Method and system for automated energy usage monitoring within a data center

A system for monitoring a data center, the system comprising:

• at least one rack monitor unit associated with at least one electronics rack of the data center for monitoring energy use thereof;
• at least one instantaneous rack power measurement component associated with the at least one electronics rack of the data center, each instantaneous rack power measurement component of the at least one instantaneous rack power measurement component being coupled to a respective rack monitor unit of the at least one rack monitor unit;
• and
• wherein the at least one rack monitor unit automatically determines energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack by automatically ascertaining time-based energy usage of the at least one electronics rack employing the at least one instantaneous rack power measurement component, the automatically ascertaining including obtaining multiple measurements of instantaneous energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack over a period of time, and averaging the multiple measurements to obtain the time-based energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack, and wherein the at least one rack monitor unit outputs the time-based energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack to facilitate monitoring of the data center.

A data center comprising:

• at least one electronics rack;
• and
• a system for monitoring energy usage of the at least one electronics rack, said system comprising:
• at least one rack monitor unit associated with the at least one electronics rack for monitoring energy usage thereof;
• at least one instantaneous rack power measurement component associated with the at least one electronics rack of the data center, each instantaneous rack power measurement component of the at least one instantaneous rack power measurement component being coupled to a respective rack monitor unit of the at least one rack monitor unit;
• and
• wherein the at least one rack monitor unit automatically determines energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack by automatically ascertaining time-based energy usage of the at least one electronics rack employing the at least one instantaneous rack power measurement component, the automatically ascertaining including obtaining multiple measurements of instantaneous energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack over a period of time, and averaging the multiple measurements to obtain the time-based energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack, and wherein the at least one rack monitor unit outputs the time-based energy usage of the associated at least one electronics rack to facilitate monitoring of the data center.