A popular song laments that “it’s not easy to be green,” a sentiment that data center companies may have also agreed with. However, to their and the environment’s benefit, green data centers are gaining more global attention and becoming more prominent. This is something that companies, governments, and environmentalists can get excited about.
What are Green Data Centers?
Whereas traditional data centers house vital facilities for telecommunications, storage systems, and associated components, green data centers boast the ability to do the same while keeping sustainability at the forefront. This includes conserving energy and resources, upholding longer infrastructure lifecycles and newer technologies, and reducing the hefty costs associated with the building and maintenance of data centers.
Green data centers operate through advanced, green technologies such as low-power servers, free air-cooling systems, ultrasonic humidification, evaporative cooling, and hot and cold aisle containment. These technologies enable these data centers to increase efficiency while decreasing the overall consumption of energy.
What Cost-Saving Benefits Do Green Data Centers Offer?
Within the 2024 Report on U.S. Data Center Energy Use, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) found that 4.4% of the U.S.’s total electricity was consumed by data centers alone. With current demand trends, that number could jump up to 12% by the year 2028, meaning not only an increase in energy consumption but also an increase in associated data center costs. Moreover, typically 30-60% of a data center’s operating expenses are due to the energy needed to keep these facilities cool and running.
This is where “going green” can “save some green”.
When looking at cost reduction over time, the adoption of numerous renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and even nuclear energy, shows savings within the operational management of these facilities. Better yet, green data centers within proximity to these renewable energy sources lead to lower and more consistent operational costs as they are not solely dependent on the electric grid and its fluctuating energy prices.
Green data center builders are also paying close attention to specific prime locations that can naturally help mitigate energy usage and data center costs. Colder climates, such as those in Canada, Scandinavia, and the northern U.S., utilize cold outside air in cooling their equipment, whereas drier climates found in the Southwestern U.S. are good at combating corrosion and humidity risks.
Aside from nature’s assistance, going green may also lead to substantial government incentives and cost savings. Certain countries have been dedicating incentives to Special Economic Zones (SEZs). These incentives include tax breaks or subsidies for utilizing green energy sources, lower energy rates, as well as carbon credits and offsetting programs.
It Is What’s On the Inside That Counts
Sustainability is achieved through well-rounded engineering, so it is critical for these data centers to not only focus on location and energy, but on the components and technology within the centers themselves.
Just as fiber optics have revolutionized telecommunications, they are assisting in greenifying data centers as fiber optic cables are lighter, support higher data rates over longer distances, and can operate with less energy consumption. Fiber optic cables are also able to cool off faster, reducing heat output.
The implementation of advanced software and AI is another factor in optimizing green data centers. These systems are playing a major role in improving data center architecture to utilize ultra-low latency to process vast amounts of information quicker and more reliably. The AI being installed into green data centers allows the system to monitor itself to redirect resources when necessary, recognize energy patterns, and alert to critical situations in real-time to save the costs of intensive and disruptive repairs.
Other factors differentiating green data centers from traditional include investing in higher fiber count cables and advanced components, as well as reusing and recycling equipment where able. Although recycling is not always an option for certain components, investment in robust fiber optic cables and other equipment does lengthen their lifespan, leading to lower operational costs, energy usage, and disruptions.
Green Data Centers In Action
Green data centers are not a particularly new idea, but they are becoming an industry standard, evident in major companies and organizations opting for their data centers to be green to keep in line with their sustainability goals. Facebook and Apple have been utilizing various forms of renewable energy from nearby sources, whereas LinkedIn’s Hillsboro, Oregon, and Microsoft’s Project Natick have been leveraging the cool climate and raw seawater for natural cooling, respectively.
It may not have been easy to be green at one point in time, but thanks to the investments and shift over to green data centers, major enterprises would agree that those days are long over, as saving on operational costs while saving the environment is a major win-win for organizations and the environment alike.
As organizations team up to bring these green data centers to life, comprehensive fiber maps, telecommunications infrastructure data, and data visualization are more critical now than ever. Gain access to the largest, most accurate, and most reliable geospatial telecommunications datasets available by contacting GeoTel’s specialists today.
