Environmental sustainability has become a major goal for every industry. As the planet warms up, people are more concerned about the future. As a result, the shareholder pressure forces companies to adopt more sustainable business practices.
The IT industry is also under similar pressure. Therefore, today’s priority is to reduce its dependence on power coming from fossil fuels. Data centers currently use 3% of total global energy expenditure, estimated to cross 10% by 2030.
So, how can you choose a sustainable data center for your company, and which criteria should you have in your mind?
Environmental friendly materials and techniques. There are multiple eco-friendly materials and techniques that data centers can use to improve their sustainability. For instance, shutting down dormant servers can go a long way in ensuring less energy is used.
Similarly, it would be best to prefer data centers with built-in cooler locations because they produce less heat and take advantage of natural cooling. Similarly, look for the up-gradation of the air compressor, LED lights, paper shredding, etc. It is estimated that 620B kWh can be saved in the next 10 years by making these impactful changes.
Efficient power usage. Location and materials can only go so far, as the elephant in the room is power consumption. The power consumption by data servers is rising steadily at 10% per year. Check the power supplied to the IT equipment and see how much power is consumed there.
Usually, servers consume 60% of the total power consumed by a data center. Verify the monitoring mechanism in place, which should virtualize workloads. Moreover, select a data center that doesn’t keep dormant servers running and wastes energy.
Similarly, choose a data center that regularly replaces older servers with newer ones to bring more efficiency to its system.
Optimized Cooling. A data center does not always need an artificial power source for cooling. Look for those centers that rely less and less on energy and focus more on air economizers that draw air from outside and use it for cooling.
That outside air is free of cost and doesn’t hurt the environment either. Air conditioning should also be optimized to the best standard, and the cooling source speed should also be regularly adjusted to fulfill the data center requirement.
Renewable energy. Renewable energy is the future, and data centers should start adopting it as soon as possible. However, it is understandable that currently running data centers solely on renewables is impractical. Even the best data centers couldn’t run on 100% solar energy because it requires many solar panels. So, the start should be modest, gradually increasing the share of green energy in the mix.
Large data centers can use fuel cells that provide many benefits. For instance, they can use methane from landfills, a non-fossil fuel. It helps eliminate line losses and curbs the heat produced otherwise. However, there are still some imperfections in fuel cells, as they are not 100% carbon, although being much better than other options such as oil and coal power.
Waste reduction. Data centers need a lot of equipment, including different types of hardware, cables, etc. Moreover, all of the equipment described requires regular up-gradation. However, the regular up-gradation results in the retirement of the older hardware, which ends up in the landfills. A data center that deals with the issue of waste head-on is a data center worth trusting regarding sustainability.
If a data center doesn’t manage its waste properly, its sustainability promises are hollow. However, managing waste isn’t an easy task. It requires detailed knowledge of all types of equipment inflow and outflow and how often replacement occurs. Similarly, it also requires the know-how of material recycling, repurposing, etc. In addition to that, an environmentally responsible data center also ensures that the hazardous materials are disposed of properly and are not used by anyone
Innovation. A sustainable data center believes in innovation and pivots its overall strategy around it. Whether it is power distribution, energy recovery, or IT, they are always willing to innovate and demand the same from their customers and partners.
Sustainable data centers also partner with only those businesses that share their vision and want to run sustainably. The data center you partner up with should always keep you updated with the latest innovations.
Software is key. The software is the key to unlock sustainable data center operations. With quality software in hand, a data center can track crucial metrics related to capacity, workflow management, etc. These tools help a data center take control of energy consumption and capacity so that it can save more energy and become more efficient.
Moreover, the data collected can come in handy in improving operational processes and strengthening security. It also helps reduce maintenance and energy costs significantly. Make sure the data center is sharing this data with you so that you know they’re on the right path.
Conclusion
These are some of the most important aspects a company should look for when selecting a data center. A data center needs a holistic strategy with several dimensions to become sustainable.
It should not only focus on having clean energy but also manage its wastes effectively. Moreover, they should have solid software support for fueling innovation that leads to even better sustainable solutions in the future.
