Series: CPD Learning

ESTA VIEWPOINT

For further information on ESTA visit www.estaenergy.org.uk

A platform for best practice

Pioneering projects are helping develop new quality assessment tools for energy performance contracting. Nick Keegan looks at the potential to adapt them to the ‘new normal’ A t the time of writing we are carbon targets. approaching two months South Cambridgeshire Council The second project is at an earlier of lockdown, making me reflect on the impact this has had on the energy services is aiming to cut the carbon emissions at its headquarters stage, which allowed for testing in a ‘live’ environment. This is important, as alongside being a tool to support contracts we work on at EEVS. accreditation in the proposed ESTA scheme,

Unsurprisingly, there have been the criteria can be used by clients and challenges around how to adjust contractors for ongoing self-assessment. performance reporting to account for This project is an energy performance seismic changes in operations, and delays contract between South Cambridgeshire to construction works. Perhaps less District Council and Bouygues Energies anticipated though, were the opportunities & Services using the RE:FIT framework it could bring for clients and energy services (managed by Local Partnerships). Its providers to work together and make the ambition is to lead the way by going as best of the situation. Some of the issues to far as possible in reducing the carbon be addressed include: emissions of the council’s headquarters • how can you best minimise energy use within reasonable economic limits. The while maintaining essential services, and headline elements are a heat pump to stay vigilant to ensure infrequent site use decarbonise heating, and solar PV car ports does not result in equipment being left on markets around Europe have their fitted with EV charging to facilitate the unnecessarily? and nuances, and so some local refinement was transition to zero emissions transport. • how can you best make use of onsite necessary. Working with the pilot projects generation when the energy profile has We have had the chance to engage with revealed that organisational structure changed? two UK energy performance contracting and communication procedures were

These questions are not just relevant projects. They have acted as pioneers to critical to success and trust building. This now but will also become acutely so as we test these criteria and help us refine them means: clear reporting lines; regular and move to the ‘new normal’. The key to being for the UK context, while also evaluating well-structured meetings; engagement able to react and make the best of changing the feasibility of auditing processes that with end users; transparent reporting and conditions is a strong working partnership built on well-aligned incentives, clear communication and transparency. This was also a key finding from pilot projects we have been working with to test new will form the basis of a potential UK quality assurance scheme for energy performance contracting led by ESTA. Energy performance contract Nick Keegan is chair of the ESTA Energy Services Contracting Group and director at EEVS Insight. data exchange; and processes for change management. Among other areas of feedback, this has been used to inform the first draft of ESTA’s new “Quality Criteria for Energy Performance Contracting quality assessment criteria for energy The first of these projects is an energy Services” that has been published at https:// efficiency services. Beyond the technical performance contract between Dundee estaenergy.org.uk/groups/escg/. elements often seen to be of paramount City Council and Vital Energi using the Although consultation continues on importance, the secret to successful energy Scottish Non-Domestic Energy Efficiency these criteria and the proposed ESTA services contracting appears to be in the Framework (NDEEF). This is a £1.8m quality assurance scheme, this tool is communication. investment in efficiency measures and now ready-to-use. Project stakeholders

At EEVS and in ESTA’s Energy Services on-site generation for three leisure centres, can use this as a self-assessment checklist Contracting group, we have been following a community centre, art gallery, library, throughout development, procurement the pan-European QualitEE project. This depot and car park. The contract is now and delivery. By publishing the first has established a set of quality assessment concluded, having met its guaranteed draft of these quality criteria ESTA aims criteria for energy efficiency services at savings in the first year after completion, to initiate an evolving platform for best a European level, designed to form the as is the approach taken in the design and practices freely available for consumers backbone of quality assurance schemes, build variant of the NDEEF. This meant it and suppliers, to offer a framework to build which can build trust and uptake of was ideal to test the assurance processes the strong working relationships needed to services. The assessment criteria are for the proposed ESTA scheme, which will achieve the best energy outcomes.  structured to follow the value chain retrospectively assess sample projects from • To read more about the pilot projects visit from initial energy auditing, through beyond the first savings verification point, https://qualitee.eu/gb/pilot-projects/ and to hear construction, contract agreement, to accredit energy performance contracting about the outcomes of the QualitEE project, join guarantees, O&M and performance providers. Due to the success of this project online events being held in three one-hour sessions measurement (M&V). It was recognised additional phases of works are underway 17-19th June. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/ early on, however, that the energy services to support delivery of the council’s net-zero qualitee-project-18261210897

Stu Redshaw is chief technology officer of EkkoSense

For further information on EkkoSense visitwww.eibi.co.uk/enquiriesand enter ENQUIRY No. 132

Take monitoring to a new level

Stu Redshaw believes that BMS have their limitations when it comes to data centre monitoring. However, operators now have alternatives to keep pace with evolving demands M any organisations continue to solely rely on building management systems (BMS) to monitor the top of their data centre thermal risk, At EkkoSense, for example, we’re combining the latest low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) enabled wireless sensors with immersive environment for their critical data 3D software to create true real-time centre estates. The reality is that 3D visualisations of a data centres these systems are unable to support critical heartbeat operational data. the datapoint densities needed to With this level of visualisation and effectively monitor this essential analytics software in place, data thermal performance. centre teams can eliminate thermal

Because BMS sensors typically hotspots, improve their overall site report on a blend of hot and cold resilience and also gain early insight average temperatures, it’s easy to be lulled into a sense of false security as Technology is now available to help organisations deliver the into potential issues before they become critical and even cause an things generally look great. But that’s not rigorous enough for true data high standards of monitoring now required in a data centre SLA breach. By introducing the industry’s first centre performance optimisation true IoT-enabled family of wireless and reduced risk operation. When Thermal issues rank as the second Belgium and Germany. This proved thermal sensors, we’re disrupting you absolutely need to be certain largest cause of data centre loss a critical issue for data centre teams the traditional sensor cost model that all the different IT racks and of service - accounting for almost in a number of Europe’s key data and making the real-time thermal cooling equipment in your facility a third of unplanned outages – so centre nodes, impacting London, management of critical facilities are performing within precise there can never be any room for Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam such as data centres a possibility. temperature and power parameters, complacency, especially given the particularly. Bringing the cost down also means it’s time for a more accurate critical role that hosted services now What caught many operators that sensors can be deployed in monitoring approach. play in supporting digital and cloud by surprise was just how quickly much larger numbers - ensuring that

However, while a BMS is great operations. thermal runaway can transform a high spatial resolution is available, for ensuring that the fabric of a data centre that was running fine down to rack-level where required. building is operating correctly, Potential thermal failure into a site with real problems due to This allows the air temperature and it’s becoming increasingly less To insure against this happening, cooling plant failure. Where cooling humidity at each asset of interest applicable for today’s dynamic data many data centre teams hedge systems and resilience have not to be accurately monitored, and centres. Typically deployed in an against potential thermal failure been tested in anger, plant failures wirelessly transmitted to enable the empty data centre shell on day one, by routinely over-cooling critical or reduced output caused by high measurement of values at predefined the BMS generally monitors the facilities. Unfortunately, cooling ambients can quickly lead to high intervals. Basic sensors are used ambient temperature from a number inefficiencies often mean these IT temperatures. So it’s easy to see to keep track of rack equipment of hard-wired wall sensors, and will efforts are misguided, with the result how what was previously thought to temperatures, while more advanced require a lot of customisation work that around 11 per cent of racks in be a well-operating site can quickly cooling duty sensors are available to to handle additional datapoints. This a data centre aren’t actually able to become well over temperature check that your CRAC/AHU units are data is then fed back to screens in the maintain 100 per cent ASHRAE data within hours, if not minutes. doing what they’re meant to. building operations room, where any centre cooling compliance. The good news is that the With this level of monitoring alerts will need to be addressed. Last year temperatures hit 38.1°C technology is now available – and granularity, covering all aspects of

This model no longer works in the UK at the end of July, and Paris increasingly accessible – to help a data centre estate’s performance - for critical facilities, particularly recorded a high of 42.6°C. Records organisations deliver the levels including thermal overviews, cooling as data centres can now hold also fell across the Netherlands, of monitoring needed to keep on capacity, power capacity and space potentially thousands of thermally capacity - becomes achievable. sensitive pieces of equipment, This kind of remote monitoring each of which requires monitoring also opens up the possibility of to ensure its ongoing efficient having data centre performance operation. To enable this, data optimisation experts supporting your centre environments now require operations from a remote Network an entirely new level of sensing Operations Centre. It’s certainly granularity to enable effective a long way from the kind of basic thermal monitoring for what have monitoring offered by traditional become high-intensity, dynamic BMS functionality but, when it comes environments where operating to monitoring and managing your conditions and equipment status can dynamic data centre environments, change within seconds. it pays to get on the front foot. 

