Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007 - (Page 14)

In The News NEWS AND TRENDS Professional engineer licensure pays off, says NSPE salary survey PEs earn an average of 20% more in salary than engineers with no professional license, according to findings from the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), Alexandria, Va. “The Engineering Income & Salary Survey,” conducted each year by NSPE, found that the median income for an engineer with no professional license is $69,000 while a licensed PE earns a median salary of $86,000. Other certifications, in addition to the PE license, can push that number even higher. PEs who are also certified land surveyors earn $99,500, while those who hold a certification in forensic engineering earn a median salary of $106,624. Data from past surveys also show a marked rise in salaries for PEs over the past few years, while engineers with no license only saw moderate salary increases. PEs earned a median salary of $77,000 in 2005, which then rose to $82,000 in 2006, and then on to the current salary figures. Engineers without a PE license earned $65,464 in 2005, compared with $66,600 in 2006. While many conclusions could be drawn from these figures, say NSPE officials, it is safe to say that salaries for PEs are not only healthy, but also continuing to grow. “This year is the 100th anniversary of engineering licensure, and we’d like to think there is now a greater significance to becoming a professional engineer,” said NSPE executive director Lawrence Jacobson. “Especially with recent events, the PEs level of competency and their commitment to the public health, safety, and welfare should be perceived as a huge bonus to employers, and the clients and public they serve.” Those on the path to licensure, engineers-in-training/engineering interns, also saw healthy increases in their salary numbers. The median salary for a trainee in 2007 was $55,000, compared to $52,500 in 2006 and $51,450 in 2005. And beyond increased salary figures, many companies are now offering them bonuses and incentives for taking and passing the PE exam. In addition to monetary compensation, many can take paid time off to study for the exam or have their examination preparation courses and materials paid for by their employers. NSPE has been conducting salary surveys since 1952. Data center energy-efficiency initiatives are gaining ground The results from a recent industry survey provide insight into actions taken by data center operators to increase the efficiency of their facilities and identifies the challenges organizations face in pushing for additional improvements. The survey was conducted by the Data Center Users’ Group (DCUG), a group of data center, IT, and facility managers formed by St. Louis-based Emerson Network Power, and completed in coordination with the EPA and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs to support the EPA’s recently released “Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency.” More than 150 DCUG member companies and non-member Fortune 500 companies participated in the survey. Founded in 2003, the DCUG has approximately 1,000 members and meets semi-annually to discuss reliability and operation for mission-critical installations. According to the survey, the majority of respondents have made operational improvements to increase energy efficiency. Data centers of 77% of these respondents are arranged in a hot aisle/cold aisle configuration to increase cooling system efficiency, 65% use blanking panels to minimize recirculation of hot air, and 56% have sealed floors to prevent cooling losses. The survey also shows the growing popularity of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to identify hotspots and optimize airflow within the facility, with 25% of respondents having already conducted a CFD analysis of their facilities. The survey also revealed some of the challenges that data center professionals face as they try to reduce energy use, including: lack of management priority (40%), not clearly understanding the cost/benefit relationship (36%), not wanting to risk reliability (35%), and lack of communication between IT and facilities personnel (33%). Other survey results show that, on average, 60% of the data center electrical load is used to power IT equipment, with approximately 56% of that being used to power servers, 27% for storage, and 19% for network equipment. In addition, 41% of survey respondents said their data center electrical usage is not metered separately from the rest of their facilities. Fortyone percent of respondents also noted that they did not have a dedicated facility for their data center. Additional results include the following: Eighty-one percent believe that by 2012 they will need additional data center capacity, despite the fact that 64% have built or upgraded their data center in the past five years. More than a quarter (27%) of respondents believe that despite consolidation and the use of virtualization, their server inventory will increase throughout the next five years. The average power density per rack is approximately 6.5 kW, while the maximum power density in any one rack averages approximately 12.9 kW. 14 Consulting-Specifying Engineer • OCTOBER, 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007 Contents On the Web In the News M/E Roundtable How To Beat the Energy Codes Professional Practices Codes & Standards A Capital Job on Engineered Buiding Systems Going Green in Data Centers Overcurrent Protection: Fuses or Breakers? Third-Party Liability Management Report New Products Product Spotlight Jobs/Classifieds Specifier's Notebook

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007

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