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Data Center Design and Operations

Cage

Cage is a secured mesh or partitioned area within a colocation facility dedicated to a customer. It is common in retail and smaller wholesale deployments where tenants need physical separation without a private data hall.

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eGRID

EPA's eGRID is a database of electric generation and emissions attributes by grid region and plant. It is useful for estimating location-based emissions, but users should understand reporting year, regional boundary, and market-based procurement differences.

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Black start

Black start is the ability of a generator or system to start without an outside electric supply and help restore the grid. It is mainly a grid restoration concept, but it matters for resilience discussions and some backup-generation narratives.

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kVA

Kilovolt-ampere is apparent power, which combines real and reactive power. Equipment such as transformers and UPS systems is often rated in kVA, so users need power factor to translate a kVA rating into usable kW.

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