INTELLIGENT GREEN TECHNOLOGY
Increasing share of renewable energy across datacentres
With 175 datacentres , 40 + global locations , effective power management from renewable and non-renewable resources is an important part of Equinix ’ s operational strategy .
Natural Gas 40 %, Nuclear 7 %
Europe : Renewables 100 %, with utility resource mix : Renewables 22 %, Coal 28 %, Natural gas 24 %, Nuclear 23 % Some examples :
• France , 100 % certified renewable energy provided by supplier , EDF
• Germany , 99 % certified renewable energy provided by supplier , Mainova
• Switzerland , 100 % green power electricity from energy providers certified with naturemade star label
• Netherlands , 100 % certified renewable energy provided by supplier , Nuon
• United Kingdom , 100 % certified renewable energy provided by supplier , Statkraft
The Internet has become so pervasive in our lives that few people question how it really works . When asked , many people assume it is a much greener alternative to what came before it .
What few people realise is that the Internet , while providing substantial environmental benefits worldwide , requires vast amounts of electricity . That is why companies who make up the backbone of the Internet , and therefore use the most energy , are going green .
As an example , majority of the world ’ s Internet traffic passes through Equinix datacentres . To enable this digital highway , Equinix datacentres consumed more than 2,200 Gigawatt Hours of electricity in 2014 , the equivalent of powering 200,000 + average-sized US homes . As a tier-one datacentre provider , Equinix has an obligation to make data availability a high priority , but it also has an equal obligation to make all of that data traffic as green as possible .
In the datacentre and technology space , many major cloud companies and Equinix customers have made commitments to green operations . Corporations such as Apple , Box , Facebook , Google , Rackspace and Salesforce . com have committed to goals of powering their datacentres , including colocation partners , with 100 % renewable energy and offering carbon neutral services .
In 2014 Equinix met more than 30 % of its global electricity requirements , nearly 100 % in Europe , through renewable energy purchases .
For Equinix , the effective 2014 electricity resource mix directly supplied by utilities and suppliers was :
Americas : Renewables 17 %, Coal 27 %, Natural Gas 19 %, Nuclear 22 %
Asia Pacific : Renewables 3 %, Coal 30 %,
It has power purchase agreements in California , Texas , Oklahoma totaling 330 MW of new solar and wind capacity expected to come online in 2017 . Another initiative is to maintain aggressive reduction in power usage effectiveness through improvement of design across its datacentres .
Green technology is constantly changing and improving . At Equinix there is no such thing as a static datacentre . Equinix datacentres incorporate fresh air cooling , airflow control , adaptive control systems , lighting systems control , amongst other technologies .
Whenever Equinix builds a new International Business Exchange datacentre , it takes full advantage of the site ’ s unique conditions , thereby maximising energy efficiencies and shrinking the carbon footprint . It uses techniques such as indirect evaporative cooling , deep lake water cooling , Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage , green rooftops , granular temperature controls , water-side economisers , rooftop solar panels ,
40 Issue 03 INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS