5 Ways To Decarbonise Power Hungry Data Centers?

How Can We Decarbonise Power Hungry Data Centers?

Data centers worldwide are known for their substantial electricity consumption, which powers the ever-growing data business. As global corporate giants continue to invest in this sector and expand across borders, reducing carbon emissions has become crucial. Dependence on conventional power grids increases the carbon footprint of these data centers due to their significant power requirements.

Global data-center electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Source: RMI Report

A recent report by RMI has now advocated some key ways through which the data center business could be decarbonised. Some of the suggested ways include-

Ensure high availability of green power

The RMI report said that prioritizing the construction of data centers in regions which are rich in green power resources, such as wind, solar, hydro and others can aid in decarbonising the sector. The report thus focused on the correct site selection for these data centers.

“Ensure high availability of green power: Prioritize the construction of data centers in regions rich in green power resources, such as wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear. Use local clean grids, direct physical connections, or microgrids to source green power locally. Where green power resources are limited, consider regions with well-established interprovincial and interregional green power trading markets to supply green power through market mechanisms. Employ dual or multiple power supply paths and combine complementary energy sources to ensure a stable power supply,” The report said.

Focus on natural cooling systems 

The researchers said that selecting sites with cold or temperate climates to use cool outdoor air could be a good option.

“Select sites with cold or temperate climates to use cool outdoor air or sites near natural water sources such as rivers, lakes, and seas for natural watercooling systems. Combine these natural cooling technologies with intelligent control systems for automated adjustments to enhance cooling efficiency. Build a reliable cooling system by integrating natural and traditional cooling sources to ensure the stable operation of data centers,” the report said.

New construction and retrofits

The RMI report also discussed using the multidimensional energy and carbon assessment framework. It advocated for introducing indicators such as renewable energy utilisation rate, cooling efficiency, energy reuse rate, carbon utilisation rate and server efficiency of IT equipment to build a comprehensive multidimensional energy and carbon assessment framework. It also talked about refining energy efficiency.

“Refine energy-efficiency standards for data centers and promote carbon-reduction technologies: Incorporate green building design principles into standards by using natural cooling and optimizing building envelopes. Provide guidelines for adopting energy-saving technologies such as efficient cooling, electrical equipment, IT equipment, waste heat recovery, and intelligent energy management systems. Promote using renewable energy, including solar PV, wind power, and storage systems,” the report said.

Operations management — developing clean, low-carbon data center

The RMI report also talked about diversifying green energy usage. “ata-center operators should select a combination of on-site distributed renewable energy, direct physical connection to green power, green power trading, and green electricity certificate trading, based on factors such as their electricity demand, project phase, risk preferences, economic benefits, and environmental disclosure requirements to maximize green power consumption,” the report said.

Support mechanisms — ensuring green, high-quality development of data centers

The report also raked up the issue of carbon-emissions policies and discloaure of mehcnaism for data center and products. “Establish mandatory carbon disclosure requirements for listed companies and large enterprises in the data-center sector. Encourage energy efficiency and carbon reduction through green procurement practices. Downstream companies with digital-service demand can set carbonreduction requirements for upstream data centers, while government and public sectors can integrate carbon criteria into procurement standards. Include carbon-emissions indicators in sustainable data-center certification systems,” the report said.