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Abstract Currently, the vast amount of heat generated by electronic equipment in the data canters is removed using high energy consumption mechanical systems. Hence, there is a good potential to use waste heat recovery systems for space heating purposes in order to reduce the energy consumption, energy cost as well as pollutant emissions. In present study, the feasibility of using the air source heat pump (ASHP), as a waste heat recovery system operating with different refrigerants, in a 54-racks data center in Mashhad city of Iran has been investigated to save the electrical energy consumption of the mechanical cooling as well as the natural gas fuel consumption of the adjoining office building with area of 416 m2. The energy-environmental-economic analysis results indicated that around 35000 m3/year natural gas saving, 20.8 MW h/year electrical energy saving, 121 tons/year CO 2 emission reduction and 25000$/year cost saving can be achieved through using the proposed waste heat recovery system. Furthermore, the proposed system, with a payback period of 2.5 years, can improve the power usage effectiveness (PUE), energy reuse factor (ERF) and energy reuse effectiveness (ERE) of the data center. Graphical abstract Image 103 Highlights • The feasibility of the waste heat recovery of a data center was examined using the air source heat pump (ASHP). • The effects of the type of the refrigerant and the return air temperature from the data center were explored. • The proposed system was evaluated both economically and environmentally. • The effect of using the ASHP on the indices ERE, ERF and PUE was investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A thermo-economic analysis was carried out for using economizer cycles in various climate conditions. • The energy and cost savings potential of a data center was studied for ten different cities of Iran. • Using the economizer cycles, the PUE index of the data center can be improved by a range from 10% to 12%. • Economic analysis was performed based on relative annual potential as a new technical criterion. Abstract In this study, a thermo-economic analysis was carried out for using Air-Side Economizer (ASE), Water-Side Economizer (WSE) and Combined Air or Water Economizer (CAWE) operation mode in order to cool a data center in ten cities of Iran with various weather conditions. The energy and cost saving potentials in Mashhad municipality's data center was studied as a case study and the findings were generalized for all cities during a year. The results showed that there are energy and cost savings potential by employing CAWE operation mode for all cities except coastal cities. In addition, the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of the data center can be improved by a range from 10% to 12% using CAWE cooling mode for most cities. Finally, it was found that economic index of relative net present value (RNPV) for ASE, WSE and CAWE will be positive if their relative annual potential (RAP) are higher than 12%, 23% and 35%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]