FEATURE
it , it ’ s all there under one roof so we can apply whatever the best solution is for the project .
How do you expect the market to evolve over the next 12 months and how will you innovate alongside this ?
We expect the market to demand higher cooling capacities . In days gone by ,
INVEST IN
ENERGY EFFICIENT SYSTEMS – DON ’ T JUST LOOK AT THE
CAPEX BECAUSE THESE SORTS OF COOLING UNITS CAN USE UP THEIR CAPEX WITHIN THEIR FIRST YEAR OF
OPERATION .
a 100 kW cooling unit was a big unit . These days we ’ re looking at two and 300 kW and one particular end-user is asking us to build 500 kW cooling units . So it seems to be that bigger is better . That sort of thing wouldn ’ t have been dreamt of perhaps 10 years ago and certainly not when I started in the business in 1979 . People said ‘ Data centre cooling ? You don ’ t want to get involved with that because computers are getting smaller and smaller and using less and less power so it ’ s going to be a bit of a dead-end business ’. How wrong they were .
How do you ensure your operations are sustainable in the race to net zero carbon ?
By minimising the energy usage is a simple answer to that . The DX systems for example , have pretty bad press . Yes , they used to use 50 % of the server power , so the partial PUE would be 1.5 . But these days with our inverter compressors , we can get that down to 1.2 even for a basic direct expansion system . And if we put our free cooling system on it , then that annualised PUE comes down to 1.1 . So , for example , for every 100 kW of cooling you ’ re doing , you might – with your existing chilled water-based or DX systems – be paying £ 50,000 per year for that 100 kW of cooling in terms of energy . With our new systems , we can cut that down to £ 10,000 per year . So straightaway , for every 100 kW , there ’ s potentially a £ 40,000 saving . It doesn ’ t take much for you to see how the payback periods come right down particularly if energy costs go up , which they ’ re going to .
What advice would you offer to those looking to invest in cooling solutions ?
I would say invest in energy efficient systems – don ’ t just look at the CapEx because these sorts of cooling units can use up their CapEx within their first year of operation . A typical 50 kW unit , despite whatever you paid for that unit , you might be paying the same amount of money to run it for one year . So we must get away from this focus on the CapEx and start looking at the OpEx on these systems .
Do you have any key messages you ’ d like to share with our readers ?
Yes – it ’ s all about energy efficiency . I think I ’ ve emphasised the point enough but with the recent increases in power costs , it really is big money in terms of looking at the energy efficiency and free cooling and such like . We have to look very carefully at running costs of our systems . �
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