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Systems & Data Center · Foundational

Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)

A data center efficiency metric equal to total facility power divided by IT equipment power; 1.0 is ideal.

Definition

PUE, defined by The Green Grid and ISO/IEC 30134-2, shows how much energy goes to cooling, power conversion and lighting rather than IT. Typical enterprise facilities range from 1.4 to 2.0, while hyperscale sites can approach 1.1. DCiE is its reciprocal expressed as a percentage.

Example

A facility drawing 1,500 kW total with 1,000 kW of IT load has a PUE of 1.5.

Exam tip

Lower PUE is better; calculate PUE = total facility power / IT power.

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