A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components such as air conditioning systems. Large scale data centers can include hundreds of servers and can require as much energy as a small town to power the data center computer equipment and cooling equipment.
As such, energy usage consumed by data centers is a major cost consideration. Energy costs in data centers arise from computing, networking activities, and power transformations that use energy and, as a byproduct, generate heat. However, a majority of energy costs is associated with the removal of heat from the data center. Active heat management equipment (i.e., air conditioning systems) is substantially less than 100% efficient, which means heat monitoring and management equipment adds to the data center heat removal problems because they generate heat through their own operation.
In a conventional data center environment, desired temperatures are maintained using heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC). Typically, the ambient temperature is monitored by a thermostat, which turns the heat or air conditioning on and off to maintain the temperature set by the thermostat.