In today's digital era, the demand for data to support monetized applications and services is also increasing the need for new IT equipment and the data center infrastructure to support it. New compute is also increasing demand on the utilities required to keep data centers running.
For example, Scientific American suggests a worst case scenario, "if we decide we're going to do everything on AI, then every data center is going to experience effectively a 10-fold increase in energy consumption."
In reality, many traditional power grids already struggle to meet user capacity, so a large increase in demand would overwhelm utilities, impacting availability, reliability and costs.
Electricity consumption is the primary utility input used by the data center industry. According to Data Center Dynamics, some of the world's largest data centers can contain tens of thousands of IT devices and require over 100 megawatts (MW) of power capacity.
The challenge of increased electrical use necessitates finding innovative ways to use less electrical energy, increase technologies that contribute to energy savings, and better leverage available energy – all key tactics to support a sustainability strategy for data centers.
Trends to Reduce Electrical Dependency
Reducing reliance on non-renewable energy is becoming a priority for data centers.
From Vertiv's perspective, solutions to reduce carbon footprint have been identified:
- Use of renewable energies: Adopting renewable sources like solar or wind can significantly reduce carbon footprint. Latin America, with its vast geography and abundant natural resources, has the potential to become a cornerstone of the renewable energy sector.
According to a Statista report, the renewable energy capacity in the region surpassed 290 gigawatts in 2021, a value that represents a growth of over 67% compared to ten years ago.
Vertiv anticipates that battery energy storage systems (BESS) will be more common in 2024, eventually evolving to fit “bring your own power” (BYOP) models and delivering the capacity, reliability and cost-effectiveness needed to support AI-driven demand. Look for systems that can leverage alternative energy sources including wind, solar and water, depending on resource availability in your area.
- Implementation of efficient cooling systems: New cooling designs aim to maintain optimal performance and prevent issues related to server-generated heat. According to Vertiv, liquid cooling harnesses the superior thermal transfer properties of water and other fluids for efficient and cost-effective cooling of high-density racks. It has been found to be up to 3,000 times more effective than traditional air cooling methods alone.
- Server virtualization: Allowing multiple servers to run on a single physical machine reduces the energy needed to keep servers operational. The average electricity demand through virtualization could decrease by 15% to 30%, according to Gartner, as cited by Sustained Data Center.
- Modular designs: Modular data center infrastructure is gaining ground. Vertiv edentified benefits such as reduced deployment times, energy-efficient designs, lower Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), and improved environmental impact control while managing costs.
In its 2024 trends, Vertiv has identified that more and more organizations will opt for prefabricated modular solutions that shorten deployment timelines – or large-scale retrofits that fundamentally alter their power and cooling infrastructure.
It is crucial to note that sustainability is not limited to energy consumption alone. In the process of finding your sustainability strategy, considering the carbon footprint throughout the product lifecycle is crucial. From equipment production to material reintroduction, responsible resource management, and final disposal – each stage has an environmental impact.
Vertiv, as an industry leader, is committed to monitoring, reporting, and reducing the impact of its activities, with a comprehensive focus on the total product lifecycle to minimize this impact. Learn more about Vertiv solutions that reduce environmental impact and other highly efficient technologies here.
This article was developed in collaboration with Ingenium. Ingenium has over 15 years of experience as a companion on the decarbonization journey through the adoption of high-impact environmental practices and can guide you in obtaining certifications such as CEEDA, LEED, and EDGE, among others.
