“Green” your existing facility by using power more efficiently.
“Going Green” is top of mind for many companies, organizations, institutions and government entities these days. And while “green energy” to many people conjures images of wind or solar power, there are many opportunities to “green” existing facilities by using power more efficiently. That was the message the Staco’s Rich Zuccarro, Power Factor Correction Program Manager delivered in his address to the 2010 World Green Energy Symposium & Expo held recently in Philadelphia, PA.
As utilities are increasingly levying fines and surcharges for poor power factor, there is a well defined payback for power factor correction projects.
As evidenced by the thousands of attendees at this recent event, as well as the dozens who listened intently to Rich’s presentations, energy efficiency is top of mind within many organizations. And it is not just the “tree huggers” who are taking note. As utilities are increasingly levying fines and surcharges for poor power factor, there is a well defined payback for power factor correction projects. This allows them to green both their operations and their bottom line. Not a bad entrée for Staco Energy.
Recall that poor power factor is essentially the inefficient use of supplied power. This is very common in both low voltage and high voltage applications. On the low voltage side, induction motors though widely used in manufacturing facilities, warehousing and materials handling environments, and more, are notoriously inefficient. Standard “off the shelf” fixed capacitors can correct these “at load” situations effectively and cost effectively. Visit http://www.stacoenergy.com/PFC-ML.html for information on 2.5 to 400 kVAR applications.
Staco offers a host of automatic (switched) reactive power and harmonic compensation solutions for high voltage applications. Sizes from 50 to 2,400 kVAR are available, with individual units up to 800 kVAR. Ideal for 240 to 600 VAC fixed or automatically switched systems. Basic information is available online at http://www.stacoenergy.com/PFC.html – many documents are available here which detail specific instances and applications.
Our plan is to update the website with user-friendly tools which equate power factor correction with carbon dioxide reductions – and ensuing “carbon credits.” Look for additional information on this topic in a future issue!
Industry News•
on May 10th, 2010•
A new section of the Dayton, Ohio-based Staco Energy Products Co. website, the Energy Savings Community, helps users better understand their energy usage. The Financial Power Diet discusses power factor and how its correction can help to lower utility bills immediately. A chart, which shows a hypothetical energy usage scenario, can be adapted to each user’s own situation. To view the online energy savings calculator within the energy savings community, visit the company’s website.
Greening, Power•
on December 29th, 2009•
Based in Smithfield, RI, Bryant University (www.bryant.edu) has 3,200 undergraduate students from 31 US states and 32 countries around the globe, and a further 400 graduate students. Bryant has a proud history of excellence and innovation, and was recently named one of the “Top 25 Most Connected Campuses” in The Princeton Review.
Rapid growth in the use of IT by students and faculty members was putting Bryant’s infrastructure under intense pressure. The organization lacked a true enterprise-class data center, and its existing computer sites were reaching their limits in terms of space, power and cooling capacity.
By selecting an IBM Scalable Modular Data Center solution with APC’s InfraStruXure¨ architecture, IBM designed and built an energy-efficient data center for Bryant at a fraction of the cost of a typical solution. Art Gloster, CIO, comments: “The IBM and APC solution delivered significant capital and operational cost savings, providing a compact yet highly scalable infrastructure. We estimate that the solution is 30 percent more efficient in power and cooling terms alone, both reducing expenditure and underlining the University’s commitment to environmental sustainability.”
Out-of-the-box solution
Bryant’s decentralized infrastructure– 75 servers across three rooms–was inefficient, with average utilization under 10 percent. Most of the servers had no UPS, raising the risk for the organization, and the lack of standardization made them difficult to manage. Bryant embarked on a program of centralization and consolidation, planning to virtualize its existing servers and run them on standardized hardware in a purpose-built data center.
“We consulted several vendors, and it was clear that IBM had the edge in terms of innovative ideas,” says Gloster. “IBM brought APC to the table, and together they showed how we could gain a robust, compact and highly efficient data center at less than 20 percent of the cost of a standard raised-floor alternative.”
IBM proposed a complete turn-key data center solution using the IBM BladeCenter servers and the IBM Scalable Modular Data Center infrastructure, utilizing the APC
InfrStuXure architecture, for a complete, energy- and space-efficient solution. The IBM solution provided the necessary power and cooling, which is both modular and scalable, utilizing a targeted InRowª cooling solution, which is very energy efficient compared to perimeter cooling, which simply pumps cold air through the entire data center, even in areas where it is not needed.
During the design phase, the location of the data center changed several times; IBM and APC were ¥exible enough to be able to adjust the design rapidly and at low cost.
“The joint team planned the deployment extremely well, and the bulk of the actual installation was completed within just four days,” says Rich Siedzik, Director of Computer and Telecommunication Services. “The quality of the engineering work and project management from IBM was outstanding.”
Targeted cooling
Bryant virtualized its 75 physical servers, moving them to just 40 physical servers in the new data center. Any new systems the University decides to implement will also be virtualized and run on the existing physical servers, signi¥cantly reducing the ongoing expenditure on hardware.
“We expect to add one new virtual server every month, and there is still plenty of capacity on the current 40 physical servers,” says Gloster. “Previously, that would have meant buying and installing 12 new physical machines, then paying the additional power and cooling costs over their full lifecycle.”
“When they come into the data center, many people remark that it feels too warmÑthey are accustomed to heavily air-conditioned data centers,” says Siedzik. “The IBM and APC solution is more efficient, targeting cooling on the components that need it, rather than wasting energy chilling the surrounding air.”
Faster and greener
Beyond the cost and energy efficiency advantages of server virtualization, Bryant also bene¥ts from accelerated provisioning. Rich Siedzik estimates that it would typically take up to nine weeks to deploy a new physical server. He says, “We can deploy a new virtual server image almost instantaneously and complete the provisioning process inside a day.”
Art Gloster concludes, “Through consolidation, virtualization and improved data center efficiency, Bryant University will signi¥cantly reduce long-term capital and operational expenditure. The IBM and APC solution should also enable the University to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprintÑa consideration that is becoming increasingly important for institutions like ours.”
For more information
Contact your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner. Visit us at:
ibm.com/systems/optimizeit/ cost_efficiency/energy_efficiency
