Sustainability
A more sustainable hyperscale DataCentre solution.Benchmarking: The Australian Federal Governments Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER) reports that the average Data Centre in Australia has a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 2.5.
The DISER also notes that the target for state-of-the-art facility is a 1.5 PUE. In contrast, all GreenSquareDC Data Centres will have a min 1.1 PUE and most will have greatly improved performance than this.
Even modern traditional Data Centers that are aware of this energy use challenge haven’t been able to significantly move the needle. According to Statista, the average Data Center PUE is 1.6 and its been hovering around this level for much of the past decade.
The National Australian Built Environment Rate System (NABERS) is another measure of the operational energy efficiency and environmental impact of data centres. The NABERS rating system relates to the actual operational capacity of a data centre and is based on its PUE. GreenSquareDC will always aim to be a Market Leader in this regard.
Further information regarding energy standards for data centres can be found at: Data centres | energy.gov.au
The minimum operational PUE for GreenSquareDC 1.1. This is well below the stated average PUE for data centres of 2.5 and lower than the PUE of 1.5 that the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources reports is expected for state-of-the-art facilities and the 1.6 PUE as stated as being average amongst modern traditional Data Centres by Statista.
As such our new age Data Centres will provide significant emissions savings on emissions compared to a standard traditional Data Centre. These savings having been calculated in comparison to energy consumption (and savings) for cars, houses and trees to illustrate the environmental benefits of a cutting-edge data centre.
The savings in emissions expected when comparing just one of GreenSquareDC’s Data Centres, being our 96MW Perth DC operating at PUE 1.1 compared to average PUE of 2.5 are equivalent to:
– 144,164 cars removed from the road annually,
– 11,063,086 tree seedlings grown for ten years, or
– 84,278 homes powered for one year.
While we won’t reach net-zero emissions overnight, every step we take together gets us closer to this fundamental collective global goal. Let’s do it together and let’s do it now.
GreenSquareDC’s 5 Pillars to true Net Zero Sustainability
Whilst not definitive and there’s much more hard work to be done, below is an overview of the 5 key Pillars GreenSquareDC will implement to significantly reduce our carbon footprint and therefore that of our all important customers on the path to true net zero.
1. Alternative forms of Cooling
Implementing new server cooling methods is one of many key steps we’re taking to ensure our datacenters have lower energy consumption and higher processing power while also helping to eliminate water consumption.
2. Alternatives to Fossil Fuel / Diesel Back Up Generators
While datacenter backup generators have historically run-on fossil fuel (diesel), we will run our generators on less carbon-intensive fuels such as natural bio-gas, synthetic diesel or other new green methods such as hydrogen fuel cells for backup power.
3. Creating Microgrids + 100% Renewable Power
Another key way we’re reducing our carbon footprint is by providing 100% renewable green power to reduce the demand on the grid and implementing grid-interactive UPS batteries and ‘microgrids’ which combine to make a big difference.
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI-driven technologies is deployed in fast failure detection and prediction. AI and learning algorithms are used to reduced the instance of human error (hence increasing uptime) whilst managing cooling and microgrids with savings of up to 40% in energy.
5. Construction & Embedded Carbon
We will reduce embodied carbon in construction by around 50% over alternative construction and operation methods. We will achieve this via reduced building footprints and introduction of green concrete, green steel and mass timber where appropriate.
PROBLEM 1
Efficiency has Stalled
Large scale data centres are engineered and designed around dissipation of the heat generated from the computers it is storing/hosting.
Data centres are measured in Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) – measure of total power into the data centre vS power consumed by compute.
Air has been used to dissipate heat for decades. However this is proving to be inefficient at high power loads. Innovative, new approaches such as immersion cooling have been developed to move efficiency forward.
Cooling the IT equipment in a data centre is the biggest power consumer, accounting for more than 40% of total energy consumption.
Solution:
GreenSquareDC’s Data Centres target an annual PUE target of < 1.1 for new data centres via new highly efficient hybrid cooling techniques and automated AI based operating systems.
This will enable our customers to run higher density processing – up to 100KW per rack with less energy and power consumption, saving both money and the planet.
PROBLEM 2
A Higher Power
Air cooling is challenged to keep up with the demands of today’s high powered cloud experiences.
The drawbacks of air do not end at efficiency. From its beginnings in simple file serving and web hosting, cloud experiences now power some of the most demanding computational loads possible – including game clouds, machine learning, real-time climate models, and more.
