Event Recap
RECAP | Roundtable [EMEA]: What sustainable practices have you implemented in your data center operations?
Introduction:
Many organizations are increasingly adopting sustainable practices in their data center operations to reduce environmental impact. These practices may include energy-efficient hardware utilization, renewable energy sources, and advanced cooling systems. One approach involves optimizing server efficiency and implementing virtualization technologies to reduce overall energy consumption. Additionally, organizations may explore the use of renewable energy sources to power their data centers, contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly computing infrastructure.
Supporting Questions:
1. How has your organization optimized server efficiency and implemented virtualization technologies to enhance sustainability in data center operations?
2. What strategies have been employed to incorporate renewable energy sources into the power supply for your data centers, and what challenges were encountered in the process?
3. Can you share insights into any innovative cooling systems or technologies that have been adopted to promote energy efficiency and sustainability in your data center operations?
Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director, Distributed Data Centers, for Uptime Institute Intelligence moderated the roundtable session on 31 January 2024.
Roundtable notes and comments:
A US organization mentioned that they can buy renewable energy from their utility but currently don’t do it as the cost is 3X of regular grid energy.
One organization has an ongoing data center development in Germany that is now subject to recent legislation (EEA, including requirements on PUE, heat reuse, and use of unsubsidized renewable energy). This was not initially planned for (as EEA outcome was not known) and some requirements are challenging causing additional project work.
A colo provider reported that they have been replacing adiabatic cooling systems with closed-loop systems as the former did not deliver savings during (more humid) periods of the year. Another reason to move to closed-loop systems is to reduce water consumption.
We discussed colo renewable energy purchasing and some tenants starting to ask for traceability for their own renewable energy/carbon reporting. This is expected to increase but it is still early days with most clients not requesting such traceability.
A US organization mentioned that they are running monthly cross-organization meetings including the data center team and corporate sustainability teams. An immediate goal is to report to SBTi. IT is not yet fully integrated in the initiative but specific persons are pinpointed.
IT utilization was described by several participants as the “elephant in the room” not always discussed (including with clients).
Two participants mentioned that they make use of PAIA (Product Attribute to Impact Algorithm) from MIT for lifecycle analysis (LCA) – and that they both were not so happy with using it (due to limitations).
Some interest in overall systems to combine facility and IT data, also taking into account heat reuse, cooling optimization, etc. Will also make some regulatory reporting easier.
One organization reported that liquid cooling (water based) is about to be introduced at their test/demo facility to demonstrate HPC/AI workloads.
A European colo reported CSRD now starting to result in tenant discussion and additional data requests. This includes data related to a recently set up PPA with a local wind farm.
A North American enterprise reported plans to install solar panels locally on sites.
In summary, organizations are preparing to meet sustainability standards, like the voluntary SBTi and mandatory EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). For those with projects in geographies with strict sustainability regulations (e.g., Germany) there can be challenging project impacts (efficiency/PUE, heat reuse, use of renewable energy). Operators are advised to carefully monitor and plan for upcoming sustainability regulations in their key geographies.
Many organizations are increasingly adopting sustainable practices in their data center operations to reduce environmental impact. These practices may include energy-efficient hardware utilization, renewable energy sources, and advanced cooling systems. One approach involves optimizing server efficiency and implementing virtualization technologies to reduce overall energy consumption. Additionally, organizations may explore the use of renewable energy sources to power their data centers, contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly computing infrastructure.
Supporting Questions:
1. How has your organization optimized server efficiency and implemented virtualization technologies to enhance sustainability in data center operations?
2. What strategies have been employed to incorporate renewable energy sources into the power supply for your data centers, and what challenges were encountered in the process?
3. Can you share insights into any innovative cooling systems or technologies that have been adopted to promote energy efficiency and sustainability in your data center operations?
Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director, Distributed Data Centers, for Uptime Institute Intelligence moderated the roundtable session on 31 January 2024.
Roundtable notes and comments:
A US organization mentioned that they can buy renewable energy from their utility but currently don’t do it as the cost is 3X of regular grid energy.
One organization has an ongoing data center development in Germany that is now subject to recent legislation (EEA, including requirements on PUE, heat reuse, and use of unsubsidized renewable energy). This was not initially planned for (as EEA outcome was not known) and some requirements are challenging causing additional project work.
A colo provider reported that they have been replacing adiabatic cooling systems with closed-loop systems as the former did not deliver savings during (more humid) periods of the year. Another reason to move to closed-loop systems is to reduce water consumption.
We discussed colo renewable energy purchasing and some tenants starting to ask for traceability for their own renewable energy/carbon reporting. This is expected to increase but it is still early days with most clients not requesting such traceability.
A US organization mentioned that they are running monthly cross-organization meetings including the data center team and corporate sustainability teams. An immediate goal is to report to SBTi. IT is not yet fully integrated in the initiative but specific persons are pinpointed.
IT utilization was described by several participants as the “elephant in the room” not always discussed (including with clients).
Two participants mentioned that they make use of PAIA (Product Attribute to Impact Algorithm) from MIT for lifecycle analysis (LCA) – and that they both were not so happy with using it (due to limitations).
Some interest in overall systems to combine facility and IT data, also taking into account heat reuse, cooling optimization, etc. Will also make some regulatory reporting easier.
One organization reported that liquid cooling (water based) is about to be introduced at their test/demo facility to demonstrate HPC/AI workloads.
A European colo reported CSRD now starting to result in tenant discussion and additional data requests. This includes data related to a recently set up PPA with a local wind farm.
A North American enterprise reported plans to install solar panels locally on sites.
In summary, organizations are preparing to meet sustainability standards, like the voluntary SBTi and mandatory EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). For those with projects in geographies with strict sustainability regulations (e.g., Germany) there can be challenging project impacts (efficiency/PUE, heat reuse, use of renewable energy). Operators are advised to carefully monitor and plan for upcoming sustainability regulations in their key geographies.
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