The data center industry’s growth projections can be met by combining energy supply growth and demand reduction. Highly utilized IT infrastructure and efficient software can mitigate demand growth while delivering needed IT capacity.
As AI supercharges the growth in data center energy demands, new developments are likely to be increasingly politicized. Central governments may support their expansion, but opposition from local authorities and environmentalists will grow.
Many organizations still do not tap into the potential power efficiency gains hidden in servers. Without operational focus on extracting those, future server platforms may bring marginal, if any, energy performance improvements.
Raising supply air temperature is drawing interest from data center providers and regulators in some countries. While saving energy, it may also reduce resiliency. This report quantifies energy impacts to clarify when it can be beneficial.
The 14th edition of the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey highlights the experiences and strategies of vendors, product suppliers, engineering firms, and consultants in the areas of data center spending, customer challenges, supply chains, D...
Increasing supply air temperature is gaining interest as an approach to potentially save data center energy. However, savings will not be universally possible and understanding its potential involves a complex multivariable analysis.
The data center industry’s drive for carbon-free growth appears to be at odds with electricity grid stability. Data center operators will need to reorient their strategies to integrate growth, efficiency and decarbonization.
Metered-by-outlet iPDUs present a relatively straightforward method of collecting server-level power consumption data. This information will be increasingly important to data center efficiency — making iPDUs a more popular choice.
This briefing report identifies and describes a number of de facto standards and laws used in the field of data center sustainability and efficiency (for convenience, we use the term “standards” for all).
Hyperscalers use DC busbars in their racks. Proven at large scale, the technology saves energy and materials, but without a market for DC servers that meets the needs of smaller operators and enterprises, no one else will use it.
Goals for achieving net-zero emissions by 2030 are being extended, according to Uptime Institute survey data. This is likely driven by stricter reporting requirements, rising costs and limited availability of carbon-free energy.
The reporting of IT equipment Scope 1 to 3 emissions across the data center value chain can account for the same emissions up to six times. Sustainability efforts should favor achieving more efficient, less carbon-intensive operations.
This report captures some findings from the Uptime Institute Sustainability and Climate Change Survey 2023, including that more than half of operators are still to set a net-zero emissions goal and less than half compile key metrics.
A lack of clarity surrounds the EED reporting timeline for data center operators. The directive mandates the public reporting of 14 items by May 15, 2024, but member states have yet to publish their reporting requirements.
Industry stakeholders recognize that to truly understand IT infrastructure efficiency, data center operators need to report a facility work per unit of energy metric. Most operators are, however, unprepared to calculate this metric.
Jay Dietrich
Peter Judge
Daniel Bizo
Dr. Tomas Rahkonen
Anthony Sbarra
Laurie Williams
Max Smolaks
Douglas Donnellan