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eCool Cold Aisle Containment Paid For By Carbon Trust
Energy savings can be used to pay back interest free loan.
eCool Solutions has registered as a Carbon Trust Supplier which means that companies can use an interest-free loan to install eCool’s Cold Aisle Containment in their computer room or Datacentre and then pay off the loan using the savings it makes in energy bills.
Jeremy Hartley, founder of eCool Solutions, developers of products and services for Cold Aisle Containment says that companies will reduce their energy consumption by at least 15 percent following a thermal analysis and installation of eCool.
“Reducing energy consumption will pay for installation of eCool within a few months but now with a Carbon Trust loan companies can pay as they gain the benefits.
“Our clients have reported reduced hardware failure and improved control over temperatures in the Datacentre. In many installations they have cut the amount of standby equipment such as chillers or CRAC units and stopped using humidifiers.”
Computer hardware is damaged by high temperatures. eCool offers a new approach to keeping it cool. It uses air management to ensure cooled air is directed through the fans of the IT equipment rather than escaping around the racks. If servers are kept within manufacturers guidelines then the internal fans operate at optimum efficiency and hardware failures are reduced.
In its thermal analyses of Datacentres, eCool Solutions has found that it is not unusual to have a 40° variation in temperature between and within the aisles and as a result the cold aisle is frequently overcooled to 20° below the recommended levels.
Not only is this a complete waste of energy but it could also take the cold aisle temperature below dew point, creating pools of condensation and drying the air such that humidifiers are needed to reduce static. This adds additional cost.
Hartley has developed a system of cold aisle containment – which includes a unique system of blanking panels, aisle end curtains or doors and a special suspended aisle ceiling – to manage airflow within the facility. It forces cooled air to go through the IT load and not escape through gaps. The company has retrofitted the solution within live Datacentre environments achieving immediate control of air temperature.
eCool solutions will reduce energy consumption, offering for example a 65kw per hour saving just on two CRAC units on a 820kw cooling CRAC. This is equivalent to 298 tonnes of carbon dioxide per 870 m2 a year, and can be considerably more. It provides payback in direct costs typically in 4 months.
eCool Cold Aisle Containment can be retrofitted within existing server cabinets and will benefit a company with six or more racks.
The Carbon Trust allows small or medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to borrow from £3,000 to £400,000. As a guideline, this typically includes businesses with an annual electricity spend less than £500,000.
