I N D U S T R Y I N T E L L I G E N C E

he UN ’ s Sustainable

Development Goals have meant that sustainability has been firmly on the agenda of businesses since 2015 , although for many this has been a consideration for longer . The challenge is that while businesses often have the ambition and plans in place to work towards net zero and improve their sustainability , they often face new barriers to achieving this .

These challenges have increased tenfold for data centres over the last couple of years with the rise of Generative AI and ,

as such , the increased demand it places on data centres and power supplies .

Data centres have a dilemma – they rely on a huge amount of power to run their operations , and with the increasing development and use of AI , the demand is only growing .

In fact , the National Grid has said they expect the demand from commercial data centres to increase six-fold just in the next 10 years . How green the power sources data centres use plays a big part in the sustainability challenge for data centres .

So , what are the benefits of making data centres more sustainable ?

Firstly , it ’ s about the bottom line . While becoming more sustainable may incur costs in the short term , in the long term it can increase efficiency and reduce operational costs .

Also , having a ‘ greener ’ data centre could make them more attractive to potential clients . As data centre users look at their own carbon footprints , they will be looking at those of their supply chains , such as where they are housing their data .

Following the why , what is the how ? What can data centre operators do to reduce their environmental impact ?

Five ways data centre operators can improve their sustainability

1 . Energy source

Data centres have always needed a good power supply but with workloads becoming increasingly intensive , the power requirement has also grown . The challenge is needing a constant power supply that doesn ’ t drop out as data centres run 24 / 7 . Some renewable options may not be able to provide a guaranteed supply of power . However , there are options data centres can look at for a more sustainable source than fossil fuels , and they could look at an energy mix . These can include renewable energy , small modular reactors , batteries and fuel cells .

2 . Waste recycling

The excess heat dissipated in the data centres could be recycled to other energy systems for utilisation . We have seen examples of this in practice with data centres heating swimming pools and other places .

3 . Efficiency

Historically , data centres have relied on operational efficiency metrics to reduce costs and improve sustainability . This is still an area that can impact sustainability through things such as reducing physical waste , reducing electronic waste by extending life cycles and recycling equipment .

They can also look at their own IT systems to improve efficiency and reduce unnecessary usage . For example , using software-defined memory management , or implementing software to manage central processing unit ( CPU ) utilisation , can significantly reduce power consumption and the need to buy new hardware .

Water efficiency is also increasingly being considered given the role of cooling systems in data centres .

4 . Building a data centre

Location should be a key consideration when it comes to the environmental impact the data centre could have . Data centres which are built in warmer climates will have a bigger challenge on their hands than those in colder climates . That ’ s simply down to the impact of natural cooling – if you need to keep servers cool in a cold climate you ’ re

Daryl Elfield , Partner , Sustainable IT at KPMG UK

helped by the colder temperatures , if you ’ re in a warm environment , it ’ s going to require more effort to keep them at the right temperature .

Choosing more sustainable materials when building new data centres can also help .

5 . Monitoring and reporting

Data centre operators should consider how they monitor their operational efficiency and their reporting mechanisms . Data-rich insights could not only help them assess the efficiency of their power usage but also better direct investments .

Reporting their sustainability credentials and environmental impact could help attract and retain users . As companies evaluate their environmental impact as well as their supply chain ’ s impact , they

24 www . intelligentdatacentres . com