Data Center PUE Simulator — Power Usage Effectiveness

Power Usage Effectiveness

1.00

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Controls

Server load 55%

Cooling setpoint 22°C

Outdoor air temp 12°C

Renewable energy mix 30%

Live readouts

IT power

0 kW

Cooling power

0 kW

Total facility power

0 kW

CO₂ rate

0 kg/h

Economizer effectiveness

Rack inlet temp

0°C

How it works

Power Usage Effectiveness is the standard data-center energy metric defined by The Green Grid:

PUE = Total Facility Power / IT Equipment Power
    = 1 + (Cooling + Other overhead) / P_IT

This model uses 40 racks with idle draw plus a load-dependent term:

P_IT = N · (P_idle + P_dynamic · load)
Q_heat ≈ P_IT   (nearly all electrical power becomes heat)

Cooling power depends on the setpoint and on free-cooling (economizer) effectiveness, which rises the colder the outdoor air is relative to the setpoint — when outside air is cold enough it can reject server heat directly, cutting mechanical chiller work:

econ = clamp((setpoint − outdoor) / 10, 0, 1)
P_cool = Q_heat · k_setpoint · (1 − 0.82 · econ)
k_setpoint = 0.34 · (1 + (22 − setpoint) · 0.05)

A fixed 8% of IT power covers UPS, lighting and switchgear losses (P_other). Emissions scale with total facility power and how much of the grid mix is renewable:

CO₂ rate = P_total · 0.42 kg/kWh · (1 − renewable fraction)

Server load — raises IT power roughly linearly and increases the heat the cooling system must remove.
Cooling setpoint — a colder target raises mechanical cooling power even at the same heat load.
Outdoor air temp / Free-cooling mode — cold outside air lets the economizer bypass the chiller, the biggest lever on PUE in temperate climates.
Renewable mix — doesn't change PUE, but cuts the carbon cost of the same electricity.

Real hyperscale data centers report annual PUE between 1.1 (best free-cooling designs) and 1.6+ (older air-cooled facilities) — this simulator reproduces that range.

Server racks (heat = load) CRAC / cooling unit Rising heat plume

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