LED lighting for data centres

How important is energy efficiency?

TW: Sustainability is a topic near the top of the list. Over 100 data centre operators and industry associations have set themselves the goal of making their data centres climate-neutral by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal. The lighting in the server rooms has to also contribute to the sustainability of the building and help the companies achieve their climate targets. Although the energy consumption of a data centre with thousands of servers is from ten to fifty times higher than your average office building, which means that the lighting itself hardly counts in that respect.

Based on that, is LED refurbishment even necessary at all?

SP: Yes definitely. Upgrading conventional uncontrolled lighting to an LED solution with light management cuts its energy consumption by up to 85 %. Even if that only accounts for a small fraction of the total energy consumption it still contributes to the sustainability of the building – especially if we bear in mind the longer service life of the LEDs. Also, energy-efficient smart lighting is often needed within the framework of sustainability certifications like BREEAM and LEEDS. There are also other indirect positive sustainability effects such as the low heat generation of LEDs compared to conventional luminaires, which means that less energy is needed to air-condition the server rooms.

What other features are frequently asked for?

TW: For security reasons server rooms are usually monitored with cameras, and that means the quality of light must allow crisp CCTV images and recordings. Even if the lighting is never switched off completely due to the needs of security, a light management system with presence detection makes sense to save energy. If there are no people in the room the lighting isn’t switched off completely, but only dimmed to a general light level that still allows video recording. Emergency lighting (either with single or central battery) and emergency exit signage can also be quickly and easily integrated into the E-Line Pro trunking thanks to suitable modules. In the case of central battery-controlled emergency lighting solutions we also offer ELMo (Emergency Light Monitoring), which is an automatic monitoring and test function that’s legally compliant.

What are the strongest arguments for our E-Line Pro in data centre applications?

TW: Firstly, efficiency and reliability: the E-Line Pro is the clear industry leader with 207 lm/W and a service life of up to 100,000 hours. Secondly, quality of light and flexibility. Thanks to an extremely wide selection of high quality optics and the extreme adaptability of the continuous line system, every type of room can be perfectly illuminated. The third factor is smartness and future viability. Our E-Line Pro provides even more efficiency and transparency thanks to light management and connection to the cloud. And with the option of integrating IoT modules into the network, future smart applications such as sensor technology can also be easily realised over the lighting network.