Jay is the Research Director of Sustainability at Uptime Institute. Dietrich looks beyond the hype to analyze the transformations required in energy and IT systems, data centers and software management systems, and intra-organizational collaboration, both within and between companies, to deliver sustainable data center operations.
jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com
Cooling systems with similar energy performance can vary significantly in water consumption. An analysis of facility data confirms that evaporative cooling's efficiency advantage may be limited and dependent on unacceptable levels of water use.
The European Commission has published the draft Energy efficiency — rating scheme for data centres in Europe, proposing amendments to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364, with comments due by April 23, 2026.The proposed rating scheme introduces a…
The European Commission published the draft data center rating scheme, including a public label template, and amendments to EU 2024/1364. The regulation has been improved, but critical issues remain unaddressed.
Cloud and AI growth are straining power systems, and the US GRID Act could make expansion more difficult. The industry will need greater transparency on projected energy and water use, project plans, and incentives.
Operators are proposing behind-the-meter power systems to accelerate the buildout of new AI data center infrastructure. Executing this strategy requires regulatory changes in many jurisdictions and new data center design approaches.
Microsoft and other major campus operators are increasing transparency on new projects and committing to absorb their full development costs, but further commitments are needed to fully address public concerns.
The European Commission plans to finalize the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) delegated regulations on June 10, 2026. The draft amendments may increase the quantity of reportable EED information and establish a data center labeling program.
The use of on-site natural gas power generation for big data centers will strain operators' ability to meet net-zero carbon goals. To counter this, operators will increasingly explore, promote and in some cases deploy carbon capture and storage.
Uptime Intelligence looks beyond the more obvious trends of 2026 and examines some of the latest developments and challenges shaping the data center industry.
The European Commission published the final assessment of the data center label and minimum performance standards (MPS) in October. The final delegated act could require posting a label in 2026 or 2027, with MPS values likely to be 2 years away.
The proposed Scope 2 Guidance updates radically alter current accounting methodologies. These changes will complicate Scope 2 offset markets (e.g., EACs, RECs and GOs), adding unnecessary complexity and resource demands to Scope 2 accounting.
The public wants to understand data center resource use and performance metrics. Data center operators need to propose a label format that shares appropriate performance metrics while protecting confidential information.
This report analyzes facility-level PUE data from the Global Data Center Survey 2025, highlighting differences by region, facility size and age. It assesses the vulnerability of the industry to PUE minimum performance standards.
The Netherlands have published the data center EED information and KPI forms for the 2024 operating year. However, the data set from the 104 facilities that reported data has limited value due to incomplete submissions.
Data center labels and minimum performance standards are being developed in the EU and are being proposed in other geographies. In this webinar, Uptime Intelligence discusses what these controversial labels will look like, how they will be applied,…
