Data Center Economizer Contamination and Humidity Study

Project Summary

Data centers require continuous air conditioning to address high internal heat loads (heat release from equipment) and maintain indoor temperatures within recommended operating levels for computers. Air economizer cycles, which bring in large amounts of outside air to cool internal loads when weather conditions are favorable, could save cooling energy. There is reluctance from many data center owners to use this common cooling technique, due to fear of introducing pollutants and potential loss of humidity control. Concerns about equipment failure from airborne pollutants lead to specifying as little outside air as permissible for human occupants. For more information, please contact the sponsoring organization.