A single mobile phone uses more energy per unit than a refrigerator, not so much in terms of recharging but in the data traffic and other actions the phone creates.
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector consumes as much as 10% of the world’s electricity, a sizable portion of which goes toward operating data centers that are the spine of the Internet and the cloud.
Large data centers can use more electricity than a midsize town. However, much of that energy ends up being released as heat into the atmosphere, to the point where carbon emissions from data centers could exceed what the entire airline industry spews annually within the next five years.
Consequently, as data centers expand, greater emphasis is being placed on controlling their impact on the environment. Apple claims that all of its data centers are powered by 100% renewable energy, including new data centers in Denmark and Ireland that will be completed in 2017. Apple has also made an $850 million investment in a solar farm in California to power its new campus in Silicon Valley, all its California offices and data centers, and its data center in Newark, Calif.
In Falun, Sweden, the municipality owned Falu Energi & Vatten is collaborating with Schneider Electric and EcoDC AB, which specializes in designing and building climate-smart data centers, to build what this team is calling the world’s first climate-positive data center.
The location of this three-building, 250,000-sf EcoDataCenter is relevant. Falun is one of the greenest towns on the planet. Ninety-five percent of houses with district heat in Falun (about half of all homes in the municipality) are provided with heat from a cogeneration plant that recycles forestry waste to produce electricity and warm water.
The town also has one of Sweden’s largest solar panel arrays. More than half of Falun’s energy needs are provided by hydro, wind, and cogeneration plants, with the rest coming from renewable sources such as solar and secondary biofuels.
Consequently, 100% of the energy that the EcoDataCenter would use will come from renewable sources. The 18-megawatt data center will be connected to Falun’s energy grid, and excess heat from its servers and equipment will warm buildings in the town’s district heating system. During the summer, excess steam from a local electricity plant will run machines that cool the data center.
No electricity will be required to increase the return water temperature from the data center. Heat from the data center replaces existing marginal heat production with high CO2 emissions. This CO2 replacement will exceed total CO2 emissions from the data center during a year.
EcoDataCenter’s first building should be completed in the first quarter of 2016. When fully operational, EcoDataCenter should attain the highest levels of availability and security classification. (It is expected to be Sweden’s first to achieve a Tier IV certification from Uptime Institute.)
The data center is projected to operate with a power usage effectiveness (PUE)—useful IT kilowatts divided by totally used kilowatts—of less than 1.15.
Related Stories
| Apr 30, 2013
Tips for designing with fire rated glass - AIA/CES course
Kate Steel of Steel Consulting Services offers tips and advice for choosing the correct code-compliant glazing product for every fire-rated application. This BD+C University class is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Apr 24, 2013
Los Angeles may add cool roofs to its building code
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants cool roofs added to the city’s building code. He is also asking the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to create incentives that make it financially attractive for homeowners to install cool roofs.
| Apr 5, 2013
Lack of national standards on design of bioterror labs creates higher risk for accidents, panel says
U.S. labs that conduct research on bioterror germs such as anthrax are at risk for accidents because they do not have uniform design and operation standards, according to a Congressional investigative group.
| Apr 3, 2013
5 award-winning modular buildings
The Modular Building Institute recently revealed the winners of its annual Awards of Distinction contest. There were 42 winners in all across six categories. Here are five projects that caught our eye.
| Mar 29, 2013
PBS broadcast to highlight '10 Buildings That Changed America'
WTTW Chicago, in partnership with the Society of Architectural Historians, has produced "10 Builidngs That Changed America," a TV show set to air May 12 on PBS.
| Mar 27, 2013
RSMeans cost comparisons: college labs, classrooms, residence halls, student unions
Construction market analysts from RSMeans offer construction costs per square foot for four building types across 25 metro markets.
| Mar 24, 2013
World's tallest data center opens in New York
Sabey Data Center Properties last week celebrated the completion of the first phase of an adaptive reuse project that will transform the 32-story Verizon Building in Manhattan into a data center facility. When the project is completed, it will be the world's tallest data center.
Building Enclosure Systems | Mar 13, 2013
5 novel architectural applications for metal mesh screen systems
From folding façades to colorful LED displays, these fantastical projects show off the architectural possibilities of wire mesh and perforated metal panel technology.
| Feb 26, 2013
Tax incentive database for reflective roofs available
The Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association (RCMA) and the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) created a database of current information on rebates and tax credits for installing reflective roofs.
