MANY LEGACY DATA CENTRES MAY EVEN FIND THAT THE STRAIN OF OPTIMAL COOLING SURPASSES THE LIMITS OF THE DESIGN OF THE SITE LEADING TO EQUIPMENT FAILURE .
EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
STEPHEN DONOVAN , CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER , ATNORTH
ith Europe ’ s climate warming twice the
W rate of the global average , many countries are experiencing increasingly extreme weather conditions such as droughts , storms and flooding . This coupled with energy prices reaching a record high and cooling requirements estimated to be responsible for up to 40 % of total data centre energy costs , it is not surprising that the data centre industry is concerned about the impact extreme weather could potentially have on cooling operations .
Data centres already generate a considerable amount of heat , and prolonged periods of extreme hot weather mean that cooling systems will need to work harder and consume more energy ( at a significant cost !) to ensure the infrastructure remains at an acceptable temperature . Should long periods of sustained heat become more prevalent , many legacy data centres may even find that the strain of optimal cooling surpasses the limits of the design of the site leading to equipment failure .
Similarly , a long-term increase in ambient temperature resulting in a huge increase in the demand for power could put a strain on the power grid , leading to potential power outages – and if these outages are prolonged , it can put a significant strain on backup systems , potentially impacting the cooling infrastructure and jeopardising the temperature regulation within the data centre .
Extreme weather events are a threat to physical infrastructure such as power stations , electricity cables and the data centre buildings themselves . Data centres heavily rely on a stable and uninterrupted power supply and use backup power systems to mitigate this risk .
Businesses that are concerned about the physical and financial effects of extreme weather on their digital infrastructure should choose the location of their data centre wisely .
Newer data centres will employ stateof-the-art monitoring systems that mitigate the risks associated with extreme weather events and many employ the latest , more energy-efficient cooling technologies – for example , redundant cooling systems , smart monitoring technology and backup power generators to ensure consistency of temperature in the event of power outages . Another example is direct liquid cooling which leverages the higher thermal transfer of water to more efficiently cool equipment .
Data centres located in countries with a cooler , natural ambient temperature are able to cool the sites at a significantly lower cost . The Nordic region in particular has a stable cool climate and is powered
MANY LEGACY DATA CENTRES MAY EVEN FIND THAT THE STRAIN OF OPTIMAL COOLING SURPASSES THE LIMITS OF THE DESIGN OF THE SITE LEADING TO EQUIPMENT FAILURE .
primarily by renewable , abundant and low-cost energy sources .
Given the severity of the increase in extreme weather conditions , it is becoming apparent that even the existing design guidance that most of the industry adopts may be too historic and fails to consider the rate of acceleration of these environmental changes . As such , design considerations need to be carefully considered and adapted to meet these trends and to ensure that the data centres continue to meet the exacting internal environmental conditions demanded while still performing at optimal efficiency levels .
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