Green data centres – a step towards climate neutrality

Cloud service providers and data centre operators face significant challenges in reducing their environmental footprint, mainly by reducing carbon emissions. This is due, among other things, to European Union plans and rising energy prices.

The European Union has set ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions by 2030, which requires changes to data centre operations, and aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. For this reason, data centre operators are increasingly turning to green solutions.

Time for change

Data centres worldwide consume 416 terawatts of energy per year or around 3 per cent of total energy demand. By 2030, however, this percentage will reach 8 per cent, more than doubling. It is no wonder that data centre operators are looking for innovative ways to effectively manage energy consumption, optimise energy use and seek greener energy sources – says Mateusz Borkowski, Deputy Technical Director DC of Polcom.

The movement towards greener data centres is motivated, among other things, by the EU CSRD directive, which requires companies to report on non-financial elements and the organisation’s environmental impact. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reports can significantly impact investment decisions and investor relations.

How to save energy?

Efficient resource management, the use of energy-efficient technologies and the development of in-house sources of green energy, such as photovoltaic farms, are priority initiatives for cloud providers in their quest for sustainability and minimising their carbon footprint.

Finding ways to save energy in the data centres themselves is also an important issue. 39 percent of the total energy consumed by the average data centre is spent on cooling. Therefore, the introduction of innovative technologies, such as free cooling or the use of excess waste heat to heat office spaces, can result in significant savings.

Changes to data centre infrastructure and green retrofits are not only a step towards sustainability but also a response to growing customer expectations and market regulations. Cloud service providers, like Polcom, are making efforts to introduce greener solutions, which contribute to both competitiveness and environmental improvements.