Containment ROI

As a major provider of cold and hot aisle containment systems, Polargy offers a wealth of expertise to help companies identify and capture data center energy savings. An engagement with Polargy will help take companies through the following steps to get to a compelling ROI:

• Assess the data center efficiency
• Design and implement a containment solution
• Calculate data center energy savings
• Prepare a utility energy incentive/rebate request
• Calculate the ROI

Savings Sources and Economic Benefits

Polargy's PolarPlex™ Containment Systems, the PolarRack™ XG, and PolarDAM™ cooling accessories help separate hot and cold air, creating an energy efficiency architecture. With a complete aisle containment solution, the following savings and benefits are available:

• By minimizing air mixing and allowing the temperature difference between the supply and return air to increase, fan power can be reduced by as much as 75% without adversely affecting the server environmental conditions.
• Higher return air temperatures increase the capacity of CRAH units by 30% to 49%.
• With over capacity in most data centers, excess CRAC/CRAH units can simply be turned off.
• Raise the supply air temperature. Many data centers supply air at 55°F, but with containment that could be increased substantially.
• Allow use of higher chilled water temperature, which would reduce the chiller plant energy use.
• Increase the number of operating hours when air side or water side economizer could be used.
• Careful separation of hot and cold aisles yield better uniformity of the supply air temperature at the server inlets, reducing reliability issues.
• Defer capital expenditures and extend the life of the data center as more capacity is extracted from existing facilities.

Utility Company Rebates

Many utility companies are trying to reduce existing demand and are actively seeking ways to make their current customers more efficient. To achieve those goals power utilities provide incentive rebates for the implementation of qualifying energy saving projects. Each utility has different rules and monitoring requirements that need to be followed to assure that the projects will receive rebates. Polargy works with your utility rebate program to process the application, develop a measurement and validation plan, and conduct the pre and post installation baseline measurements.

Return on Investment

The combination of direct energy savings, deferred capital expenditures, and utility rebates give Polargy containment projects a positive ROI with a payback period typically around two years. The attractive ROI, low upfront investment, and ease of installing Polargy Containment Solutions make for a compelling business case for cold and hot aisle containment.