DATA CENTRES
Keeping cool as we reduce energy usage
James Smurthwaite, business development manager at Mitsubishi Electric explores the areas where air conditioning installers can help data centre operators and IT managers make a difference to the energy usage of their buildings or IT rooms and meet the increasingly stringent legislation being put in place to reduce their carbon impact.
D
ata centres and IT server rooms are vital for almost every sector in the UK economy. They are the power centres behind businesses being able to run in the 21st Century. From retailers harnessing the power of data to understand shoppers’ online and in-store preferences, a manufacturing company using software to analyse product lines and improve overall quality, or a typical office-based company which needs the computers to link with its global connections, computing is everywhere.
But keeping these systems running, and crucially, making sure they stay cool 24/7 and ensuring they operate at full capacity requires a lot of energy – making data centres and IT rooms very energy-intensive spaces. In fact, TechUK, the membership organisation for technology businesses in the UK, estimates that data centres consume 2.89TWh of power per year.
Owing to the amount of energy used to power British businesses, the data centre sector must play a significant role in helping the UK to achieve its carbon reduction goals and reach the ambitious target of net zero by 2050. This has already been well documented, and in November last year, a report by TechUK entitled UK Data Centre Sector Energy Routemap stated: “The sector is a large electricity consumer with stable, predictable demand and significant embedded capacity. For these and other reasons it is well-placed to help support the transition away from an economy dependent on combustion and towards one based on renewables.” Now, it’s time to put real changes in place.
38 November 2020
The growing demand for IT cooling As the use of data and IT continues to grow, data centres will continue to be in high demand. In fact, there are currently 63.4 million square feet of data centre space globally, with another 4.3 million square feet under construction. Many of these ‘data centres’ will be little more than a room in an office building, rather than a massive computing ‘shed’ but regardless of size, to keep them running reliably, hardware must be kept cool – and this requires energy. The Covid-19 pandemic has also exacerbated demand.
Working from home has led to a significant surge in the need for data storage and processing, and many companies may see outsourced IT services and cloud-based systems as a more efficient way to manage IT infrastructure. In fact, Microsoft and Amazon, the two largest cloud technology providers, have already seen stock values propelled about $1.5tn in recent months. At the beginning of the pandemic, the data centre
industry supported a massive shift to online services for businesses, schools, and non-profits. It has also been the catalyst for many organisations to speed up digital transformation projects, and digital infrastructure is front and centre of the transition. This boom is great for the data centre sector, but also
means we need to carefully consider how the industry can both grow, at the same time as prioritising energy efficiency and meeting agreed carbon targets.
www.acr-news.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
