Data Center Electrical Power Chain Tool, v2.5 (July 2023)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Center of Expertise for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers · Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The DOE/LBNL Center of Expertise's Excel tool identifies efficiency opportunities in the data centre power chain (transformers, generators, UPS, PDUs, lighting) and estimates energy and cost savings and payback per measure.
On this page
Overview
The tool is an Excel file published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Center of Expertise for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers. It aims to identify efficiency opportunities in the data centre power chain and covers transformers, generators, UPSs, PDUs and lighting. For each measure it calculates energy savings, cost savings and payback.
The tool was released in March 2020 and updated in December 2021 and July 2023; the current file is v2.5 dated 13 July 2023. The 2020 update added more UPS load factors and control options including eco-mode, together with updated efficiency curves. The July 2023 update added transmission and distribution (T&D) losses.
The most important limitation is stated on the resource page itself: savings are based on typical practice, do not account for interactive effects and are not investment-grade. Results should therefore be used to rank opportunities and see orders of magnitude, not as a definitive financial analysis. For designers its value is as a structural example for a power-chain loss model: treating transformer, UPS and PDU efficiency curves by load factor and showing eco-mode options as a separate variable are approaches that can be learned from it.
Key points
- Covers transformers, generators, UPSs, PDUs and lighting, quantifying savings and payback per measure.
- Released March 2020, updated December 2021 and July 2023; current file v2.5 dated 13 July 2023.
- The 2020 update added more UPS load factors, control options including eco-mode and updated efficiency curves.
- The July 2023 update added transmission and distribution (T&D) losses.
- Savings are based on typical practice, do not account for interactive effects and are not investment-grade.
Using it in design
- Benchmark the electrical loss model against this tool's structure: transformer, UPS and PDU efficiency curves by load factor, plus eco-mode.
- Add an optional T&D loss factor for source-energy reporting.
- Use the results as an opportunity ranking; run detailed analysis for investment decisions.
- Remember that measures interact, so total savings may not equal the sum of individual values.
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Who should read it
Electrical designers and energy managers assessing power-chain efficiency.
Publication details
- Authors
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Publisher
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Center of Expertise for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers
- Year
- 2023
- Document number
- v2.5
- 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
Original licence note
LBNL (contractor-operated DOE laboratory) resource; not US-Gov public domain. Cited only.
Citation
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2023). Data Center Electrical Power Chain Tool, v2.5 (July 2023). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Center of Expertise for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers. v2.5. https://datacenters.lbl.gov/resources/electrical-power-chain-tool
Events on this subject
- Electricity Eurasia 2027
- ELECO 2026 Elektrik-Elektronik ve Biyomedikal Mühendisliği Konferansı
- The smarter E Europe (Intersolar Europe, ees Europe, Power2Drive, EM-Power)
All content and rights belong to the respective authors and publishers. SoSo CAD provides only the citation, its own summary and a link to the source, and is not responsible for the sources' content.
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