The first step in reducing power consumption is knowing how much power is being consumed, but when it comes to many data centers, that is not as straightforward a proposition as it seems. Emerson Network Power discovered this a few years back and is addressing the problem in the latest in its series of white papers.

That white paper, “Energy Logic: Calculating and Prioritizing Your Data Center IT Efficiency Actions,” was issued in November and introduces a concept called compute units per second (CUPS) as a relative measure of server output, based on average server performance in 2002. Emerson has calculated the change in CUPS between 2002 and 2007 to create a common server performance measure for calculating efficiency and is making it possible for data center professionals to experiment with CUPS to gauge their own data center efficiency at a new Web site.

“We did this in response to customer requests,” said Jack Pouchet, director of energy initiatives for Emerson. “About four years ago, we started getting questions from data center operators saying they were running out of space in their data center, and if they didn’t solve the problem of space and power, they would run into a wall. We started doing a little bit of firefighting.”

One of the patterns that emerged was that many data center operators “didn’t have a clue how much power they were using in their data center,” Pouchet said. This lack of knowledge could be attributed to the way data centers are constructed, he added. “They might be on a campus where there are a lot of other buildings and the entire campus is metered,” Pouchet said. “Or they might be built within another building. In a large city, the data center might be in the basement or on a certain floor, but its power usage wouldn’t be separately metered. Yet even in a 30-story high-rise, a one-floor data center could consume more than the entire rest of the building.”

In its work with the telecom industry, Emerson had been following the flow of electricity through central offices (CO) for years because CO operators needed to know how much power they were using and what was available. “We came up with the Energy Logic model because it was based on the logical flow of electricity through the data center,” Pouchet said. Energy Logic is a vendor-neutral approach that works with anyone’s equipment. “Of course, we hope people select our [power] products and services to improve your data center, but this will work with about 95% of the solutions out there today,” he added.

The Emerson approach goes beyond the basic diagram of electrical wiring down to the chip level or storage-device level, Pouchet said. “We know how to do that because every [power] device that is in there, except for the processor, is something that we manufacture,” he said. “We are able to line them all up and measure [power consumption]. We know that the baseline numbers we use are indicative of real-world performance.”

The next step is to walk through this energy flow, Pouchet said. “Our cascade chart shows all these steps,” he added. “If you walk through with the right set of eyes and instruments, it is easy to identify places to save energy. There is so much low-hanging fruit out there.”

Companies such as Emerson can provide the expertise, as can power utilities, but other larger companies may have their own in-house experts, Pouchet said. “They may only need the road map and strategy to get this done,” he said. “It is very important to know where you can get the most bang for your buck.  If you focus where the most energy is consumed across the chain, the net effect is much greater. Some of the components in the system are already maximized.”

Data center operators may not want to make expensive overnight changes, but as they change out equipment, it’s essential to make sure to deploy lower-power processors and high-efficiency power supplies, Pouchet said. For example, today there is a device available called variable frequency drive that can be used to reduce cooling costs for data centers and has a return on investment of a year to 18 months.

Emerson Energy Logic helps data centers prioritize their actions, listing 10 prioritized strategies that can increase data center efficiency by 3.6 times, and identifies three strategies that have the greatest impact: faster replacement of IT technologies, virtualization and high-density architecture.

Ultimately, having a universal metric for measuring data center use will help drive the right decisions about energy management, Pouchet said.

Previously: Part One of this series looks at AT&T’s green initiatives, while Part Two reports Callis Communications’ effort to reduce power used by voice-over-IP gear. Part Three reports on iControl’s efforts to help service providers leverage home security system sales to also promote home automation and energy savings. Part Four explores new technology from Telco Systems that uses solar power for data centers. Part Five looks at how Emerson Network Power is taking a comprehensive approach to reducing power consumption by its wireline and wireless customers. Part Six examines Verizon Business’ efforts to help its enterprise customers cut their energy consumption. Part Seven looks at Verizon’s internal efforts to build a greener network.  Part Eight examines Qwest’s efforts to annually measure energy consumption.