The primary audience for this course is any IT, facilities or data centre professional who works in and around the data centre and has the responsibility to achieve and improve efficiency and environmental sustainability, whilst maintaining the availability and manageability of the data centre.

Participants must have at least one to two years' experience in a data centre or facilities environment. The CDCP^® is highly recommended. The CDESS^® will discuss data centre facility aspects and without the CDCP^® or equivalent knowledge, the participant may not be able to gain the full benefits of the CDESS^® training.

After completion of the course the participant will be able to:

• Understand the impact of data centres on the environment

• Describe the various environmental/energy management standards

• Understand the purpose and goals of the legally binding international treaties on climate change

• Implement various sustainable performance metrics and how to use them in the data centre environment

• Manage data centre environmental sustainability using international standards

• Set up the measurement, monitoring and reporting of energy usage

• Use power efficiency indicators in a variety of data centre designs

• Use best practices for energy savings in the electrical infrastructure and in the mechanical (cooling) infrastructure

• Use best practices for energy savings for the ICT equipment and data storage

• Understand the importance of water management and waste management 

• Understand the different ways to use sustainable energy in the data centre 

• Get practical tips and innovative ideas to make a data centre more sustainable

Module 1 – Impact of Data Centres on the Environment

• Predictions in 2010
• Current situation
• Outlook and commitments

Module 2 – What is Environmental Sustainability

• The importance of sustainability
• Senior management commitment
• Environmental sustainability framework
• Sustainability policies
• Performance standards and metrics
• Information policies
• Transparency
• Awareness
• Service charging models

Module 3 – Environmental Management

• Environmental sustainability framework (ISO 14001)
• Standards and guidelines – ISO 50001 / ISO 30134
• Measurement and categories
• Baselining
• Trend analysis
• Reporting

Module 4 – Power Effi­ciency Indicators

• Various e­fficiency indicators
• Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)
• PUE measurement levels
• Factors affecting PUE
• Measurement points and intervals
• PUE in mixed source environments
• Measuring PUE in a mixed-use building
• PUE reporting
• Impact of PUE after optimising IT load

Module 5 – Electrical Energy Savings (Electrical)

• Identifying the starting point for saving energy
• Sizing of power
• DC power
• Generators
• UPS systems
• Power Factor (PF)
• Energy savings on lighting

Module 6 – Electrical Energy Savings (Mechanical)

• Energy savings on the cooling infrastructure
• Temperature and humidity setpoints
• Various energy e­cient cooling technologies
• Energy savings on the airflow
• Liquid cooling
• Energy reusage
• PUE, ERE/ERF and Control Volume

Module 7 – Electrical Energy Savings (ICT)

• Procurement
• IT equipment energy e­fficiency
• ITEEsv, SMPE, SMPO
• IT equipment utilisation
• Server virtualisation
• Open compute project

Module 8 – Electrical Energy Savings (Data Storage)

• Data management
• Data storage management
• Data storage equipment effi­ciency

Module 9 – Water Management

• Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE)
• Improving WUE
• Water usage at the power generation source
• Energy Water Intensity Factor (EWIF)

Module 10 – Waste Management

• Waste management policies
• Life-cycle assessment (Cradle to the grave)
• 3 R’s for waste management
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Second-hand market
• Recycle

Module 11 – Sustainable Energy Usage

• Sustainable energy sources
• Power purchase agreements
• Energy attribute certificates
• Renewable Energy Factor (REF)
• Matching renewable energy supply and demand
• Sustainable energy storage
• Carbon trading

Module 12 – Automated Environmental Management Systems

• Use of AI and machine learning
• Load migration
• Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solutions

The CDESS^® course is lectured by an EPI Certified Instructor using a combination of lectures and question-and-answer sessions to discuss participants’ specific needs and issues experienced in their own environment.  Participants are able to tap into the trainer’s extensive experience to enable them to solve practical problems in their current environment, thus adding tremendous value.

CDESS^® course available in the following delivery methods:

• ILT – Instructor-Led Training (Schedule)
• VILT – Virtual ILT (Schedule)

Exam: Certified Data Centre Environmental Sustainability Specialist (CDESS^®)

Attendees will take a 1-hour CDESS^® exam. The exam is 40 questions, multiple-choice, closed-book. The passing mark is 27 out of 40. 

Attendees passing the exam will be awarded the internationally accredited and recognized 'Certified Data Centre Environmental Sustainability Specialist (CDESS^®) certificate.  

CDESS^® is globally accredited by EXIN, a fully independent exam and certification institute.

The CDESS^® certificate is valid for 3 years, after which recertification is required.  Please see the EPI Recertification Program for available options.

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