Data Center Sustainability Trends

La región latinoamericana se está convirtiendo en un importante centro de interconexión de datos, según Arizton, the construction of Data Centers will reach a growth of 6% which represents about USD 73 billion by 2027, a figure driven by important investments in countries such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Perú.

The increasing resource consumption of these data centers has highlighted the need for more sustainable and responsible management that includes the use of renewable energy, adopting more efficient cooling systems and meeting high standards in sustainability.

"More and more governments and different social actors demand from our industry a response to sustainability. Regulations and change processes, although not usually linear or simple, represent an opportunity to provide better conditions to meet the growing demand for mission-critical facilities," said Juan Carlos Londoño, Pre Sales Director of Ingenium.

Sustainability reports are increasingly latent, there are already legal initiatives that will force the industry to report its "green" policies and the data that supports them. These actions precede legislation that could soon be generalized for the data center industry.

Towards energy sustainability 

According to Statista the annual average PUE for Data Center in 2022, a metric defined by The Green Grid to measure the energy efficiency of data centers, was 1.55, which represents a slight increase compared to the 2021 index which was 1.57.

And while data center operators aim to keep their PUE ratio as close to 1 as possible, this is just one variable of the multiple factors that determine sustainable trends in the industry.

Below, we will list some energy trends that are demonstrating high savings and optimization of these facilities

• Energy efficiency: Energy efficiency remains the main concern in the sustainable management of data centers. Data center operators are implementing more efficient cooling technologies, such as free-cooling and optimizing power distribution within the data center. free-cooling such as free-cooling and optimizing power distribution within the data center.
• Renewable energy: The adoption of renewables, such as solar and wind, is increasing worldwide, and data centers are no exception. Many data centers are installing solar panels and wind turbines on-site or purchasing renewable energy from renewable energy suppliers.
• Sustainable data center design: newer data centers are being designed to be more energy efficient and sustainable. These data centers have more advanced cooling technologies, more energy-efficient IT equipment, energy management systems, and sensors that optimize their operation.
• Energy management Data center energy management is becoming increasingly sophisticated, using management software to monitor consumption in real time and optimize usage throughout the data center.
• Server virtualization and consolidation: Server virtualization and consolidation can significantly reduce the amount of energy needed to keep servers running. By combining multiple servers into a single virtual machine, data centers can reduce the amount of energy needed to power and cool servers.

In short, data centers are working hard to improve efficiency and adopt sustainable technologies to reduce their environmental impact. From adopting renewable sources to implementing advanced management systems, data centers are doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to global energy sustainability.

An expert look

Ingenium spoke with Isaac Jiménez, Operation Director of Stulz Mexico, about some relevant aspects in terms of sustainability for the industry and these are his perspectives:

What is the main constraint that data center developers in Latin America face in adopting sustainable practices?

"The main challenge facing data center developers in Latin America are twofold:

1.- The initial cost (CAPEX) for air conditioning solutions with sustainable technologies are more expensive at first, however, this initial extra cost has a return on investment over the years coupled with the impact on the environment that can be obtained.

2.- The ignorance of new technologies, in Latin America we have a natural fear to evaluate and test new technologies even when they are ecologically more optimal compared to solutions that have been used for more than 30 years”.

How do good sustainability practices influence the data center to obtain an Uptime or ICREA certification?

"The fact of following good practices positively influences to obtain a certification since the certifications are mainly aimed at the availability and efficient use of any energy”.

What is the importance of integrating sensors and monitoring solutions to optimize data center energy processes?

"The more variables we can measure in the Data Center, the more information we have to make better decisions during operation, for example: the fact of integrating temperature sensors at several points within the clean room and not only in the return of the machines influences the decision making of precision air conditioners to be more accurate in their cooling therefore saving on their consumption energetic".

How can a Data Center be designed using high-efficiency technologies?

"The first step to be able to design Data Centers using high efficiency technologies is to know them, Data Center users must base with recognized designers in the environment since they are the ones who are constantly updated and know the best practices to be able to implement them".

Why maximizing data center cooling results in better energy outcomes?

"As mentioned in previous documents, precision air conditioners consume between 35% to 45% of all the energy of a Data Center, it is the second consumer after IT load, any positive impact we make on energy savings is highly measurable since consumption is high, that is why you should mainly look for savings in air conditioning. "