Planet First Partners backs cooling tank technology that cuts down data centre climate impact
Sustainable investor , Planet First Partners (‘ Planet First ’) has become a significant investor in Submer , a pioneering growth stage company solving an emerging environmental threat – high energy consuming data centres .
Founded in Barcelona in 2015 , Submer has developed a patented immersion cooling technology as an alternative to the air-based cooling systems which are currently the dominant solution for data centres around the world . The company ’ s technology is already used by major information technology companies like Telefónica and is endorsed by Intel .
Energy consumption by data centres has become an urgent issue . Globally , data centres are projected to consume 10 % of electricity and be responsible for 2.75 % of greenhouse emissions by 2025 , placing them above the airline industry in terms of their carbon footprint . In Ireland , they are expected to use almost 30 % of the country ’ s electricity by 2028 . In order to reduce the electricity bill , air-based systems rely on evaporative cooling technologies that can also consume enormous quantities of water , with larger facilities getting through the volume of an Olympic pool every 48 hours . With data centres growing at projected annual rates of 2 – 6 % and energy efficiency gains plateauing since 2018 , urgent solutions are needed to mitigate this growing energy footprint .
Submer ’ s technology offers a new and unique way to meet these challenges . It works by cooling data centre server units in modular tanks filled with a biodegradable electrically nonconductive liquid which absorbs the heat and dissipates it through heat exchangers for efficient reuse in commercial and industrial settings . The technology eliminates the use of refrigerant gas and uses 50 % less energy , 99 % less water and
85 % less real estate than traditional cooling methods . As well as being better for the planet , Submer ’ s cooling system also delivers significant cost savings for data centre owners and future-proofs them against evolving regulation on emissions and growing processing power , and hardware density requirements .
Planet First is the lead investor in the latest ( third ) US $ 34 million funding round and will be joining Submer ’ s existing shareholders including Norrsken VC , Alma Mundi Ventures and Tim Reynolds . The funding will accelerate Submer ’ s international expansion into the North America and APAC regions and fund R & D initiatives around next-generation liquid coolants and data centre automation .
Daniel Pope , CEO and Co-founder of Submer , and Pol Valls , COO and Co-founder at Submer , said : “ Our mission at Submer has always been to offer best-in-class solutions to the data centre industry to help turn their impact on the environment into a positive . The time is now for the industry to make the necessary steps to reduce its environmental impact and ensure it can compete in a market where society and customers expect net-zero or even net-positive services . Thanks to this new investment , Submer is in a great position to grow the business and continue to invest in developing new technologies that truly change the industry .”
Frédéric de Mévius , Co-founder and Managing Partner at Planet First Partners , said : “ The partnership with Submer lies in the sweet spot of our investment mandate : the intersection of strong sustainability credentials with innovative technology and consumer preferences . We believe that Submer ’ s immersion cooling pods will play a key role in making data centres sustainable , assuring the future growth of the data-enabled economy .” � intelligent POWER AND COOLING www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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