the US DOE Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Its subject is what a data centre energy management dashboard should show to IT managers, facility managers and executives. The document is freely available.

The guidance defines three measurement levels: minimum (Level 1), best practical (Level 2) and state-of-the-art (Level 3). The indicated PUE estimate accuracy is about +30% for Level 1, +15% for Level 2 and better than +5% for Level 3. The author recommends a Level 3 measurement package, subject to budget.

The document also provides example dashboards for PUE, end-use energy and capacity management; examples for all users, IT managers and facility managers using Level 3 tools appear in Figures 4-6. Its scope is a 2014 federal facility context, so dashboard layouts should be adapted to today's tools, but the relationship between measurement level and uncertainty remains a useful guide.

Key points

1. Three measurement levels are defined: minimum (Level 1), best practical (Level 2), state-of-the-art (Level 3).
2. Indicated PUE estimate accuracy: about +30% for Level 1, +15% for Level 2, better than +5% for Level 3.
3. The author recommends a Level 3 measurement package, subject to budget.
4. Example dashboards for all users, IT managers and facility managers using Level 3 tools (Figures 4-6).
5. Examples cover PUE, end-use energy and capacity management.
6. Audience is IT managers, facility managers and executives.
7. Related reference: The Green Grid PUE measurement categories.

Using it in design

• In the metering design tool, let users pick Level 1/2/3 metering and display the resulting PUE uncertainty band.
• Build dashboard export templates on the role-based layouts.
• Show the accuracy gain explicitly when metering budget decisions are made.

Who should read it

Engineers designing data centre energy metering and monitoring dashboards, and facility and IT managers.

Related standards

• The Green Grid PUE measurement categories

Publication details

Authors

Rod Mahdavi

Publisher

U.S. DOE Federal Energy Management Program / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Year

2014

Document language

English

Source type

Government / public

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation