RECAP | ROUNDTABLE | Applying ASHRAE Thermal and Energy Guidelines

Uptime Institute’s Ryan Orr led a far-ranging discussion focused on the potential environmental benefits created by ASHRAE’s TC9.9 Thermal Guidelines and ASHRAE’s proposed 90.4 standard. On-line participants shared their perspectives and experiences, and Uptime Institute’s Eric Maddison added perspective for EMEA.

Throughout the roundtable, roundtable participants reported how they had benefited from the new wider temperature ranges. Moderator Kevin Heslin noted that at least one roundtable participant had taken an aggressive tack on pursuing the energy benefits available in both the proposed 90.4 standard and TC9.9 thermal guidelines, with that participant agreeing. Another participant said that his firm had also pursued the wider range and at higher temperatures had some concerns about excessive humidity.

Orr led the group through an extensive discussion of how organizations need to prepare to operate within a wider temperature bandwidth, with his focus on economization methods. He also talked about how efforts to implement the wider range can affect a facility’s cooling methodology and design decisions at the early part of the design phase.

The roundtable participants came from a variety of business types. As a result, Orr and the others wound up comparing the challenges facing colos trying to change how they manage the environment to those facing enterprises. One successful strategy involved renegotiating SLAs to bring tenants on board and stressed the need for more education of tenants of the benefits of operating at a higher temperature envelope.

Finally, Orr, with help from Eric Maddison discussed the effect of higher temperature ranges on Tier Certification. He noted that in Tier IV facilities operators must also manage the rate of temperature change, as there is a cap on the allowable temperature deviation from normal operation.