Article | Ways Data Centers Can Reduce Carbon Footprint

Ways Data Centers Can Reduce Carbon Footprint

Data centers are one of the largest consumers of electricity worldwide. They need energy for IT equipment, cooling systems, lighting, and auxiliary devices. According to International Energy Agency, data centers utilize around 200 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity which is nearly 1% of global electricity demand. According to another research, data centers could contribute to 3.2% of the total worldwide carbon emissions by 2025.

It is not a surprise that data centers are facing the wrath of environmentalists and have an impending pressure to reduce their carbon footprint. It has become a global concern. The need of the hour is to find solutions that can help data centers lessen their environmental footprint.

Here are some ways to achieve this.

1. Address Server Inefficiencies

A considerable percentage of servers are obsolete or comatose in data centers. These servers are underutilized and contribute unnecessarily to excessive power consumption. If data centers can pull plugs on such servers, it will result in power saving.

2. Take Inventory of IT Assets

Different IT assets have different power consumption needs. Find out which assets are over-consuming the electricity or operating inefficiently. This will help you to identify if there is any need to discard, replace, upgrade, or  reconfigure any asset.

3. Apply for Green Certifications

Several green certifications have emerged for data centers in recent years. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is one such internationally accepted certification for green buildings. It also offers guidance on green integration technologies and sustainable construction. Data centers should aim at getting themselves green certification to reduce their carbon footprint.

4. Deploy DCIM Tools

Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) tools monitor, measure, and manage IT equipment and supporting infrastructure in data centers. They can help in the collection, storage, and analysis of power consumption and cooling data in real-time. Data centers can get quick and easy visibility regarding power consumption and take necessary preventive measures to curb it. It also helps in improving IT infrastructure planning and design.

5. Use Efficient Water Cooling Systems

Data centers need advanced cooling systems to cool down the IT equipment. These cooling systems consume gallons of water every year. Mismanagement of water leads to higher electricity bills, and increases scale and corrosion. It also spreads the growth of biofilm which is 4 times more energy robber in the chilling systems. All these factors can become responsible for frequent equipment failure.

Then, there is also the Water Usage Efficiency (WUE) factor that data centers to consider. WUE is a measure that is defined as the total water use by the facility to the energy consumed solely by the IT equipment. Higher the WUE, more water-intensive the data center is.

Another factor that data centers need to address is Cycles of Concentration (CoC). It measures the degree to which the solid contaminations in the makeup water in cooling towers are concentrated in the recycling of water of an evaporative system. Higher the CoC, the more impurities in the makeup water are being concentrated in the system water. Higher CoC also indicates that there is less need for fresh water.

A reliable water treatment technology can address this challenge. Chem-Aqua from NCH Asia can be a powerful way to use and recycle water efficiently. This will reduce both water consumption and wastage. Chem-Aqua solution and products can also control and prevent scaling, corrosion, and biofilm/microbiological growth due to water.

6. Reduce Power Usage Efficiency (PUE)

PUE is a metric that describes the efficiency of data centers. It stands for the total energy consumption of the data centre facility to the energy consumption of IT equipment. An ideal PUE should be 1.0.

Some of the best practices for lower PUE are:

• Improve airflow management.
• Switch from top-charged equipment to bottom-charged equipment as hot air always rises.
• Align hot and cold aisles
• Insulate the building to reduce the need for better cooling when the ambient temperature rises.
• Check the gaps for air leakage.

7. Improve Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE)

CUE measures the amount of greenhouse gases produced by a data center. It is calculated as the ratio of the total CO2 emissions caused by the total energy consumption of a data center to the energy consumption of IT equipment. An ideal CUE ratio should be 0.0.

Some of the ways to improve CUE are:

• Use renewable sources of energy to run electricity.
• Reuse the waste heat for other facilities.
• Turn off the dead servers.
• Use eco-mode setting on USPs.
• Use cold air from outside instead of mechanical chillers.

The importance of data centers is growing rapidly as the world becomes more interconnected with technology, cloud, and data. However, their adverse impact on the environment can’t be ignored. It is imperative that data centers make conscious efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.