EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
ADAM NETHERSOLE , VP , KAO DATA
hroughout all areas
T of the data centre industry , sustainability has become one of the foremost factors of decision-making . With countries across the globe facing an energy crisis of unparalleled levels and both customers and investors demanding operators play a key part in reducing the impact of Scope 3 emissions , becoming greener and more energy efficient is now crucial to the future of the sector .
At Kao Data , sustainability has always been at the heart of our business and it fundamentally forms part of our company DNA . We believe that sustainability truly begins before the design and build stage and it has been one of our guiding principles since the inception of the business .
As such , we are ensuring that every avenue is explored to minimise our impact on the environment , with a goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 . To that effect , we ’ re signatories of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact , adhering to its commitments and have also recently become members of the iMasons Climate Accord .
All our data centres are designed for ultra-sustainable operations , utilising Digital Twin technologies to model and analyse them under various operational conditions prior to the beginning of each build process . This ensures that customers – including those working within HPC , AI , cloud , or enterprise – can benefit from high performance efficiencies and industry-leading uptime .
In terms of operations , our data centres are powered by 100 % renewable energy and deliver an SLA-backed PUE of 1.2 , even at partial loads . Further , we are Europe ’ s first data centre to transition from mineral diesel to renewable , hydrotreated vegetable oil ( HVO ), effectively removing fossil fuels from our campus and reducing our generator CO 2 emissions by 90 %. HVO is proven to be one of the most effective methods for assisting operators in significantly reducing harmful emissions , such as nitrogen oxide , CO 2 , particulate matter and carbon monoxide .
In terms of becoming greener , we ’ re utilising innovative strategies to improve sustainability and keeping up-to-date with the latest technologies which could support our efforts . For example , we ’ ve incorporated new cooling technologies that can deliver greater energy efficiencies and offer our customers a means to reduce the amount of power consumed within their deployments – something pivotal considering the energy landscape .
BECOMING GREENER AND MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT IS NOW CRUCIAL TO THE FUTURE OF THE SECTOR .
From a renewable energy standpoint , every electron of power consumed by Kao Data is also matched by an equivalent capacity generated at a UK wind farm . So while we use REGO certified energy like many other operators , at Kao Data we remove any uncertainty as to the source and validity of our green energy provision by ensuring our power is matched by genuine , renewable power that is generated locally .
Importantly , as our high-performance platform expands , each one of our new facilities will be built on the same sustainable engineering principles of the last . Looking forward , we believe this will be essential as we continue to push the boundaries of sustainability and reach net zero . www . intelligentdatacentres . com
31