Schneider Electric has launched a new automated sustainability reporting feature to its EcoStruxure IT data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software.
The addition will be available from April, and will assist data center operators with meeting the requirements of the European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).
A cloud-based solution will be made available first, followed by on-premise versions later in the year.
The model-based and automated sustainability reporting will enable operators to calculate and track the PUE per site and room over time, report on current power consumption per location and compare to historical trends, and share this data with a "click of a button" to meet the EED's requirements.
"At Schneider Electric, we recognize that sustainability is a journey, and for the last three years, we’ve increased our investment to develop new software features that make it faster and simpler for our customers to operate resilient, secure, and sustainable IT infrastructure,” said Kevin Brown, SVP, EcoStruxure IT, Schneider Electric.
The solution is used in-house by Schneider Electric as part of its Green IT Program. According to Schneider, the company has been able to reduce its energy consumption at its Lexington, Kentucky, smart factor by 30 percent between H1 and H2 in 2023.
"When seeking to reduce IT and data center energy consumption and CO2 emissions, organizations must establish a fact-based baseline, and access to real-time and historical data is vital,” said Elizabeth Hackenson, CIO, Schneider Electric.
“Through the use of EcoStruxure IT, we have continued to make significant progress in our mission to reduce our IT energy consumption and environmental impact, and to help the company progress toward its sustainability objectives."
The coming EED is set to commence in May 2024, and will apply to all data centers bigger than 500kW.
The directive aims to reduce energy use and carbon emissions in Europe and will require data center owners and operators in the bloc to report their data center’s energy performance for the previous year annually into a European database.
This will include floor area, installed power, data volumes, energy consumption, PUE, temperature set points, waste heat utilization, water usage, and use of renewable energy.
According to Schneider Electric, the updated DCIM only covers around 80 percent of the reporting needs for the EED.
In a call with DCD, sustainability lead at Schneider Electric, Alison Matte, explained that the area not covered is mainly IT equipment efficiency and utilization of servers: "We don't have access to what's going on in a server, and how it's optimized. We cannot give an accurate prediction, so we are not going to try at this point. We are focusing on the areas where we can have the most impact and accurate calculations."
