Experts Gather to Discuss Data Centre Sustainability

The Sustainable Data Centre Breakfast event was a success! Experts from across the industry discussed sustainable data centre design, management and reliability. It was eye-opening to learn that 90% of data in the world has been created in the last two years. This has created a major challenge for the data centre industry. The message that resonated throughout the discussions was the importance of collaborating to transform daily practices to create a sustainable future.

The key takeaway - collaboration is the name of the game. We look forward to keeping the data centre industry connected, acting and tracking the impact our joint efforts will have on the industry moving forward.

Key Insights from our Speakers 

Shaunak Pandit – Vice President, Mission Critical Facilities at Morrison Hershfield

"While sustainability at an individual facility level is important, focus should be directed to aspirations and targets at a portfolio level to realize the greatest benefit. Low hanging fruit such as “green power” and favorable environmental conditions may not be available at every location."

• Sustainability considerations should look beyond Power Use Efficiency (PUE) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and consider factors such as Land Use and Carbon in all its forms.
• Balance Hyperscale Builds with Distributed Facilities at the Edge.
• Explore opportunities to flow-down symbiotic benefits beyond the physical boundaries of a facility and into the community at large.
• Engage with Local Planning Authorities and Regulators to develop a model for sustainable communities anchored around or alongside data centers.

Bernie Oegema - Director of Data Centres at
Siemens Canada  

“There is no ‘Silver Bullet’ to improve sustainability. Significant gains are made with a multi-faceted approach or ‘Silver Buckshot.’”

Key areas for efficiency gains are:

• Use of IT aka Data Sobriety 
• Use of IT equipment – Server/Storage Utilization 
• Optimize Cooling System – increase temperature, Delta Ts, close coupled cooling, etc.  
• Heat Reuse – increasing temperatures and use of liquid cooling make this more feasible
• Renewable Energy 
• Recycle and reuse equipment
• Reuse waste heat
• AI - Sensors and Machine Learning for continuous optimization, predictive failure analysis 

Zenon Radewych – Principal, WZMH Architects

“Sustainability must be a Design Principle, not an afterthought.”

• To make real progress in reducing the impact of mission critical facilities on the environment, sustainability must be included in the core design alongside traditional elements such as reliability, flexibility, scalability, opex and capex.
  
  

Randy Borron – Vice Chairman, Cushman & Wakefield

“Site selection and sustainability need to be discussed concurrently. Sustainability starts with site selection.”

• Implementation of many sustainability strategies and technologies requires partnerships and collaborations which are enabled through site selection.
• Aligning the data center design and sustainability initiatives with site characteristics and power and cooling solutions is key to the success of any project.
• Development timelines have increased. This creates an opportunity to find partnerships and collaborate with local communities to achieve more sustainable sites.
• Data center operators are battling rising costs, pursuing sustainable and efficient practices to mitigate long-term risks and costs.

Amy Geisberger – Sustainability Manager at Siemens Canada 

"Customers are expecting companies to reduce their emissions across all scopes."

• Look beyond scope one and two while thinking about the embedded carbon as we step into new construction projects. 
• Partnerships are key.

• One of the challenges is changing the old way of doing things and being open to innovative technologies and partnerships. 
• Experiment and understand we are all on a learning journey.