DCIM metering and efficiency metrics: PUE, WUE and RCI

Skills you'll practise

• Calculate PUE, ERE and WUE from annual figures and state their units and possible ranges
• Identify which meters supply total facility energy and IT energy, and how the IT metering point changes the result
• Interpret RCI and cooling system efficiency (kW/ton) at the level the DOE guide describes
• Recognize misleading efficiency claims and DCIM data problems, and report metrics accurately

Course outline

1. 1.PUE and friends: measuring efficiency honestlyVideo · 2 min
2. 2.PUE and its relativesLesson · 15 min
3. 3.Where the meters areLesson · 15 min
4. 4.Using the metrics without fooling yourselfLesson · 15 min
5. 5.DCIM metering and efficiency metrics: PUE, WUE and RCI: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 17 questions
6. 6.DCIM metering and efficiency metrics: PUE, WUE and RCI: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
7. 7.Final exam8 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• U.S. DOE Federal Energy Management Program: Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design (2024), incl. ASHRAE 2021 thermal guideline table, cooling, electrical and metrics sections
• ASHRAE standards and guidelines: titles, purposes and scopes (Guideline 0 The Commissioning Process, Guideline 0.2, Guideline 0.3P, Guideline 1.1, Standard 202, Standard 90.4)
• General data-center facilities operations practice