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The temperature management conundrum is made even more complicated by the variety of approaches to maintaining the necessary temperatures and the cost implications of implementing many of these solutions. Recent investments in the Nordic countries’ European data traffic hub to benefit from the cold temperatures and the resulting cost savings for its cooling system is a good reminder of how expensive data centre cooling can be.
The real cost of cooling
Historically, the cost of energy and data centre cooling has not been on the radar of decision makers and not always considered in Total Cost of Ownership models. However, the ongoing data revolution and the increasing importance of where and how that data is stored means it can no longer be ignored. A recent report suggests that by 2025, data centres will consume one fifth of all the electricity in the world. Much of this energy usage comes from large industrial equipment such as pumps, chillers and cooling towers used to artificially regulate data centre temperature. However, regardless of how effective these solutions can be, the fact that data centres will always need to invest significant amounts into maintaining and improving their efficiency makes them quite unsustainable.
As the demand for data centre capacity continues to rise, the financial impact of data centre cooling solutions is becoming more evident. Funds that could be invested into increasing capacity and improving performance are inadvertently going towards cooling the data centre.
Greener data centres through natural cooling
The need for businesses and individuals to be connected 24/7 means that data centres will continue to play a pivotal role. And with the rising cost, many data centre operators are now realising that this level of energy consumption cannot continue to rise indefinitely and are taking steps to make their facilities more energy-efficient. The Green Grid, a non-profit consortium working to improve data centre energy efficiency, has published a survey of data centres, mostly in the US, that shows that almost half are now using natural cooling to save energy and cost. Another quarter are considering doing the same in the near future.
With many modern servers able to operate at a temperature of 27°C, natural air cooling has become a more viable option. Natural cooling is a growing trend for data centres who strive to reduce power costs and carbon emissions. And it doesn’t have to be in extreme weather conditions like early iterations of the solution used to be. For example, the professional services and business consulting company, Capgemini recently opened a data centre in Swindon, United Kingdom which is said to deliver 80% savings in running costs and reduces carbon emissions by 50%.
What does natural cooling look like
Natural cooling requires more than just opening a few extra windows. It involves a complex process of filtering outside air to provide the needed level of air temperature to keep the data centre cool.
There are many approached to natural cooling. For example, there’s the free-air cooling system which draws in air through filters to remove any particles or impurities. This system measures the moisture content and processes it through drying or by adding small amounts of additional moisture as required. Even if air is at the right temperature, having impurities or the wrong level of humidity could cause problems in the data centre.
Other approaches to natural cooling use heat wheels that exchange the heat from the data centre with cooler outside air. This is done through large metal surface areas and a superior thermal mass of metal to improve overall heat exchange. These systems bring a considerable amount of external air into the data centre, which requires filtering and moisture controlling.
There are other forms of natural air cooling and each systems has its advantages, all closely related to the overall architecture of the data centre you are operating in.
Making of the data centres a sustainable option
With global cloud data centre traffic projected to reach 19.5 zettabytes (ZB) per year by 2021 - up from just 6 ZB in 2016 – the need for data centre capacity looks like it will continue to rise at a steep rate.
With this expected growth and the demands that will come with it, decision makers cannot afford to ignore sustainable ways of managing their data centres. To carry on growing, the data centre industry will have to turn to sustainable method of energy production and consumption, starting by the main energy cost: cooling.
