IT aside, the vast majority of power usage in a data centre is due to cooling and the need to relocate heat away from the CPU. Traditionally, air cooling is the go-to solution and makes up the vast majority of cooling solutions in the data centre world.
Data centre sustainability has been a priority within the industry for over a decade. Yet, today, data centres still account for 3% of the global electricity supply and 2% of overall greenhouse gas emissions.
This makes sustainability a priority for the higher education sector as institutions increasingly analyse how they power and centralise their IT operations.
We’ll discuss the sector’s primary sustainability issues and what can be done to address them.
It’s no great secret that data centres raise many environmental questions. According to Gartner, it’s predicted that 75% of data centres will employ some type of sustainability program by 2027.
Environmental concerns and cost optimisation drive the path toward sustainability. In short, it could be profitable to go green in today’s world.
So, what environmental issues must a data centre sustainability program examine?
Data centres consume vast amounts of energy to power their servers and associated infrastructure. This incredible energy demand impacts greenhouse gas emissions and places additional burdens on electricity grids worldwide.
As the industry grows, this is becoming an even bigger problem. Today, it’s estimated that data centres use more fossil fuels than the entire global aviation industry.
Data centres often draw their energy from non-renewable sources, such as coal and natural gas. Due to this energy need, data centres are directly responsible for significant carbon dioxide emissions. It’s why data centres emit 300 megatons of CO2 annually.
During their day-to-day operations, data centres generate massive amounts of heat. All these facilities require intricate cooling systems to maintain optimal conditions.
These cooling mechanisms require energy, and improperly designed cooling systems can lead to excessive wastage.
Water is often used as the primary medium for dissipating heat. In particular, large-scale data centres will use water-based cooling systems. This can tremendously strain local water supplies, especially in regions already facing drought conditions, such as California.
The technology behind the average data centre changes all the time, and this means that data centre owners and operators must constantly implement upgrades and replacements for their equipment. Over time, this creates a tremendous amount of electronic waste.
Did you know that many of a data centre’s emissions come directly from its construction?
Various materials and chemicals are used to bring a data centre to life. These include:
Improper management could lead to harmful substances making their way into the environment.
Where you build your data centre matters. Sometimes, data centres may require deforestation and disruption to local ecosystems to build. Unfortunately, large-scale data centres require massive amounts of space due to their physical infrastructure.
With these environmental issues in mind, do higher education settings need data centres to power themselves?
Higher education institutions rely on data centres for a variety of functions, and this is why schools, colleges and research labs often require data centres to reach their potential.
Some of the ways data centres work in higher education include:
Infrastructure Support – Data centres act as the underlying infrastructure necessary to control the IT systems of a higher education institution. Without these hardware components, keeping everything up and running would become impossible.
Data Storage/Backup – Data centres are designed to act as central repositories for all the digital data produced by students, faculty and administrative staff. They also offer robust disaster recovery functions.
Computing Resources – Additional computing resources are often required for the computational needs of higher education institutions, including High-Performance Computing (HPC) and complex data analysis.
Application Hosting – Higher education data centres may also use institutional applications, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS). Crucially, they are centrally managed, making a data centre essential.
Connectivity – Data centres do much more than house data and power applications. They also act as network hubs to unify your institution’s entire network infrastructure, guaranteeing high-speed connectivity at all times.
Higher education organisations face a range of challenges associated with data. This leaves sustainability a problem because the answer is not to scale back IT operations and infrastructure.
As you can see, data centres are necessary to function optimally in today’s day and age. It means all data challenges faced by higher education must be solved through the lens of sustainability.
So, what are the primary data challenges faced by higher education?
Silos – Higher education systems must prevent data from becoming fragmented and unintegrated.
Quality – Ensuring a high degree of accuracy and consistency across all systems is another major challenge.
Security – All institutions must meet the highest data security standards to protect students and staff. Moreover, security is a huge part of compliance with domestic and international regulations.
Governance – Governance pertains to how relevant stakeholders handle and manage data. These strict policies are required to create consistency and security across your institution.
Systems – The physical infrastructure powering your data is also a priority. If running an in-house data centre, or outsourcing, you must keep your finger on the pulse to ensure that you have the physical hardware that’s fit for purpose.
Despite these immense challenges, confronting the sustainability elephant in the room and meeting the basic standards of a world-class data centre is possible.
At Keysource, we specialise in designing and consulting on sustainable data centres for the higher education sector. Our expert team brings decades of experience to the table and an understanding of the unique needs of the education sector.
Now in it’s sixth year, Keysource’s State of the Industry Report 2023, focuses on the data centre trilemma: balancing speed, substance and sustainability. It’s packed with insights from over 250 data centre professionals, and it’s essential information for anyone involved in our industry.
The report highlights the trilemma the industry is facing in dealing with the competing and compelling challenges of developing and delivering on sustainability targets; the pressure to speed up project delivery to remain competitive; and the continuing supply chain and skills issues. This is against a background of rising costs and new EU and imminent UK Regulation changes.
”The pressure to speed up project delivery is perhaps the most concerning finding of the report with 75% of those surveyed identifying quality issues which could reasonably have been identified or better managed earlier as a result. Certainly, we are seeing some organisations prioritising speed above all else which is at best risky, especially considering our respondents’ strong concerns about getting the correct advice as the skills shortage continues to bite.
Jon HealyChief Operating Officer, Keysource
The report shows that the skills shortage continues with competing demand both ‘client side’ and within the supply chain for the same people. This is reflected by the fact that only a third of respondents are confident in the quality of the information that is being provided which negatively impacts the ability to make informed decisions. As a result, nearly half of respondents chose to sub-contract more projects or services than they had planned, as the industry turns even more to supply chain partners to keep to programme timescales. According to the majority of respondents this approach had a positive impact including better quality and quicker delivery, with the inevitable trade off of a higher cost.
There are some encouraging findings around sustainability with 69% of respondents having a seat at the table when discussing sustainability targets and over half having a separate ‘green budget’ that can be used for sustainable solutions and initiatives. However, this positive progress is at odds with the just 17% who consider sustainability to be a high priority and the fact that less than a third said they were making significant progress with their sustainability strategy – with over half still not having one at all! In addition, 64% of respondents haven’t evaluated the carbon impact of existing data centre services and solutions and 57% aren’t intending to evaluate future investments, meaning missed opportunities to make both carbon and financial savings.
”The inrush of available capital that we have seen enter the data centre market is reflective of its promising returns and the comparative performance of other markets. This is coupled with a relatively low risk given its resilience through recent years, which is overall very positive for the short and medium term of the industry. This said, these conditions can quickly change given the influences this sector has from a range of areas such as technology, regulation, energy resources, corporate governance, and a lack of skilled people.
So, whilst this year’s state of the industry report shows that the data centre and related sectors continue to grow despite these challenges and the current global unrest, political scepticism, and economic uncertainty, it also flags that a number of common challenges still remain and these are forcing decision makers to operate differently. Our industry has a clear trilemma and the need to solve all three are equally important!
Jon HealyChief Operating Officer, Keysource
Speak to our team today for tailored advice and guidance on creating and operating a data centre fit for the next generation of computing.
The Metropolitan Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in Greater London, and its 8.6 million residents. In line with its strategic 2020 vision the Met engaged Keysource to support the evaluation, design and delivery for a number of IT and technical requirements.
With a diverse data centre estate spread across the city, Leeds City Council needed an established partner that had proven expertise in managing and monitoring critical environments but also understood the critical nature of the applications and services the facilities support.
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