How Can We Make Data Centers More Sustainable?

How can we improve the environmental impact of data centers?

 
That was the question under discussion at the recent Critical Insights Event panel “The Sustainable Data Center.”  

 
This discussion, moderated by Aashna Puri, Strategy and Sustainability at Europe CyrusOne, brought together three specialists in sustainability within the data center sector, including Techbuyer’s Head of Sustainability and Chartered Environmentalist, Astrid Wynne. 

Astrid was joined by John Booth, Reviewer of EU Code of Conduct and Chair of DCA Energy Efficiency, and Stephane Cardot, Director Presales EMEA at Touchdown PR, to partake in a discussion on data center efficiency and sustainability practices. 

The Interplay Between Technology and Data Center Efficiency

 
The panel first discussed the relationship between technology and energy efficiency within the data center. 

IT hardware is the largest draw of energy within the data center’s infrastructure, accounting for up to 70% of a facility’s consumption.

 
Traditionally, as Astrid pointed out, there has been a belief that we can’t have a circular IT economy because we will lose out on energy efficiency. This is because, historically, the latest generations were the most energy efficient, so we had to keep upgrading to reduce energy draw. However, with the slowdown of Moore’s law, this is no longer true.  

A circular economy is not only a viable option for the data center sector; it is now essential. With refurbished servers proven to perform as well as new devices, like for like (and to even outperform them with the right configuration) data centers around the world should be considering refurbished and reuse wherever possible.  

Astrid highlighted the need for an understanding, at machine level, of how servers work, their optimal performance, and exactly what is going on within a device for the development of an energy efficient circular economy within the data center sector. 

It was also pointed out by the panel that, often, we aren’t truly aware of the data that we are storing, so information is saved on devices in inefficient ways. For instance, we could store only the data we access frequently on the most efficient devices and use the other hardware for the information we rarely need, thus minimizing their workload. 

Improving Infrastructure for Better Mapping of IT Hardware  

For the efficient mapping of IT hardware, we need to look not only at how we store data, but also how we classify the data that we store.  

If we classify data into what’s important and what is a nice to have, such as cat videos on the internet (as John Booth pointed out), we can work to reduce the wasteful habits of data storage and improve the efficiency of data centers around the world.  

In terms of a circular economy, refurbished technology, component level upgrades, and IT repairs can all help to improve the infrastructure of data centers for a more sustainable sector. The circular economy is all about designing out waste in order to save valuable resources that are in short supply and could be used in other industries, such as the renewable energy sector.

However, it is also about buying ourselves time through reuse and product lifespan extension so that recycling processes and methods for dealing with waste can develop.  

By extending the lifespan of technology through repairs and component level upgrades, reusing IT wherever possible, cascading equipment down from high-performance applications to less-demanding workloads, and choosing refurbished, we can improve the impact of the data center industry on the planet.  

Traditionally, those in the data center industry would not consider the above options due to increased energy draw of machines; however, as previously stated, Moore’s law is slowing down, and it is no longer true that each server is more efficient than the last.  

We showed this during a two-year research project with the University of East London that resulted in the creation and launch of our sister company, Interact. Interact is the first machine-learning data center hardware efficiency tool that measures the performance of server estate infrastructure and identifies where improvements can be made. By recommending IT hardware upgrades and identifying the worst performing devices, Interact reduces the energy draw of data center estates, therefore decreasing costs, lowering environmental impact, and saving money without compromising on performance.  

Interact allows the circular economy and high-performance technology to co-align for a more sustainable data center industry globally.  

Why is a Circular Economy Important? 

People have been conditioned to want faster, more powerful machines through hardware contracts and manufacturing habits. We can’t just keep digging things up for new machinery, nor can we continuously chuck what we have used away into ever-growing piles of waste. As John Booth stated, “E-waste is causing environmental devastation” and we must reduce its impact globally.

 
Materials that we are using flippantly are going to have to be used by other sectors for sustainable purposes, particularly the power sector. Power shortages are quickly becoming a problem we need to combat, and people do not think that it is their problem. We will run out of power if we run out of materials. 

Therefore, a circular IT economy is not just a nice-to-have; it is a necessity if we want to develop a sustainable future.  

Find out more about why we believe in a circular economy here.