Modern society couldn’t function without data centers. They make cloud computing possible and enable the storage and processing of the massive amounts of data that drive our increasingly digital world. From streaming services to machine learning, data centers are the backbone of the data-intensive applications we rely on every day.

However, as the importance of data centers grows, so does their energy consumption and environmental impact. It’s impossible to see a future without data centers, so we need to improve sustainability at every stage of the data center lifecycle. The road ahead is challenging, but innovative solutions – like Vaisala’s cutting-edge sensor technology – are helping the industry move toward a greener future. This article presents some ideas for better data center sustainability, from construction to ongoing operation – and for when business needs change. 

Build with more sustainable materials

Data centers have traditionally been built using materials like steel and concrete. This is not particularly environmentally friendly: concrete is responsible for about 8% of global CO2 emissions and steel for around 7–9%. With their abundance of sustainably managed forests, Finland and other Nordic nations have been pioneering the use of timber for large construction projects. Using timber to build data centers would be much more sustainable and bring many additional benefits.

By using timber in construction, the data center becomes a carbon sink, preventing carbon from being released into the atmosphere. There are no load-bearing issues for timber construction, fire resistance isn’t an issue, and there are even proven solutions for locations with seismic conditions. Research has also demonstrated that people who work in timber buildings are, on average, healthier and happier.

While people often think of timber buildings as being small, there is really no limit to how large you can build. With multistorey data centers you also have the option to use steel and timber together, depending on the load-bearing requirements. Timber also offers the potential for eye-catching architectural designs. At the building’s end of life, the wooden beams and elements can be reused or recycled into plastics or chemicals.    

Make savings across the whole data center lifecycle

Sustainable solutions are improving all the time, with new innovations and technology being developed. But with the demand for data center services skyrocketing, these solutions will need to keep pace. To understand the scale of the problem, it’s helpful to picture just how much extra energy data centers will need in the next few years. Predictions suggest that:

• by the end of 2026, data centers worldwide could consume as much energy as Japan
• planned data centers in Malaysia will double the energy spending of the whole country
• in the next few years, the extra energy required by data centers will be equal to adding a country the size of Germany to the grid.

With growth on this scale, transitioning to renewable power will make a huge difference to the sustainability of data centers. But whatever the source of the power, using less of it will be even more important. There are lots of ways we can try to do this. For example, tackling energy losses at power-generation plants, or in the distribution network.

It will also help to start recycling and reusing energy, for example by using waste heat to warm buildings. Finland, for example, has over 16,000 kilometers of district heating pipes, which can use waste heat from industrial processes and data centers to warm residential homes. For countries that don’t have this infrastructure, it’s worth considering adding it. Alternatively, it’s possible to set up a business ecosystem around the data center so that clients can buy heat directly.

There are many ways to cut energy use inside data centers too. For example, idle servers still use 50–70% of the energy consumption of active ones, so reducing idle time will help. Perhaps most importantly, solutions that can increase process control in data centers will be invaluable – this is where sensors come in.

Save energy – and money – with sensors

Sensor technology will be essential in the development of the data center industry, improving process control and making data centers more sustainable by reducing their carbon footprint. Artificial intelligence-based applications can use measurement data from sensors to react to process anomalies or problems far faster than a human could, meaning adjustments can be made instantly to keep data center heating and cooling at exactly the right levels. Accurate data from sensors also allow energy use to be monitored, which will be essential in order to reduce the amount used. Vaisala’s modern sensor technology provides reliable, accurate measurements that help to avoid overheating and overcooling, optimizing data center energy consumption and allowing energy use to be monitored and controlled.

In the future, it will be important to be able to modify data centers in a much more flexible way. This means the sensors will need to be modifiable too. Modularity is a key consideration for Vaisala, with for example sensors that can be daisy chained together in one configuration, then moved and plugged into a different configuration when circumstances change. This can save money as sensors don’t necessarily need to be replaced when business needs change. The physical layout of data centers needs to be easy to modify too. There should be far fewer walls, with containers to plug solutions into. When it’s time to modify the layout, you simply take one container out and bring a new container in to replace it.

The only limit is our imagination

It will also be important for industry players to collaborate, learning from each other and helping the data center industry to develop as a whole. For example, data from operational data centers can be used to develop even more advanced sensors or other sustainable technology that can be used for everyone’s benefit.

In coming up with new ideas the only limit should be our imagination – for example, maybe one day we could have data centers in space taking advantage of unlimited cooling capacity and unlimited solar power. One thing is for sure, with industry and decision-makers working together, we can vastly improve the energy efficiency of data centers and make our increasingly digital world a more sustainable one, too. 

If you want to learn more how Vaisala can help your data center to become more sustainable, contact us.