Case study list

Gwynedd County Council

01/09/2011

Gwynedd County Council has been aiming to reduce electricity consumption and loweing its carbon footprint. Its server room was at the end of its effective life and was not capable of supporting this commitment to energy efficiency. In addition, the Council had concerns about the risk of flooding as the server room was located in the basement of the building.

Taking the following steps were considered to be crucial for the Council:

Move the server room to a less hazardous location.
Introduce energy saving technologies.

The above was expected to be done whilst simultaneously keeping all aspects ofthe Council running in a live environment. This was achieved by moving and installing the entire system over one weekend in May 2010. An air cooling system was installed in the new server room. The system comprises of free air cooling, cold aisle enclosure and electronic UPS systems.
The benefits derived from this move are:

Server room running costs are lower (savings of up to 86 per cent per year are expected)
A resilient and efficient data centre (Power Usage Effectiveness rating stands at 1.28).
The data centre is one of the most energy efficient in the UK.
Environmental threats are lower.
Security is higher

The cost of the initiative was £350,000 with revenues of £50,000 expected to be recovered. The full cost of this initiative should be recovered after seven years. However, due to rising energy costs, the period is likely to be shorter. The project is considered to be a proven success and highly effective.

http://www.gwynedd.gov.uk

Name: David Mark Lewis
Title/role: Energy Manager
Organisation: Gwynedd County Council
Email: davidmarklewis@gwynedd.gov.uk
Telephone: 012866 79307

Case study list

Greener Server Rooms