A zero-waste circular economy enables data centre IT resources to be kept in use for as long as possible . Here , Andrew Gomarsall MBE , Executive Chairman , N2S , explains why a circular IT economy is key to both effective energy reduction and e-waste , and how to go about managing data centre operations in order to achieve this .
hile IT , network equipment and cabling are becoming
W more energy efficient , most of the carbon footprint comes ‘ ready wrapped ’ on final product delivery to the data centre – before powering up . In fact , 70 – 90 % of it !
This stems from the ‘ embodied ’ energy expended across the supply chain from the sourcing of raw materials , component assembly through to product manufacture .
There ’ s also the contribution from M & E but the lifetime of CO2e in data centres seems to be recorded on the buildings , which can equate to just 1 % of the CO2e . There seems to a lack of connection between understanding the carbon picture and the associated climate risk .
Therefore , as part of their sustainability agendas in the race towards net zero , both on-prem and colocation data centres need to be embedding zero waste IT equipment strategies . This will optimise equipment lifetimes and reduce their overall embodied carbon levels . The current regime of rip , dispose and replace every few years is driving up the exponential volumes of e-waste year on year . This currently stands at more than 50 metric tonnes globally according to the UN ’ s Global E-waste Monitor – the equivalent of 350 large cruise ships .
There is still a long way to go in the race to net zero which requires data centres doing much more than focusing only on more energy efficient data centre buildings , infrastructure , cooling and renewable power .
The IT post-usage phase is where most of the carbon savings opportunity lies in the IT asset life cycle : through licensed and regulated refurbishment , reselling and reuse by WEE IT asset disposal ( ITAD ) operators . Typical three to five years product lifetimes can be extended by as much as another five years . Materials recovered such as gold , copper and steel go back into manufacturing streams and once again become part of the technology manufacturing process , completely closing the life cycle loop – or they can be reformed , becoming anything from street furniture to traffic cones . This circular technology solution offers the most secure , sustainable way of data centres achieving net zero goals .
A key success factor in effectively closing the loop in the circularity of IT is a scalable and totally sustainable method of extraction and recovery of PCB materials . The UN puts the value of wasted rare and precious metals contained on PCBs at US $ 62.5 billion per year . Moreover , this is where 70 – 90 % of IT ’ s embodied CO2e reside . Scientists also warn many of these substances are running out due to their limited supply , hard to access location and the rising consumption rate of discarded IT assets .
To address this , Bioleaching – an arm of Biotechnology that uses bacteria to oxidise and leach out the metal content – is emerging as a potential game changer and an area which N2S is pioneering . The PCB materials can be reclaimed , conserved and recycled without use of harmful acids .
Scoping a more circular approach to net zero in the data centre
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