Top Technology Company Decreases Risk, Improves Data Center Efficiency
From the Summer 2009 issue of Energy Matters
As a result of implemented cooling plant, air management, and lighting measures, Sybase's data center cooling system can now keep up with rapid growth demands.
Sybase implemented the following projects to achieve energy savings:
Cooling Plant
- Installed high-efficiency base-load chiller
- Implemented custom control program
Air Management
- Relocated perforated tiles
- Sealed raised floor
- Installed variable frequency drives on 20 computer room air handlers
- Installed partial air-side economizer
- Added heat recovery to air-side economizer
Lighting
- Controlled lights with 30-minute enabled zones.
When an energy audit revealed that their data center's cooling system was at risk due to rapid growth, Sybase energy managers took action. With the help of local utility company incentives, Sybase is saving $262,000 in annual energy costs and has regained cooling capacity to meet increasing power demands. DOE's DC Pro software tool suite confirmed the energy-saving estimates.
Sybase, a company recently named one of the "4 Companies Leading the Mobile Revolution" by Seeking Alpha Web site along with Apple, Google, and Qualcomm, has found a way to save $262,000 annually in their rapidly growing database technology center in Dublin, California. A major enterprise software and services company, Sybase's products are used in the most data-intensive industries across all systems, networks, and devices, including PDAs, smartphones, and notebooks.
Energy managers at Sybase know the value of a proactive energy efficiency program to keep data center systems running efficiently. In 2005, they conducted an energy audit of the Dublin center's cooling system to determine the best options to meet increasing power demand and identify projects that could qualify for energy incentives from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).
Sybase discovered that their data center N+1 cooling capacity was at risk due to the center's rapid growth. With the help of incentives from PG&E, the company's energy managers took action to optimize existing power and cooling resources and free up capacity. The 16,000-square-foot data center reduced annual energy use by nearly 2.3 million kWh, achieved a simple payback of 2.2 years, and has regained cooling capacity to meet growth demands.
After the assessment, Sybase applied the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technologies Program's (ITP) DC Pro software tools and determined that the potential energy savings estimates provided by the tools closely matched the company's realized savings.
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