With discussions around global warming being a part of the mainstream consciousness, there is an increased focus on data centres and their associated IT networks as they are major consumers of energy.
Sustainability and more stringent environmental, social and governance (ESG) norms have become a part of the mandate of CIOs and, while a lot of steps have been taken to lower or cap energy and water consumption as well as reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), there is still a lack of comprehensive and supported action plans, with measurable targets, to create the change required in the data centre industry to address the climate crisis.
Exponential increase in energy consumption
Globally there are approximately 39,000 core data centres. On top of that, there is a requirement for nearly seven million-plus small data centres located at the edge, which includes factories, hospitals, airports, stores, hotels, and construction sites, from where businesses want to be able to deliver new services and capabilities using locally stored data.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), in a September 2022 report, said data centres and data transmission networks, each account for 1-1.5 percent of global electricity consumption.
IEA’s Energy and Building and Communities programme (EBC) estimates that between 2019 and 2030 the energy consumption of data centres will rise from 400 terawatt hour (TWh) to 800TWh.
The often-unnoticed subtext is that this growth in energy consumption is not evenly distributed, it is often much higher in digitally advanced nations which tend to have the maximum concentration of data centres.
Singapore is a good example. While IEA believes 2-3 percent of global energy consumption for the data centre sector globally, in reply to a question in Parliament in 2021, the government said, in 2020, data centre infrastructure accounted for seven percent of the energy consumption in Singapore, up from 5.3 percent in 2019.
In terms of actual energy usage that translated to 3.4 TWh of energy consumed in 2020, in comparison to 2.75 TWh in 2019.
The Singapore government has put in place stringent sustainability mandates on new data centre builds to push the industry towards creating greener infrastructure.
These include a PUE of below 1.3 for new data centre builds and a cap of 60 MW new builds per year. The message to the industry is clear: Build greener and more energy-efficient infrastructure.
There is no getting around the fact that demand for data centre space will go up as we are in the midst of a paradigm shift in data consumption with fifth-generation mobile telephony, metaverse, artificial intelligence, smart cities and other technological innovations changing how we live, work and play.
The data centre industry has unique characteristics, such as high energy intensity, rapid growth, large power consumption and water usage that require specialised metrics.
Standardising metrics
Standardisation of these metrics can help with the adoption, improve benchmarking, and progress sustainability within the industry.
At Schneider Electric we have proposed five categories, which include 23 key metrics for data centre operators who are in the Beginning, Advanced and Leading stages of their sustainability journey.
We have also identified the 17 most relevant sustainability frameworks and standards to guide data centre operators in target setting, reporting, and certifying.
Before a company can set goals, it must decide how to measure and report on these metrics. Determining which environmental sustainability metrics, a data centre business should track is one of the most important issues it faces.
Not all data centre companies are at the same place in their journey. The beginning level represents the basic reporting for GHG emissions. This level has all the core metrics required for every data centre company.
The advanced level adds more detailed metrics for energy, water and GHG and adds a new waste category. The Leading stage adds even more detail to the existing categories and introduces a land and biodiversity category.
We recommend these specific metrics at every level for companies to represent their environmental sustainability as clearly as possible and be consistent with the industry.
Disconnect between intent and action
While there is an increasing understanding of the need for sustainability and adherence to ESG norms, this has not always translated into concrete policy and actions in the data centre and its allied IT infrastructure industry.
Three independent research studies, which focused on sustainability in IT and data centre operations, show that there is a disconnect between intent and action, indicating most of the industry is still at the beginning stage of its sustainability journey.
The studies, commissioned by Schneider Electric, were conducted separately by 451 Research (part of S&P Market Intelligence), Forrester Consulting, and Canalys.
They collected data from nearly 3,000 global participants, including the largest colocation and cloud providers, IT solution providers, and IT professionals across many segments and organisation sizes.
451 Research’s study highlighted a perception-versus-reality dilemma within organisations.
Most believe that their sustainability programmes were more advanced than they actually were, as the maturity evaluations of nearly half (48 percent) of respondents did not match a previous answer.
According to the study, the main driver of sustainability was business value. Organisations started with measuring energy usage, and then expanded into other sustainability metrics and tools.
The study showed that the challenges the respondents faced included optimising energy use, followed by obtaining consistent data and metrics (for leaders/advanced firms) and a lack of skilled staff (for starter organisations).
The Forrester Consulting paper focused on colocation and found that while 73 percent of respondents reported sustainability as a business priority for their organisation, and their second priority overall, only 33 percent said their organisations had created a strategic sustainability plan.
Canalys research found that IT channel partners were investing in sustainability strategies but were struggling to translate the investment into action and they lacked a clear answer on how to accomplish this goal. While 61 percent had dedicated personnel for sustainability, only a third had set ESG targets.
The three research papers demonstrate that across the data centre and IT industry, there is a sustainability action gap – the intention appears to be there, but action is lacking.
Information is the key
At Schneider Electric we believe achieving sustainability is all about information and the quality of it.
An enterprise needs to be able to monitor and measure every aspect of operations to be able to manage and reduce emissions through efficient, adaptable, and resilient operation.
Data centres of the future will be strengthened and made more energy efficient by four factors:
- Sustainability: Future data centre owners/ operators will need to be able to assess and improve their upstream and downstream supply chain sustainability data footprint. Supply chain emissions will take centre stage and will need to be monitored, analysed, benchmarked and published.
- Efficiency: Data centres will have to be equipped with intelligent sensors, additional digital services and remote monitoring capabilities, in order to ensure accurate human resources workflows, altering at a rapid rate and exact predictive diagnosis. This would ultimately reduce the risk of unplanned downtime.
- Adaptiveness: With businesses today trying to improve their speed of delivering goods and services, flexible data centre designs are a must. This will enable the rapid upscale or downscale of equipment according to demand.
- Resiliency: There is an urgency to bring in resources and tools that minimise exposure to risks and allow quicker responses during unplanned events. By doing so, data centre owners will be able to take control during the time of crisis. Powerful AI tools such as EcoStruxure IT offers new ways to manage at-risk data centre assets.
Schneider Electric’s own sustainability journey for over 20 years has equipped it with both the tools and perspectives needed to contribute to a sustainable future in what is essentially an energy-hungry industry.
The company’s sustainability leadership has been well-recognised globally.
Some of the major recent awards for the company include:
- Schneider Electric’s sustainability leadership was recognised for the 12th year in a row in 2022 by Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.
- Schneider Electric was included in CDP’s 2022 Climate Change A List for the 12th consecutive year.
- Schneider Electric was recognised in Corporate Knights’ Global 100 for the 12th year in a row in 2023.
- The company won the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) Awards 2022 Best Technological Collaboration, Safety VR Programme, in partnership with ATOMAXR
- World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Buildings Awards Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance (Commercial) Award was won by Schneider Electric in 2022.
There is an urgent need to make data centres as sustainable and carbon friendly as possible during this time of exponential data growth, especially at the edge. At Schneider Electric we are best equipped to help partners and customers in their sustainability journey.
