An Improved Architecture for High-Efficiency, High-Density Data Centers

In a typical data center, less than half the electricity used actually makes it to the computer loads. More than half the electrical bill goes to the purchase of power consumed by the electrical power system, the cooling system, and lighting. The total electrical consumption therefore has two principal contributors – (1) the power consumed by the IT loads, and (2) the power consumed by the support equipment. The focus of this paper is the power consumed by the support equipment, which includes the losses of the power path equipment plus all the power used by non-power-path support equipment.