A new report by engineering, architecture and sustainability consulting firm Ramboll examines the path to net zero for the data centre sector, which will require significant investment in reducing carbon emissions, water, biodiversity, and material use.
“The construction of data centres powered by the rise of artificial intelligence is booming across the globe, driving unprecedented demand for electricity and significantly contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions, increased water consumption, waste production, habitat destruction, and resource depletion,” commented Ed Ansett, Ramboll’s global director of technology and innovation.
“These challenges can be managed and mitigated if data centres are built with climate, biodiversity, and circularity impacts in mind from the very start.”
Strategic roadmap
Ramboll’s report, Developing Sustainable Data Centres: A Strategic Roadmap to Achieve Net Zero Carbon and Reduce Environmental Impact, which was published during Climate Week NYC, identifies operational carbon as the biggest contributor to data centre emissions, with the data centre sector consuming 1.5% of global electricity last year, a figure that could double by 2030.
Net zero operational carbon is achievable, Ramboll notes, through the combination of renewable energy procurement, efficiency optimisation, energy reuse, and demand response, not to mention the use of low-carbon steel and concrete, or materials made from decommissioned buildings, in construction.
Biodiversity and circularity
Beyond emissions, Ramboll identifies biodiversity, circularity, and water neutrality as critical sustainability benchmarks, stating that it is ‘vital’ that biodiversity considerations are incorporated into the planning, design, construction, and operation of data centres.
Circularity practices, such as rainwater capture systems, are also essential for addressing the high level of water use by data centres, it notes, with the report urging operators to minimise water use and avoid water-based cooling where possible.
“There are economic benefits for data centres owners if they focus on circular practices,” Ansett added. “For instance, the sole physical byproduct of data centre energy consumption is heat, which has historically been unused and released to atmosphere. Data centres are in an excellent position to export what would otherwise be wasted energy.” Read more here.
