F E A T U R E
CAN WE SUSTAIN THE DIGITAL AGE ? BALANCING DATA GROWTH WITH RESOURCE CONSERVATION
The world has an insatiable need for data , which inevitably leads to increased energy usage and water wastage . Keeping up with digital demand while balancing sustainability is a major challenge , Steve Dawson , Closed Systems Manager , Guardian Water Treatment , discusses . fundamental part of
A ensuring data centres remain operational is cooling , which requires vast amounts of energy – 40 % of the power used for facility operations goes towards this task . Part of the cooling process inevitably uses water . According to NPR reports , the average data centre needs 300,000 gallons of water a day to ensure optimum temperatures – equivalent to the water used in 100,000 homes . In drought-stricken areas , this is a very real concern and as climate change progresses , may affect more people across the globe .
There are ways to reduce this volume , something that must become a priority as the demand for data centres inevitably increases . Bigger data centres tend to use cooling towers which consume the greatest amounts of water , but are far more energy efficient than air-based cooling systems ; it can therefore seem like balancing these two resource demands is at odds .
Ways to save water
Modern data centres can be kept at the right temperature – a constant 20 ° C to 24 ° C to prevent servers from performing inefficiently and unreliably
– while also focusing on reducing resource wastage .
Water recovery and recycling
As mentioned , cooling towers are a popular choice in our largest data centres . Water is an excellent heat transfer medium and therefore adiabatic cooling systems are one of the most efficient methods , using around 40 % less electricity than air-cooled systems .
To reduce the volume of water wasted in cooling tower processes , water can be recovered and rainwater harvested . In fact , 70 % of process water can be
46 www . intelligentdatacentres . com