The costs of a too-warm data center

The tradition is to keep data centers at 68 degrees (Fahrenheit). Supposedly it keeps the machines in good working order because heat can damage the circuits. Another supposed truth is that allowing the temperature to vary through the day (the natural world goes through a normal heating and cooling cycle) also damages equipment. A large part of the cost in running a data center goes into running the air conditioners that keep everything cool.

A recent study: ENERGY-EFFICIENCY THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND FACILITIES CONTROLS goes into whether this is truly required, or not.

ASHRAE recently published a revised recommended environmental range for data center temperature and humidity levels. They claim temperature can reliably vary between 27C (80F) to 18C (64F). This means data center operators can readily go light on the air conditioning, reducing their energy use, and reducing the environmental impact from data center operations.

Sources:

Intel says data centers much too cold

Your Data Center is Much too Cold