A New Proposed Energy Baseline Model for a Data Center as a Tool for Energy Efficiency Evaluation

Evaluating the energy efficiency of a data center is very important to understand how energy-demanding it is and to investigate any potential energy saving measures. The new energy baseline model introduced in this article expresses the energy consumption as a function of the outdoor air temperature and the IT (information technology) equipment consumption, while at the same time it indicates how a data center performs. The proposed energy baseline model is validated against the actual data that have been collected from one of the data centers of the Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET) located in Attica prefecture. Moreover, the carry out of a dynamic sliding analysis of the energy baseline in the form of sequential 12-month cycles brings to the fore potential changes in energy management operation and/or strategy as the time goes on.