Low cost green solution delivers fast ROI
The pressure is on in local government both to reduce costs – and improve energy efficiency. So, when Future-Tech approached Bracknell Forest Borough Council with a proposal for Cold Aisle Containment, the Council’s IT team was more than happy to listen. The resulting retro-fit to the five year old computer room will save an estimated 42 tonnes of CO2 each year, with a return on the initial investment of £12,000 in less than two years.
Bracknell Forest has worked with Future-Tech since 2004 when the specialist contractor built the Council’s computer room in an existing underground car park. Since then, the council has been faced with a demand to reduce its costs significantly and also meet the requirements of the Nottingham Agreement to cut CO2 emissions in local government.
“We have virtualised much of our IT over the past few years meaning we required fewer racks in the computer room,” explained IT Services Manager, Richard Dawson. “This meant that we were wasting energy by cooling the whole room. Future-Tech approached us to talk about cold aisle containment and showed we could save considerably on our costs by reconfiguring our racks into a contained cold aisle.”
““What impressed me was that they proposed a fantastic low-cost solution when they could have legitimately suggested something on a far grander and more expensive scale. They knew we were under pressure from the business to reduce costs, and came up with a simple retro-fit into the existing room that enabled us to warm the room from 21o C to 24o C and turn off one of our air handling units.”
“This was an example of what can happen when the client and contractor genuinely does have a close working relationship,” commented Future-Tech’s Frank Wilman “We’ve been very aware of Bracknell project, and the strides they’ve made with this made this energy-saving work possible. The room is bisected by a boxed-in gas pipe which restricts the airflow, so the solution was only going to work when the Council was able to reduce the number of servers it used. Fewer racks enclosed in one aisle were bound to improve the energy efficiency – and it’s now perfectly acceptable to run the room warmer than we would have done in the past.
“We’ve installed meters as part of the retrofit so that the Council can see and verify the energy (and cost) savings immediately. This may not have been one of our bigger projects in 2009, but being able to have an immediate impact is very gratifying.”
For more information contact Future-Tech on 0845 9000 127
Email: info@future-tech.co.uk
