Data Center Sustainability Metrics
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)
- PUE describes how efficiently a data center uses energy: How much energy is used for the IT equipment in contrast to cooling and other overhead that supports the equipment.
- Ideal PUE value is 1.
PUE has many limitations, see here.
Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE)
- CUE describes how efficiently a data center "uses" carbon: How much carbon is emitted in operation in relation to the energy consumption of the IT equipment.
- Ideal CUE value is 0 g CO2/kWh.
Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE)
- WUE describes how efficiently a data center uses water: How much water is used in relation to the energy consumption.
- Ideal WUE value is 0 m³/kWh.
Cloud Computing Sustainability Metrics
→ Carbon Emissions of Cloud Computing#Metrics
🔗 References
Research
EEUI: a new measure to monitor and manage energy efficiency in data centers
Reddy, V. D., Setz, B., Rao, G. S. V. R. K., Gangadharan, G. R., & Aiello, M. (2017). Metrics for Sustainable Data Centers. IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, 2(3), 290–303. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSUSC.2017.2701883