Going Green is Good Business: Minimising the Environmental Impact of Data Centres While Maximising Margins

Author: Ray Mcnally - Senior Vice President, Data Centre Operations

There is increasing pressure on digital infrastructure providers to hit net-zero emissions targets, as the global focus on reducing the impact of climate change persists. Data centres are one of the largest contributors to energy consumption, and organisations seek to partner with providers with sustainable processes in place. IDC estimates that by 2025 the global data load will hit 175 Zettabytes (ZB), up from 33 ZB in 2018.

The challenge for data centre operators is to maintain high-performance racks in new local markets and find a way to balance sustainability initiatives to remain environmentally and competitively ahead. The opportunity to go green and improve efficiency to save on costs can maximise margins while positively impacting the environment. Digital infrastructure providers in the Middle East will be supporting the UAE’s vision for sustainability and extending this vision globally.

At the end of 2021, world leaders met in Paris for the COP21 Climate Change Summit. The United Nations aim to reduce the carbon emissions causing fatal rising temperatures around the world. The meeting set targets between governments around the world that focused on energy, greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions. Data centres were heavily involved in the conversations at the summit due to their high energy usage.

Powerful Facilities Lack Energy Efficiency

Data centres need to meet the demand of the rising number of businesses turning to cloud computing and other emerging technologies such as VR and AR which consume and create large volumes of data.

The challenge is that they are under increasing pressure from customers, governments, energy regulators and climate change activists. As data centre rack capacity grows with demand, so does the amount of electricity required to maintain optimal uptime and performance.

Colocation and digital infrastructure providers have been able to turn up operations and are now expanding into new markets around the world. However, designing, developing, and operating sustainable data centres continues to be one of the biggest challenges they face.

Data centre providers need to consider the demands of their facilities while still trying to go green. For example, the record-breaking temperatures that we have seen over the last six months meant putting solutions such as liquid cooling in place.

Read more about the effect of rising temperatures on data centres here .

There is an opportunity to become more sustainable and adhere to climate change initiatives while also creating a more energy-efficient facility that can withhold rising temperatures. With the right approach, digital infrastructure providers can enhance efficiency to become more sustainable and improve margins.

Sustainability Demands Innovation

Hyperscalers are increasingly prioritising sustainable facilities that are powered by renewable energy. They are competing to offer the greenest cloud to their enterprise customers, which means that the data centres that can demonstrate green credentials will have a greater chance of winning their business.

By minimising power usage, digital infrastructure providers can better their environmental impact and reduce overall running costs. Specifically, providers should look at the huge amounts of wasted electricity consumed by uninterruptable power supplies and adopt an energy-saving model that continues to operate with high-performance levels.

By managing space and power efficiently, data centres can quickly be made more sustainable in the long term. One interesting method that could be used for new facilities is to build racks higher from the ground to create more space within a smaller area, enabling a more refined cooling area which requires less power to maintain ambient temperatures.

Liquid cooling methods can help data centres increase their performance more consistently by cooling racks quicker when temperatures begin to rise. This benefits customers because uptime is increased, and the facility is more reliable during periods of extreme heat where other methods may crash.

Furthermore, it supports the move to greener and more sustainable facilities removing the need for carbon emission-inducing air conditioning. Liquid cooling easily accommodates denser workloads while minimising the overall footprint.

Read more about the benefits of liquid cooling in our article here .

Construction and expansion also contribute to the environmental factors of a data centre. Expanding their facility every few years can affect climate change due to the pollution it can cause.

Digital infrastructure providers need a long-term strategy to ensure they are minimising the likelihood of unnecessary construction. By implementing technologies such as liquid cooling they can future-proof facilities and use existing data centre space more effectively without the need for expansion.

Going Green for the Future

Governments are focused on pushing greener data centres around the world and customers are showing resistance to those not taking part. Digital infrastructure providers must highlight the importance of renewable energy and integrate it into their efforts. Hyperscaler customers are committed to sustainability, and this will only continue.

By implementing initiatives that will help the environment while also adding to the growth and scalability of facilities, digital infrastructure providers can improve relationships with customers, governments and society while also positively impacting their cash flow.

There is an opportunity to create a real competitive advantage by putting in place sustainable initiatives that will positively impact the climate crisis to attract customers and governments from around the world into local markets. Sustainable is the future.