FEATURE
This public record requires countries to cut emissions in half by 2030 .
In 2022 , the Netherlands placed a temporary ban on new data centres . Facilities larger than 10 hectares that consume more than 70MW have been heavily restricted in the region as more and more countries like Ireland and Germany push back on hyperscalers .
Making heat reuse work
Building new data centres isn ’ t the answer to heat reuse – nor does it have to be . Modern data centres are primed for infrastructural changes . Exploring sustainable server cooling solutions is a big first step in shifting data centre heat output .
Air-vented cooling is the traditional method for maintaining data centres , regulating the temperature of server equipment so that it can operate efficiently . The waste heat from data centres , and the conventional cooling methods that expel it , are huge contributors to high emissions . Up to 50 % of traditional data centres ' energy is dedicated to air cooling .
Upgrading facility cooling systems can reduce a data centre ’ s carbon footprint . This is a fast-growing market , as more operators seek bespoke solutions to slot into their data centre ’ s infrastructure .
Liquid immersion cooling is an alternative to traditional cooling , which has picked up momentum , with the market projected to grow by 22 % by 2028 . Immersing server hardware in liquid coolant prevents equipment from reaching higher temperatures and can be extracted for productive applications instead .
Data centre densities will rise significantly over the next few years and the thermal design power ( TDPs ) for chips will continue to increase as well .
Data centre owners can future-proof against rising heat requirements through their cooling solutions . There are immersion cooling solutions available that can handle the increased heat of these chips up to 400W and are on track to handle beyond 1000W .
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