scte long read
Sandie Brodier is Global Sales/Purchasing & Partnerships Director at Rincon Technology in the US, and suggests the shift, while proactive, is reacting to global pressures we have all lived through in the past three years. She said, “We have experienced a massive turn-around in mentality, moving from the linear economy model to the circular economy model. The worldwide semiconductor chip shortages, delivery lead time issues and climate change urgency were all factors in driving the data centres to utilising secondary- market vendor circular economy pioneers like Rincon Technology.” There’s that joined-up thinking that was missing before. Sandie agrees. “The IT industry is now considering the entire lifecycle of IT and critical infrastructure equipment when building new data centres.” Nuclear fusion is the next chapter in the data centres story. Amazon Web Services recently announced the acquisition of a $650m nuclear powered data centre in Pennsylvania. There are plans in place for the UK’s first commercial grade fusion reactor, which is going to be built in Nottingham and should be live by 2040. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are in the planning stages on both sides of the Atlantic, though it will be 10-15 years before any of them are active. Despite the decades-old hysteria that has not kept pace with the innovation it’s worried about, nuclear fusion is a clean and renewable source of energy that John Booth feels is a massive game-changer. “If we go to fusion, then climate change is over.”
commonplace in 2024. Underwater data centres constructed at sea or in caves are also on the cards. There is still plenty of room for improvement. The industry continues to innovate and explore new technologies and practices to further reduce environmental impact and increase sustainability. However, if sustainability targets are at the peak of Mount Everest, by any metric we are still at base camp. That said, legislation has been passed in Europe now and corporate ESG targets are being set, met and often exceeded. Attitudes have shifted considerably over this time and even in the three years I have spent editing this magazine, it is clear sustainability is now considered an industry-wide priority, as opposed to an obligatory nod to keep those vegetarian cranks in the office happy, or worse, spouting the kind of marketing spiel we are all familiar with without anything to back it up. Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Virgin Media O2, is one of many companies we talked to doing impressive work. “As part of Virgin Media O2’s sustainability strategy, the Better Connections Plan, we have set a goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions across our operations, products and supply chain (Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions) by the end of 2040. Our net zero target has also been validated by the renowned Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and we became the first UK telco to be recognised by the Carbon Trust for our net zero plan, being awarded the Advancing Level of the organisation’s Route to Net Zero Standard.”
What progress so far?
Booth remains cynical about the direction of travel however, and while progress has certainly taken place, it isn’t nearly fast enough in his view. Susanna Kass, meanwhile sees things very differently. Founder of a US-based consultancy providing net zero solutions to the data centres industry, she is regularly fêted as one of the Top 10 Women in Sustainability Leaders, Top 10 Women in Data Centres and Top 50 Climate Change Thought Leaders. Broadband Journal reconnected with her to see what’s happened since we last spoke. “Today, the hyperscale cloud providers are leading the way with renewable energy power purchase procurement that no other industry has achieved in the past three decades; AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Meta-Facebook, and Apple are each responding to clean energy requirements with massive gigawatt scale renewable energy purchases.” Encouraging news, but as Booth pointed out, reporting from Big Tech is like reporting on global car emissions with a focus only on Formula 1. Reporting on other, smaller data centres is still far behind, though the new legislation will hopefully herald in a new era – honest reporting will be enshrined in law so the hope is that municipal buildings, schools, hospitals etc. will begin to do the same. The opinions of opposing industry experts may differ, but undeniable, well-publicised strides have been made in right direction. Data centres have increasingly adopted the use of renewable energy sources – wind, solar and hydro. A case in point: in 2021 we reported on a proposed data centre in South Wales designed by 20th century architects powered by an outrageous 60 diesel generators; that is still the case but now, the generators will only be used as a back up, should the renewable sources it relies on via the National Grid fail. Smaller data centres are popping up requiring less energy and designed with more efficient cooling systems in mind; immersed compute solutions, for example, where servers are submerged in dielectric fluid to capture and reuse the heat they are starting to proliferate. This waste heat can be used for other industrial processes, such as heating greenhouses or swimming pools. Green building practices, prioritising energy efficiency and sustainability are also more
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Volume 46 No.2 MAY 2024
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