In an industry where “Sustainability” is the big buzz word, there are growing fears surrounding “greenwashing”. This is why, W.Media Podcast brought together data center industry veterans and experts to discuss how the industry can actually walk the talk on Sustainability.
In this episode, Ning Liu (Senior Liquid Cooling Solutions Manager, Shenzen Envicool Technology), Sandeep Dandekar (Data Center expert from India) and Timmy Fung (Senior Director, Data Center Capital Markets, JLL) engaged in a lively discussion focused using liquid cooling, better data center design, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to achieve Sustainability Goals. The podcast was co-hosted by Daryl Dunbar (Partner Digital Infrastructure, Internal Consulting Group) and Deborah Grey (Regional Editor, South Asia and Middle East, W.Media).
“When we compare liquid cooling with other forms of cooling, we need to look at three main points: power consumption, water consumption and refrigerant use,” said Liu. “In direct to chip cooling, the temperature of the liquid is 40-50 degrees Celsius as compared to the 24 degrees Celsius temperature required for air cooling. This system can liberate natural cooling system for effectively without the need for a compressor, resulting in lower power consumption and lower refrigerant usage, contributing to lower carbon emissions,” he explained.
“Just like living beings, data also needs water to survive,” said Dandekar as he reminded listeners that data centers have high water usage. He also spoke about how data centers are power guzzlers, and they also impact the environment by releasing a huge amount of heat into the atmosphere. “OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are working to upgrade technology to generate less heat in the first place. If IT equipment can work at higher ambient temperature, the load on cooling can be reduced,” he said expanding the scope of the discussion to include technology upgrades.
Dunbar, a keen industry watcher, also pointed out how using parameters like Power Usage Efficiency (PuE) was rather myopic in light of other factors that comprise the idea of Sustainability. “Don’t get me started on PuE. It’s probably the most popular reported statistic, but it is easy to gain PuE. For instance, if a data center is not fully loaded it skews the PuE. Then there is design PuE vs. Operational PuE. It depends on where we put certain pieces of equipment and where we place the meter,” he said alluding to ways in which the numbers could be manipulated.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Timmy Fung pointed out how data center operators were very vocal about Sustainability related design changes while looking for real estate for new data centers. “Earlier it was all about ceiling height, now there is also emphasis on loading as equipment, particularly when you talk about liquid cooling, is getting a lot heavier,” he said. “Old data centers are just not suited for this, neither are old industrial complexes that you thought could be refurbished into data centers.” Fung also pointed out that customers of data centers were also playing a major role in this matter. “An international bank told us that they could only use a colocation data center, if the operator aimed at becoming Net Zero by 2050,” he said.
The discussion then moved to how AI could be used to achieve Sustainability goals. “In an intelligent data center, AI can collect data and anaylse data center performance across a wider range of settings and determine the optimal control point for maximum operational efficiency,” said Ning Liu. “AI will help efficiently optimise energy usage, be it cooling system, IT infrastructure like servers etc. By combining automation, AI and analytics, organisations can finally use the large volumes of data they generate for better decision making and pro-active resolution of issues and concerns.”
The discussion was much more robust than the above summary, so do tune in and take a listen by clicking the link below:
W.Media Podcast is broadcast every two weeks, and our next episode with delve deeper into the wonderful yet mysterious world of AI as well as Cloud computing.
W.Media is also hosting a series of industry events where we will discuss AI and Super Computing. Click the image below for more:
