Making the carbon-zero data centre a reality

Editorial Type: Opinion Date: 2020-06-01 Views: 1,074 Tags: Storage, Data Centre, Management, Green, Carbon, Virtus PDF Version:
David Watkins, Solutions Director for VIRTUS Data Centres, examines how the data centre industry is delivering on its ‘green commitments’

As businesses all over the world seek to capitalise on today's digital economy, the data centre remains one of the most crucial components of business infrastructure. However, as global warming continues at an alarming rate, many are asking whether it is really possible to sustain such a power-hungry industry whilst simultaneously trying to save the planet.

The issue is well discussed. It’s no secret that the data centre industry is a contributor towards climate change and the pressure to reduce its environmental impact is high on the priority list of governments all over the world. Today, data centres generate two percent of the world’s 50 billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gasses every year, but the EU Commission recently set a “green deadline”, noting that the industry "should become climate neutral by 2030.” Customers are expecting change too - as businesses ask their providers for evidence of robust sustainability and carbon reduction measures.

So how can the data centre industry meet its environmental targets while maintaining service and delivering on continually growing customer demand?

Harnessing renewable energy Renewable energy is on the rise. Late 2019 saw renewables surpass fossils fuels as the largest generation source of UK energy for the first time. Global supplies from renewable power, including wind, solar and hydro are on-track to surpass supplies of gas, oil and coal-fired stations in the near future - and falling prices through technology improvement and scale means that it’s now more affordable than ever to harness renewable energy sources. Renewable energy projects are an area of continued success for the industry and it’s heartening to see companies adopting renewable energy in new and innovative ways.

A good example of this at work is a campus in the southwestern tip of Iceland, which runs almost entirely on geothermal and hydroelectric power. The Icelandic data centre owners claim theirs to be the world's first carbon-neutral data centre, and the industry is suitably impressed. BMW has already moved a large portion of its German clusters to the campus, and more organisations look set to follow. Australia, too, is rising to the green challenge in terms of renewable energy – a data centre in Port Melbourne now includes one of Australia's biggest solar arrays for generating its own power, providing customers with the opportunity to choose 100 per cent renewable power for their IT infrastructure.

Our own green roots are in evidence too. All of the energy we consume at VIRTUS Data Centres is from 100 per cent renewable sources thanks to our partnership with Bryt Energy who generates power from wind, solar and tidal sources. Our LONDON2 data centre facility in Hayes also incorporates a borehole dug at the inception of the site, using natural water sources for cooling reducing demand on the mains water supply. Combined with the local climate, and efficient cooling technology this delivers low Water Usage Efficiency (WUE) for the site.

When it comes to green credentials it’s true that every little bit counts. That’s perhaps why some experts talk about “shades of green” - mooring the idea that not all renewables are the same - some are greener than others, despite all claiming to be sustainable. For example, burning bio-mass is carbon neutral, but not as sustainable as using wind, solar and tidal power.

For data centre providers in the UK looking to capitalise on renewable energy usage, Ofgem’s Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) scheme has been an important development. A REGO certificate is meant to prove the renewable source of the energy provided, offering reassurance to purchasers. However, it should be noted that, according to Good Energy, it is possible for suppliers to trade and purchase REGOs without purchasing the renewably-sourced electricity - and, by stocking up on REGOs, companies can claim to offer 100 per cent renewable energy tariffs without holding contracts with renewable producers.

A focus on cooling It goes without saying that servers can't be allowed to overheat, otherwise data loss and shortened server life are simply inevitable. But keeping servers cool has historically used lots of grid-based energy to do the job. However, the industry is innovating at a pace, and is fast developing ways to keep equipment cool while, at the same time, minimising the environmental impact. For example, a Frankfurt data centre has reduced its water consumption through an on-site reverse osmosis water treatment plant, and harvested rainwater to feed the plants that cover the exterior walls and roof. Outside air is used for cooling more than 60 per cent of the time in this innovative design.

Google's Hamina, Finland data centre makes use of seawater for cooling purposes. And, not to be outdone, Facebook adopted a cooling system at its Lulea, Sweden data centre that uses the chilly outside air to ensure its equipment is kept at the optimum temperature. At VIRTUS Data Centres, we are continually looking to optimise how our water cooling technology functions.

For once, the inclement British weather is working in our favour. Free cooling capabilities mean that, if the temperature is below a certain level, the air in the data centre can be chilled without any mechanical cooling - just using the ambient conditions of the outside air. When you consider that all data centres operate 24 hours a day, using the natural cooler temperatures at night makes perfect sense.

A cradle to grave approach It’s not good enough to just concentrate on one area like power, or cooling, or developing a sustainable supply chain which favours suppliers with green credentials. Instead, environmental ambitions must be built into every aspect of data centre construction and maintenance. When it comes to construction, BREEAM standards examine the green credentials of commercial buildings, verifying the performance of buildings and comparing them against sustainability benchmarks.

By adhering to BREEAM standards, data centre providers can lead with energy efficient and effective design from the start, adopting the latest in building technologies and sustainable sourcing of materials for these buildings - ensuring a smarter, cleaner way of consuming energy and water.

Once a building is up and running there are plenty of every day concerns to address too. Highly efficient UPS (Unlimited Power Supply) systems, for example having the ability to hibernate parts of the system when they aren’t being used - saving on unnecessary power use.

The better providers don’t just look at running the site, but adjunct areas too, such as how staff are getting to and from the data centre and transport links optimising the use of public transport and installing charging points for electric vehicles.

Some data centres are working hard to mitigate the environment effects of a technology hungry society. There’s no doubt that business and society will continue to demand new technology, but at the same time, technology usage will increase the demand for data centres to house servers to store and share data. In turn the power needed to keep the data centres up and running will also grow.

In modern society, energy is a necessary evil, yet, it is clear that the industry needs to take action and accelerate its search for new ways to minimise carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency.

Some data centre providers are marrying performance with sustainability - ensuring that they are embracing moves like zero carbon energy sources, whilst maintaining security of supply, service uptime and customer satisfaction.

More info: www.virtusdatacentres.com