These experiences require high powered CPUs and GPUs, with some leading Al focused servers demanding up to 2.5kw per RU (100KW per rack).
Air’s inferior heat transfer properties mean that some 42RU racks can power as little as 10KW per rack, generally peaking at 35kw in specific cases.
Today’s computing loads are already pushing the limits. Tomorrow’s cloud demands a new solution.
Solution:
GreenSquareDC’s implementation of new server cooling methods is one of many steps we’re taking toward datacenters with lower energy
consumption and higher processing power while also helping to eliminate water consumption.
Our Data Centres will target an annual PUE target of < 1.1 enabling our customers to run higher density processing – up to 100KW per rack with less energy and power consumption, saving both money and the planet.
PROBLEM 3
Carbon Footprint
Data centres already use more than 2% of the world’s electricity, and contribute to 2% of world’s CO2 emissions. That’s equivalent to the world’s entire airline industry.
• Data Centres are at risk of becoming the new smelters with large industrial loads connected to the grid drawing mains power.
• The larger the PUE and the carbon co-efficient for the grid, the greater the CO2 emission equivalent for the facility.
• As businesses look to reduce their carbon footprint, focus will increasingly turn to the emissions of their data centre providers.
Solution:
GreenSquareDC’s advanced cooling technology saves up to 50% of cooling power in our data centres. This allows us to reduce CO2 emissions by approx. 45%. Our PUE is < 1.1 and other benefits include:
Heat Recycling : We aim to reuse excess heat generated by the servers through supplying hot water loops to central heating or building hot water systems.
Greener Power Generation: We supply 100% renewable energy and green certificates significantly reducing our carbon footprint.
Lower Embodied Energy: As we can achieve densification 10 times greater than that of a traditional data centre, our building envelope therefore has significantly less embodied energy compared to traditional data centres.
Zero Wastewater : Data centres that use evaporative cooling consume millions of litres of water per day. Our cooling technology includes a closed water loop with zero wastewater.
PROBLEM 4
Legislation is coming
Digital technologies account for a significant amount of global electricity consumption. This is likely to increase with digitisation and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain. This will lead to problematic increase of greenhouse gas emissions if left unchecked and Data Centre design and operation isn’t undertaken.
The topic of energy-efficient cloud computing has become a priority for legislators globally. Data centres need to become far more energy efficient, reuse waste energy such as heat, and use more renewable energy sources.
Due to excessive power and water usage and significant carbon emissions, large new DataCentre builds are becoming a challenge as Governments around the globe look to legislate. For instance, some of the biggest Data Centre markets on earth, such as Ireland, Singapore, Frankfurt and Amsterdam have all introduced moratoriums to limit large new and inefficient Data Centre being development in recent times. Whilst Singapore has now been relaxed, it will not consider any Data Centre application with a PUE exceeding 1.3. Other major markets are expected to follow suit.
Solution:
GreenSquareDC will keep well ahead of the curve in terms of future legislation via its sustainability first approach. GreenSquareDC’s new age Data Centres PUE shall not exceed 1.1 and we’re moving away from fossil fuelled diesel fuelled generators. This will enable all customers who migrate to our services to have complete confidence that there will be no issues from any legislation change.
PROBLEM 5
Water
In the data center industry, water has always been a primary source of the cooling needed to keep high-power servers running. The business case for evaporative cooling has until now been simple – water is cheap and readily available. A 100MW Data Centre can easily use over 5 million litres of water per day and this water is treated with chemicals and therefore unable to be harvested or re-used.
However, as our understanding of the risks and impacts of climate change evolves, it is becoming more and more clear that we can no longer take water for granted. As the saying goes, “climate change is water change.” Traditional weather and rainfall patterns no longer apply. While greenhouse gas emissions are a global issue, water is inherently local. Ironically, those large extremely water thirsty Data Centres are often in hot, arid locations experiencing water scarcity with the expectations of increased water stress in the coming decades. Worse still are Data Centres using coal powered grid energy, which has a significantly higher downstream water usage compared to Data Centres using 100% renewable energy, which has virtually zero-water usage in generating its power.
Solution:
GreenSquareDC GreenSquareDC will achieve a far better Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) score due to its advanced cooling technique which uses little to no water by comparison to traditional air-cooled Data Centres using traditional evaporative cooling techniques.