The advancement of the digital economy, which has paved the way to a growth in demand for data centres across the world, in conjunction with the increasing need for sustainability, has led data centres to go green.
A data centre is a repository that stores computing facilities, including switches, routers, servers, firewalls, as well as supporting components. A green data centre, though, provides effective and eco-friendly solutions, in terms of data storage and reduction in energy consumption.
According to a Report, “Green Data Center Market – Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2019-2024), the green data centre market was valued, in 2018, at USD 43.24 billion, and it is expected to reach a value of USD 147.88 billion by 2024 (https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/06/28/1875927/0/en/Green-Data-Centers-Worldwide-Market-Insight-Report-2019-2024-Power-Segment-to-Hold-a-Significant-Market-Share.html).
This rise in green data centres is demonstrated by the fact that Google announced, on the 20th September 2019, that it will be investing USD 3 billion into European data centers – the largest corporate purchase of green energy in history (https://www.cloudpro.co.uk/it-infrastructure/8239/google-invests-3-billion-in-european-data-centre-expansion).
Google stated that it will continue on its commitment to using as much green energy as possible, and that it plans to build an entirely carbon-neutral data centre in Denmark.
Also, Switzerland-based, green data centre, AG, announced, on the 18th September 2019, the opening of its new green data centre hub, in Switzerland, investing approximately USD 70.3 million (https://data-economy.com/green-datacenter-ag-invests-70-3m-into-green-data-centre-hub-in-switzerland/).
On parallel lines, Jakarta, in Indonesia, will have its first green data centre campus by Q1 2020, as SpaceDC, a visionary data center partner who is behind this initiative, will use natural gas to produce electricity to power the data centre (https://data-economy.com/jakarta-set-to-house-its-first-green-data-centre-campus-courtesy-of-spacedc/).
DigiPlex, a Nordic data center operator, will build two green data centres, near Oslo, by end of 2020, as it has committed circa GBP 53.69 million of investment (https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252470728/DigiPlex-to-build-two-green-datacentres-near-Oslo-by-the-end-of-2020).
On the 4th June 2019, the University of Strasbourg, coolDC and Datacenter.com received the 2019 EU Code of Conduct Award for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres during the Datacloud Congress in Monte Carlo, one of the largest conferences dedicated to data centres in Europe (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/science-update/2019-eu-code-conduct-data-centres-awards).
Energy efficiency and minimum impact on the environment remain in the core of a green data center. Its benefits include next generation storage experience, reduced impact on environment, consumed less energy, turning off unused servers and decreased capital expenditure (https://www.silvertouch.com/how-green-data-center-benefits-modern-business-and-environment/).
Concepts for the reuse of server waste heat and recovery, are also of great interest for the energy and heat transition, and key to green data centres (https://www.envirosustain.com/2019/07/30/sustainably-digital-waste-heat-recovery-as-the-key-to-green-data-centres/.
The fact that many businesses and countries are more environmentally aware and conscious of their carbon footprints, means that contemplating what sustainable data centers can offer is becoming an important part of the criteria for choosing a data center provider or managed service (https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/opinions/future-data-centers-green/).
...