For further information on BCS visitwww.eibi.co.uk/enquiriesand enter ENQUIRY No. 131

Stephen Whatling is chairman at BCS

Adapting to the ‘new normal’

Stephen Whatling believes that whatever the shape of the world post COVID-19, the demand for data centres will rise relentlessly. But issues such as rising energy demands and a serious skills shortage will need to be addressed A s we continue to respect the Governments advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives, it is no surprise that the There a is an opportunity for homegrown businesses to play a greater role in the data centres of the future work in the NHS understandably take priority. This comes on top of factory closures and logistics issues.

A recent UBS Evidence Labs report additional data centre capacity will found that broadband speeds in increase even more as a result of London had dropped by around 8 the Covid-19 lockdown. Whenever per cent since February and the lag demand exceeds supply prices time was up by a similar figure. This proves that the increase in demand is having an impact on the overall to commence construction in the near term. We know that two-thirds of our 2019 survey respondents

It’s not only a shortage of skilled labour, machinery and slower demand for internet services has build times that will affect the ‘new increased dramatically. Netflix has normal’ as it is highly likely that the added 16m new subscribers in the same workplace restrictions will last two months; the Zoom app, have an impact on the supply of raw loved by some and hated by others, materials. Steel and copper from now has 300m users; Microsoft China, and in our case steel supply Teams added 12m daily users, an from the red zone in Lombardy, increase of almost 40 per cent, in a Italy, will all be restricted and single week; and the average home supplies will be slower than usual is using 38 per cent more bandwidth for some time to come. every day. One thing is certain, demand for

‘Lockdown means more data capacity

Many people outside the data build times due to the likelihood of of engineers will further slow the does exist. They already have strong centre industry just assume that new safety processes being put in development of new capacity. business models and a pseudo the cloud has infinite capacity. place for at least the rest of this year During the pandemic itself the monopoly position between the However, key players, like this means that it is almost certain industry is not compelled to cancel three of them. I think we will see Microsoft, were already looking to that demand for extra capacity will or pause construction as we provide their position strengthen even more add capacity before the pandemic. outstrip the ability of the market to critical infrastructure. For example, and that cannot be a good thing for In fact, data centre capacity had supply it. we are managing the construction the industry as a whole and for the been increasing over many years of a data centre in Italy’s red businesses and consumers that need in response to demand for cloudWorsening skills shortage zone. Work is continuing, albeit cloud-based services. based services. In a survey carried The skills shortage will get worse not without its challenges! Some A positive that should come from out by BCS in the summer of 2019, before it gets better. Many graduate construction sites have taken a short the current situation is a move to over 90 per cent of developers vacancies and apprenticeship pause while others continue but at near-shoring or on-shoring of critical had already planned to increase schemes, both vital in the ongoing a slower pace. However, we are now services. It is clear that, judging capacity over the next 12 months. provision of skilled data centre seeing disruptions to supply chains from recent events, healthcare And this was before Covid 19. staff, have been put on hold until for machinery and equipment as manufacturing, healthcare

In the medium term, more the future is clear. This delay in more necessary projects such as the consumables and pharmaceuticals capacity will come on-stream. production will migrate closer to While many construction projects home. But what about data? We are either on hold or being have seen a trend towards neardelivered later than planned due shoring data centres as a result of to workplace distancing measures the rise of edge computing and AI. and supply chain issues, the This is likely to accelerate with the consultancy and design of new realisation that data, data centres facilities is continuing apace. At and access to the internet are BCS we are seeing no let up for critical elements of our national this because people working from infrastructure. home easily can progress the There is an opportunity for homeproject. grown businesses to play a greater

Perhaps of greater concern is the role in designing, constructing and wave of projects that are currently in providing the critical infrastructure the design phase and will be looking of the future. 

inevitably rise. Only the strongest and financially fittest businesses will survive the lockdown period. These network and that capacity issues are had concerns about the availability will be needed ’ businesses, including Alphabet, having to be being managed by the of skilled data centre construction Microsoft and AWS etc. will be in a internet service providers. staff. Combined with the slower recruitment, training and provision position to buy up any capacity that

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