Green IT
the yearly consumption of most
countries. As an example, Japan
has estimated that their data
centres will consume all nationally
produced power in 2030. This is
an issue that cannot be ignored,
whether from a societal or
sustainability perspective.
Green is good
So, what does a data centre
company with facilities in Norway
and Sweden have to offer in this
context? Climate. Norway is a
mountainous country and as the
clouds from the North Atlantic hit
these mountains, massive amounts
of rain are effectively converted
to green hydropower on its way
back into the sea. This power is
what fuels Nordic data centres.
The polar and temperate climate
is ideal when cooling warm data
centres, and the DigiPlex air-to-air
cooling systems and evaporation
technology is the most efficient
data centre cooling solution in
the world. From a sustainability
perspective, this is good news for
the planet.
As fibre access is improved on
a global scale, the location of data
centres is less and less important.
Not only the Nordic companies
can benefit from their regions
green offerings, but all companies
worldwide can start taking steps
towards a more sustainable data
centre initiative.
Globally, data centres are
moving towards becoming more
environmentally friendly than
they have ever been. However,
they are still working on becoming
100% sustainable. Today, most
Nordic data centres use only
green hydropower. The rest of
the data centre industry is still
experimenting with running
centres on a mix of solar, wind, and
hydropower, plus wood chip and
sawdust waste. There is still a way
to go to compete with hydropower.
“Data
centres are
responsible
for 2% of
the world’s So what does it cost?
annual CO2 Green is sometimes an expensive
ordeal, however this is not the
emissions
case for Nordic data centres.
Based in one of the coldest
and 3% of
year-long climates in the world,
global power Nordic centres can operate on
consumption.” hydroelectricity. Which in the
Nordics, is far less expensive when
compared to alternative power
sources around the world, such
as coal or oil. This allows centres
to cool far more effectively and
efficiently, while still constantly
innovating to bringing the Power
usage Effectiveness (PuE) down
even further. Green means less
power which again means less
cost. In addition, the green Nordic
power is extremely cheap as both
taxation and production cost is
very low.
70-75% of variable costs
of operating a data centre is
for power. Providers who put
efficiency at the core of their
design and use less power, are
much more attractive. Today, the
average data centre delivers a
PuE of 1.8 or higher. DigiPlex has
attained a PuE of 1.1 and the goal is
to go even further.
The opportunity for savings
in this space is compelling.
Based on the cost of power
alone, DigiPlex has estimated
that a company deploying 12MW
over 10 years with DigiPlex will
save over $100m compared
to an equivalent in the UK. In
addition, there is a significant
sustainability advantage. Despite
DigiPlex’s significant energy
requirements, its CO2 output is
next to zero, largely due to its
access to clean renewable energy
in the Nordics. If DigiPlex’s power
demands were met by coal, its
total annual CO2 output would
be 17.6 kilotons, the approximate
annual output of 4,000
passenger cars.
Responsibility
and complacency
Businesses and the data centres
supporting them will both
need to take responsibility for
their environmental footprint,
and sooner than they think.
Organisations such as Greenpeace,
with their Click and Clean
campaign, are raising urgent
awareness of the impact of ‘dirty
data’. It’s not out of the question to
assume that in the years to come,
governments will be pressured to
introduce penalties and tariffs on
companies and data centres using
dirty power, making complacency
even more costly.
October 2017 | 19