Sustainability Magazine July 2024 | Page 59

TRANE
“ This is something that ’ s really interesting but some people may not know we offer .”
As initiatives , regulations and facilities themselves vary depending on geography , Danielle and the team at Trane navigate the minefield of ensuring the best solutions are available to its clients to yield the most beneficial results .
Optimising performance and reducing downtime Alongside sustainability credentials , one of the most integral parts of Trane ’ s business is ensuring its clientele ’ s facilities operate at optimum levels and keep down time to as near zero as possible .
Key to this , as Danielle explains , are HVAC controls , which ensure visibility into every component while optimising efficiency .
As data centres continue to increase in size , facilities are decked out with multiple chillers , further pushing how crucial it is to have controls that can coordinate an entire system to prevent issues like hotspots , especially during extreme weather conditions .
Danielle shares : “ For example , London got to 40 ° C two summers ago and most data centres at the time were designed for a maximum of 35 ° C . That prompted a big problem because yes , the units overheated , but the units in the middle of multi chiller systems got very hot . How do you control that ? How do you load shed , how do you swap between groupings ? It ’ s really important to optimise operations day-to-day for efficiency , but during periods of extreme heat , it ’ s really important to optimise it so you don ’ t have downtime .”
Trane emphasises service in general to mitigate any potential threats to data centre operations and to ensure efficiency . Without being on top of things , it can go south fairly quickly .
“ If you don ’ t change the oil in your car , it ’ s going to seize at some point ,” she adds . “ Yes , it will work fine for however many thousand miles , but at some point it ’ ll start to not work as well . Things will start to break and then ultimately it will completely fail . Now there is more recognition that maintenance is so important .”
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