Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE)
Description: Ratio of CO2eq in kg divided by kWh of IT energy use.
Purpose: Defines Carbon Usage Effectiveness as a KPI to quantify the CO2 emissions of a data center during the use phase of the data center life cycle.
Calculation formula:
Components
C_dc – CO2 emissions of the data centre in kg.
E_it – IT energy consumption in kWh.
Measurement points:
Reports from utility provider offering CO2 emissions associated with each kWh of energy provided or metering from self-owned renewable power sources.Â
Output from UPS units – kWh (or more granular/accurate readings from power strips etc. as defined in standard document).Â
Output from specialised BMS or intelligent DCIM software.
Actionable insights
This metric can be used to understand the level of CO2 output against power consumed in relation to data centre operations. This results in an opportunity to manage and reduce Carbon emissions and allows for a potential reduction in the environmental impact of data centre operations.