ISO/IEC 30134-6:2021 

Part 6: Energy Reuse Factor (ERF)

(Equivalent to EN 50600-4-6)

Description: Energy captured and reused for an alternate purpose outside the data centre boundary divided by the total energy consumed in a data centre (Annual)


Assesses utilization of energy used in the data centre (annual).


Purpose: Defines Energy Reuse Factor (ERF) as a KPI for quantifying utilization of the data centre energy for an alternate purpose outside the data centre boundary.

Calculation formula:

also ERF=(ReuseEnergy)/(TotalEnergy)

Components:

E_reuse – Heat produced by the DC which is harvested and used outside of the DC

E_dc – Total DC energy consumption



Measurement Points:

Incoming building utility provider power meter – kWh.

Energy received and used based on either internal or external metering. 



Output from specialised BMS or intelligent DCIM software.



Actionable Insights:

ERF offers an operational view of the amount of energy flowing into a data centre which is subsequently ‘reused’ for non-data centre activities. This then allows the ability to monitor and ideally increase the amount of energy exhausted (and therefore being ‘wasted’), in the form of heat to be re-used in a way that can reduce (offset) the energy burden normally associated with other operations. Examples include, supply of heat to district heating systems, warming greenhouses, heating swimming pools etc. 


Note: Energy Reuse Effectiveness (ERE), which is not part of the standard, can be calculated from PUE multiplied by Energy Reuse Factor (ERF).

ERE = PUE × ERF, 1 ≤ ERE

BACK TO SUSTAINABILITY METRICS

ERF - Sustainability Reporting Demo

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