Green Data Centers: How Tech Companies Reduce Their Carbon Footprint?
As digitalization gains momentum, data centers have become the most critical infrastructures in the modern world. Today, each email, social media post, video stream, and cloud service is processed and stored in a data center somewhere. However, this process consumes giant amounts of energy.
Data centers consume approximately 1-1.5% of global electricity. Furthermore, according to the McKinsey report, Europe's data center power demand is expected to almost triple by 2030.
In data centers, not only power consumption but also environmental impacts such as the water consumption of cooling systems and generation of electronic waste (e-waste) constitute a significant problem. At this point, green data centers serve as a crucial solution for lessening environmental impacts and fostering a more sustainable technology world.
So, what exactly are green data centers and how do they work? Let’s check it out.
1. High Energy Consumption
Data centers consume huge amounts of electricity to keep servers running. Each year, leading tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon consume terawatts of power. On the other hand, as technologies including blockchain, AI, and big data analytics improve, the consumption rates keep rising.
Click here to check out our blog post on ‘Digital Carbon Footprint’.
High consumption of fossil fuel-dependent energy resources results in significant amounts of carbon emissions. Hence, traditional data centers are becoming one of the factors to speed up climate change.
2. Water Utilization and Cooling Problems
One of the critical issues in data centers is the cooling requirement. Servers generate so much heat because they are constantly running, and traditional data centers consume lots of water to keep this heat under control.
For example, a large data center can consume millions of liters of water per year. This issue contributes to water scarcity, particularly in arid regions.
3. Electronic Waste (E-Waste) and Use of Resources
Data centers have to regularly update their hardware. Aging servers, hard drives, and processors eventually turn into e-waste. Each year, over 50 million tons of e-waste are generated worldwide.
Recycling rates, on the other hand, are low. Furthermore, mining rare earth elements to be used in data center equipment may result in serious damage to the environment.
Green data centers are data management systems that decrease energy consumption, utilize renewable resources, and minimize environmental impacts. The fundamental elements to achieving this transformation are as follows:
1. Use of Renewable Energy
Major technology firms are reducing their carbon footprint by transitioning to renewable energy resources in their data centers.
• The use of solar and wind energy keeps rising.
• Hydroelectric solutions that do not damage water resources are becoming widespread.
• Carbon-neutral data centers are getting more and more popular.
2. Smart Equipment and Energy Efficiency
New generation data centers are equipped with processors and storage units that consume less energy. For example, processors that run with lower energy and AI-supported energy management systems significantly decrease energy requirement.
3. Sustainable Cooling Solutions
Air cooling systems are being developed to reduce water consumption. Data centers built in the Arctic regions save energy by using natural airflow for cooling. For example, the data center that Facebook built in Sweden uses natural cooling, hence consuming less energy.
4. Circular Economy and E-Waste Management
Green data centers offer a solution to the e-waste problem by reusing or recycling old hardware.
• Modular server systems minimize excessive hardware usage.
• Unused components are directed to other industries or recycled.
As digitalization gains momentum every year, sustainability of data center is no longer a choice but a necessity. Rising energy demand, regulations related to the environment, and consumers’ awareness on sustainability lead tech companies to develop environmentally friendly solutions. In the years ahead, the focus on green data centers will extend beyond major tech companies to include public institutions and data-intensive industries, such as finance.
Three critical factors below stand out in this transformation:
1. Energy Efficiency with AI and Automation
Traditional data centers had an inefficient structure in terms of energy consumption. The majority of the servers and storage units were continuously operating at full capacity, unnecessarily wasting energy. However, AI- and machine learning-supported management systems are now overcoming these inefficient practices.
• Smart cooling systems track the temperatures of servers, activating only when required, thereby avoiding unnecessary energy consumption due to overcooling.
• AI-supported energy management analyzes server traffic, determines which systems should operate at full capacity, and optimizes unnecessary loads.
• Predictive maintenance via machine learning identifies potential hardware failures ahead of time, which helps to prevent unnecessary replacements and minimizes the generation of e-waste.
Current trends reveal that the impact of AI on data centers will bring about a significant transformation over the next decade.
2. Sustainable Data Management with Carbon Zero Energy Resources
Data centers of tomorrow will not only consume less energy but will also entirely embrace carbon-free energy resources. Today, many tech giants are transitioning to renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric in their data centers.
However, this transformation requires more investment and policy support to become widespread worldwide.
• Data centers energized by wind power are becoming more and more common.
• Solar farms are becoming popular to make data centers carbon neutral.
• Underwater data centers and centers built in the polar region to benefit from the low temperatures significantly reduce the requirement for additional energy for cooling.
Companies like Amazon has the goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 by their renewable energy investments. However, more government incentives and infrastructure investments are required to include small- and medium-sized businesses in this transformation.
3. Data Management Policies That Reduce Carbon Emissions
Governments and big corporations are preparing to introduce new legal regulations to ensure the sustainability of digitalization. The EU introduced a regulation that requires data centers to undergo stricter audits regarding energy efficiency by 2030.
• Green energy certifications will encourage data centers to transition to renewable energy. Click here to find out more about the Green Energy Certification offered by Enerjisa as part of Energy of My Business.
• Carbon credit systems will require data centers that have high carbon emissions to invest in sustainable projects.
• Circular economy policies will make hardware update and recycling processes mandatory in data centers.
Click here to check out our blog post on ‘What is Circular Economy?’
The significance of transparency and accountability is growing, particularly for major tech companies. It is no longer sufficient for companies to simply announce their carbon neutrality targets; they are now required to regularly report their progress.
In the future, green data centers will not only be an environmentally friendly option but will also become a legal and economic requirement. Companies that adopt sustainable data management strategies will achieve success in both environmental and financial aspects.
Green data centers becoming widespread is considered a critical transformation not only for the technology world, but also for the future of global economy. While major tech companies increase their sustainability investments, small businesses can make their operations more environmentally friendly with energy-efficient solutions. Green data centers are becoming the cornerstone of an environmentally responsible digital infrastructure.