Going Green: innovative sustainability solutions for data centres
Published: Fri 31 Mar 2023
As the world becomes more digitised, data centres play a crucial role in keeping the global economy running. However, with the increasing reliance on technology comes an increase in energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. So it’s no surprise that sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue for data centres and the engineers who keep them running.
Data centres are also facing external pressure to become more sustainable. Many countries have set targets for reducing carbon emissions and increasing renewable energy usage, and engineers are expected to play a role in helping data centres to achieve these goals. What’s more, customers are becoming more conscious of the environmental impact of their business operations and are choosing to work with data centres that have strong sustainability practices.
By considering the experience of leading data centre providers such as VIRTUS, we can look at how operators are able to take a proactive approach to sustainability, lead by example and have a positive impact on the environment.
Harvesting the elements
Over the past decade, data centres have grown in size to meet the demands of the digital economy. For example, the VIRTUS LONDON1 data centre that went live in 2012 had 2,900m2 of technical space, while the LONDON7 facility that went live in 2022 has 10,000m2.
This growth has brought increased efficiency and cost savings for customers, but it has also opened up new opportunities for sustainability. One of these is rainwater harvesting. Many data centres in the UK, including VIRTUS' Stockley Park Campus, have the ability to collect and store rainwater from their rooftops, which can then be used for non-potable purposes such as supplementary cooling or even for use in toilets.
Rainwater harvesting also helps to reduce the strain on local water resources, especially during times of drought or water scarcity. By collecting and reusing rainwater, data centres can reduce their dependence on treated municipal water, which can be a finite resource in some areas. This not only helps to reduce the environmental impact of data centres, but also ensures a more reliable and sustainable water supply for the facility.
Another opportunity is heat reuse. Heat is a by-product of all computers and servers. Like many factors within a data centre, the number of servers in a facility will depend on the data, its complexity, site location, and more. However, a typical data centre could host as many as 100,000 servers.
The heat generated from the equipment doesn’t have to be wasted. In many circumstances some of the heat produced from data centre operations can be used in-house to warm offices and welfare areas.
External technical plant spaces can also be heated directly with waste heat to keep them at nominal temperatures throughout the winter. At VIRTUS, waste heat from cooling servers and Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) systems is used to keep generators at the optimum standby temperature (30°C to 40°C).
This heat could also be shared with the community in the vicinity of data centres. Some data centres have the ability to move their waste heat to other local areas, which could be used to heat homes, offices and even leisure centres.
Introducing the circular economy
Recycling is a common practice in the data centre industry, as savvy operators work with customers to ensure that old hardware is recycled in an environmentally friendly way.
But recycling alone isn’t enough, and innovative companies have embraced the circular economy model, which aims to "maintain, refurbish, renew and recycle" equipment. This holistic approach gets more life out of all materials in a data centre, refurbishes equipment for reuse, redistributes parts on the secondary market and recycles those parts that cannot be reused.
A good example of this working can be seen at one of VIRTUS’ facilities, with the replacement of a series of smoke heads. Smoke heads are an important part of fire suppression systems, and VIRTUS needed to replace a number of them to improve their functionality. However, the engineering team was determined to minimise the amount of waste generated during this process.
The company worked closely with the manufacturer to fabricate a small number of the new configuration smoke heads off-site, then swapped out the old smoke heads on-site and returned the originals to the manufacturer for ‘part harvesting’.
The manufacturer was able to dismantle the original smoke heads and reuse most of the parts to create a more enhanced smoke head. The result was minimal waste and a speedier installation process.
As well as VIRTUS’ own equipment, it’s also crucial to focus on reusing and redistributing parts that customers no longer have use for. VIRTUS contacts original manufacturers, on behalf of its customers, who are willing to take back equipment and components for reuse as well as distributing the parts on the secondary market.
Recently a customer’s cooling and power system was stripped down and almost all of the elements were reused by the original manufacture for other projects. The result was reducing landfill, the WEEE-type recycling process and energy as well as extending the life of other in-service products by increasing the pool of serviceable components.
A brighter (and more sustainable) future
Data centres operators are making significant strides towards a greener future by taking a proactive approach to sustainability and implementing innovative solutions such as rainwater harvesting, the circular economy model and boosting energy efficiency.
In doing so, the industry is not only reducing its environmental impact, but it is positioning itself as industry leaders and leading by example.
Crucially, these innovative solutions reduce the environmental impact of data centres and bring cost savings and increased efficiency for customers.
For further information, please visit https://virtusdatacentres.com/