Sustainable data centre management: what is the outlook?

Sustainable data centre management poses technological, economic and environmental challenges of global proportions.  In order for it to be feasible, a multidisciplinary approach is required, incorporating operational efficiency, geographical planning, innovation and advanced energy policies.

The aim is not only to reduce energy consumption, but to completely rethink the role of data centres and transform them into an active component of an ecosystem which can be maintained over time.

The current exponential growth in demand for digital data, fuelled by AI, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and streaming services, has made data centres the most energy-hungry infrastructures on the planet.

The increase in demand for energy and construction challenges

Recent estimates indicate that by 2029, the global elelctricity network will have to provide about 93 gigawatts of extra power in order to satisfy the requirements of all the data centres which are either planned or under construction (equivalent to the annual energy consumption of an entire industrialised nation).

This increase in power capacity is not only a question of production; the main challenge is how to offer continuous availability and network stability despite the presence of constant, highly concentrated loads.

Many companies are responding to this need by constructing new natural gas based power stations to guarantee supply.  However, this solution is incompatible with the decarbonisation targets establised by the European Union and numerous G7 countries.

The most sustainable alternative is to combine energy production from renewable sources, the distribution of accumulated energy and the optimisation of data centre power consumption using smart management techniques.

An emerging model of sustainable data centre management is the use of hybrid networks operating together with distributed energy resources (DER) such as photovoltaic panels, batteries and heat recovery systems.  The purpose is to reduce dependence on the electricity network and mitigate peaks in demand by exploiting the capacity to generate and accumulate energy locally.

A practical example is the combination of largescale solar plants with high capacity accumulation systems positioned near the centres.  This approach is more efficient compared to distributed energy generation for use in single homes, as it enables centralised energy management and fewer network losses.

Furthermore, the involvement of local homes and energy communities can contribute to the electricity system’s overall stability, especially via Demand Response programmes, where consumers voluntarily reduce their energy consumption during times of peak demand in return for financial incentives.

Energy efficiency and optimisation of IT loads

In addition to the production of renewable energy, data centre sustainability is linked to the reduction of internal energy consumption.  The most commonly used efficiency indicators include the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), which reflects the relationship between a data centre’s total energy consumption and the energy actually used by the IT servers.

Traditional data centres usually record average PUE values of between 1.6 and 2.0, while the latest generation centres can reach values of around 1.1 thanks to advanced cooling technologies and optimised load management.  The most efficient strategies include:

• indirect air and liquid cooling, which allows HVAC systems to drastically reduce their energy consumption;
• free cooling and operation at room temperature in areas with a favourable climate;
• virtualisation and containerisation of workloads, to maximise the use of computational resources;
• use of artificial intelligence for energy optimisation to dynamically modulate server activity according to expected loads.

Another key element of sustainable management is the recovery of latent heat.  Data centres generate huge quantities of heat energy, which is often dissipated into the atmosphere.  Through the use of heat exchange systems, this energy can be reused to power teleheating networks, greenhouses or local industrial processes.  These solutions enable the overall energy balance to be improved and contribute to the creation of circular industrial ecosystems.

This symbiosis between data centres and urban infrastructures is especially promising in metropolitan areas, where waste heat can be combined with domestic heating systems, reducing total emissions and improving the area’s energy resilience.

Another key aspect of ensuring sustainable data centre management is localisaton.  Regions with an abundance of renewable energy, such as those with a large wind or solar power capacity, offer economic and environmental advantages.  However, the density of electrical loads generated by clusters of data centres can constitute a risk to local network stability.

That is the reason why local planning must also include an analysis of the impact on the network and plans for investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure.  Furthermore, new projects must take into account environmental criteria such as:

• the overall hydrological footprint associated with the cooling systems;
• indirect emissions deriving from the production of hardware components;
• the impact on land use and the surrounding ecosystem.

Public-private partnerships for sustainable data centre management

The transition towards sustainable data centres requires significant investment.  One effective strategy is to involve energy operators and technological hyperscalers in co-financing models for renewable infrastructures and domestic efficiency systems.

Such partnerships enable the installation costs of heat pumps, photovoltaic systems and batteries to be shared, creating a wide-reaching energy ecosystem and bringing advantages for both families and businesses.

This decentralised approach transforms the residential buildings surrounding the data management infrastructures into micro-units which support the power network, able to supply energy or reduce consumption at critical moments, thereby contributing to the system’s overall sustainability.  In this scenario, the data centre sector is effectively being called on to make an active contribution towards achieving global climate objectives.

Many companies have committed to the aim of reaching carbon neutrality between 2030 and 2040, including not only direct emissions (aims 1 and 2), but also indirect emissions (aim 3) in their ‘energy balance’.  This implies a complete rethink of the supply chain, hardware device efficiency and the management of the servers’ lifecycle.

Translated by Joanne Beckwith