Industry Trends: Data Center Energy Efficiency
While the world invests billions to convert transportation, HVAC, and industrial manufacturing to electricity, there’s growing attention focused on the element in electrification efforts. According to the EIA, data centers account for up to 2% of global energy consumption. Information requires energy, and data center energy efficiency remains a critical challenge in reducing emissions.
Data Center Energy Consumption
Globally, data centers use as much energy as the airline industry or roughly 1.5 to 2% of global energy use. There are over 9,000 data centers worldwide, many in the United States. They’re primarily privately owned facilities with an outsized energy footprint - and it’s growing. By 2030, data center energy consumption will surpass 8% of the world’s total energy needs, putting real pressure on the industry to prioritize energy efficiency.
Related: Environmental, Social and Governance: Practical, Not Political
Why Do Data Centers Use So Much Energy?
A typical data center uses up to 50 times more energy than a similar-sized office building. From small hubs to gargantuan 400,000-square-foot buildings, data centers generate a lot of heat. To keep servers and IT infrastructure cool, these facilities must keep indoor climates cool and relatively dry. The result? Cooling costs account for up to 40% of a building’s overall energy costs. Systems vary, but most systems average roughly 50 or 60 kilowatts per server rack, a tremendous amount of energy just to keep systems running.
Climate Change Threats
Data centers contribute to climate change and face real risks from climate change as well. Forty-five percent of data centers experienced a weather-related problem that jeopardized operations. With average global temperatures only rising, that trend is expected to continue - and worsen.
Reducing Energy Consumption in IT
There is growing momentum to lower the energy data centers use through location, design, and improved systems management.
Location, location, location. Building data centers in hot, humid climates may not be economically viable. There is already a precedent for this. Meta and other tech companies have built IT infrastructure in cold climates, including Sweden, to use cold annual average temperatures to improve air-cooled systems.
A new design. Water-cooled data center design may be the future. These systems use cold river, lake, or ocean water to absorb the heat generated by data centers. Liquid cooling conducts up to 3,000 times more heat than air cooling, but these systems are harder to build and it may not be financially viable to retrofit existing facilities. There are additional benefits to designing liquid-cooled data centers. They can pack more processing power into a small space, enabling developers to build smaller facilities without sacrificing capacity.
Management. Site monitoring offers IT facilities a way to proactively adjust energy consumption based on use and efficiency. Artificial intelligence is already being used to self-optimize data centers by tracking and adjusting cooling system operations in real time. Advanced data center management systems have saved 10 MW in cooling-related energy consumption, or about $10 million of associated costs.
Take Control of Your Energy Footprint
Data centers are just one industry taking important steps toward energy efficiency. At Keen Technical Solutions, we’re working with forward-thinking business leaders to mitigate environmental impact, lower operating costs, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Learn how Keen can help you achieve your sustainability goals. Speak with an energy consultant today to get started.