Computers and servers don’t emit hazardous gasses, but they can still negatively impact the environment because they use energy. Data centers, in particular, are notorious for high energy consumption, which may originate from fossil fuels. So what can data centers do to become greener (more eco-friendly)?
Technology is at the heart of the problem, and technology is the very solution. Modern technologies that power and facilitate data centers can reduce emissions by directly targeting energy consumption. It’s estimated that data centers worldwide consume one percent of the total energy.
(Data: source)
So if your enterprise is running its data center on-premise, you can adopt technologies that reduce energy usage. While reducing the data center’s carbon footprint is great for the planet, it’s also good for business. Whether you operate a B2B or B2C business, clients are likelier to choose a company with a green data center than ever.
5 Best Technologies for a Green Data Center
Adopting smart technologies that make infrastructure energy-efficient is a step in the right direction. With the world’s data needs skyrocketing, data centers must process and store even more than they do today. Therefore, it’s high time to strategize for greener infrastructure.
The following five technologies have proven to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint.
Free Air Cooling
One of the major operating expenses for data centers is cooling. Servers need to be maintained at an optimal temperature to function well. And more often than not, that means mechanical cooling using air conditioners.
But do you need air conditioners if the data center is located in a colder region? Data centers in places like northern Europe opt for free air cooling, which utilizes outside cold air to keep the temperature optimal for servers.
It also helps that modern servers run at temperatures as high as 80 degrees. So in many places, it’s possible to eliminate the need for expensive, energy-consuming mechanical cooling and use natural airflow to absorb the heat.
Even this option would use some energy, as you need fans for air circulation and filters to keep the contaminants at bay. You can’t just open a few windows. Nevertheless, fans and air purifiers would utilize way less energy than air conditioning.
Liquid Cooling
One of the emerging trends in data centers is liquid cooling, which has the potential to be exponentially better at heat dissipation than air cooling (as high as 1,000x).
Liquid cooling emerged as an alternative to air cooling because the latter simply can’t deliver efficiency for today’s highly dense data centers. With increasing data needs thanks to applications like artificial intelligence, data centers are consolidating more computing power to handle higher workloads.
As a result, the energy requirement for single racks has gone up. Additionally, high-power CPUs and GPUs required for handling complex workloads require energy. Liquid cooling offers a better solution for maintaining the optimal temperature for such dense racks.
Liquid cooling has been used for mainframes, but it’s paving its way into data centers, offering a viable cooling solution. While it’s still an emerging technology, and there’s a scarcity of data on its impact on carbon emissions, it’s safe to say that it has massive potential for reducing emissions via less energy consumption.
The math is simple. Efficient cooling results in better performance and less energy use, reducing the overall emissions the data center is responsible for.
There are three ways to incorporate liquid cooling for servers: direct-to-chip cooling, rear-door heat exchangers, and immersion cooling. Of the three, rear-door heat exchangers are the easiest to implement.
Low Power Servers
A straightforward way to reduce energy consumption in a data center is to opt for low-power-consuming servers. Over the years, major manufacturers have improved their server designs, increasing performance while decreasing energy usage. And that’s a win-win situation for enterprises scaling up.
Dell EMC and HPE are among the manufacturers producing some of the most energy-efficient servers on the market. Dell EMC, for instance, has been producing Energy Star-certified servers for two decades.
Understandably, energy efficiency is a major driver for enterprises to refresh servers. Those with the budget to replace older servers with new, more energy-efficient ones should do so. The return on investment from power-efficient servers isn’t just low emissions but also much better performance.
At the same time, refreshing servers is an expensive mission. It’s possible to save money on new server purchases. For instance, PivIT can reduce the cost of acquiring new, energy-efficient servers and network equipment by as much as 60 percent.
On-Site Wind/Solar Energy Generation
For even more ambitious enterprises, the top-down approach to energy efficiency is the way to go. While investing in technology and practices that reduce energy use can have a significant impact, switching to clean energy can help your data center achieve net zero emissions.
This feat can be achieved by investing directly in renewable energy. In places where energy providers don't provide clean energy, data centers can opt to produce their own clean energy. In such cases, the plausible sources include wind and solar.
With on-site wind turbines or solar panels, data centers can move away from utility providers and generate their electricity to power the infrastructure in a clean, zero-emission way.
Of course, this is an expensive measure that requires significant capital. It also requires space, which may not be available.
That said, even to the tune of millions of dollars, such an investment is worth it, as clean energy means a 100 percent green data center.
Facility Monitoring With IoT
IoT devices installed across the data center can monitor electricity usage, ambient temperature, and air circulation. In other words, data centers can manage power consumption in real time with the help of on-site monitoring.
Sensors detecting temperature and humidity can help optimize the environment, ensuring conditions are maintained every second of every minute.
Additionally, with the help of real-time monitoring, data centers can keep tabs on the utilization of resources, shutting down what isn’t being used.
How to Measure and Track the Sustainability of Your Data Center?
You can track the sustainability of data center operations simply by measuring energy efficiency. There are two metrics data centers and IT companies, in general, use to analyze their impact on the environment. These two metrics are:
- Power usage effectiveness (PUE): The ratio of power provided and consumed by the data center. Ideally, the ratio should be close to one.
- Carbon usage effectiveness (CUE): The ratio of carbon generated and the power used by the data center. Ideally, it should be as low as possible.
PUE and CUE are reported to receive common certifications for energy-efficient data centers. LEED and Energy Star are the common certifications data centers obtain to show their commitment to protecting the environment and running energy-efficient operations.
Go Green with PivIT!
PivIT helps data centers become greener with reliable, energy-efficient infrastructure. By procuring advanced, low-energy consumption assets, PivIT can help data centers take the initiative to reduce their carbon emissions.
Furthermore, by buying old servers and providing refurbished ones, PivIT also helps enterprises with limited budgets meet their emission goals.
Find out more about how replacing your servers can make operations sustainable!
