design &
facilities Management
Some facilities, such as swimming pools
can utilise heat energy all year round.
LOCATING THE DATA CENTRE
Nick Carter, data centre services director at Ramboll, explores whether the location
of future UK data centres should be determined by the potential to recycle energy.
W
ith the introduction
of the Energy Reuse
Effectiveness (ERE)
data centre metric
by the Green Grid in
2011, and the exhaustion of the
Power Utilisation Effectiveness
(PUE) metric, we are witnessing
a shift in emphasis from both the
owners and operators of data
centres to recycling, rather than
just rejecting, heat energy.
For many years the challenge
for designers of data centres
has been to dissipate and reject
the heat generated as a by-
product of operating systems and
equipment that employ semi-
conductor materials.
To tackle this many of the IT
brands have sought to reduce
power use for their equipment.
In conjunction with better
server workflow management
and utilisation, a more
temperature tolerant product,
a shift in the environmental
operating envelope and effective
measures for heat dissipation
(in the form of ‘free cooling’),
these initiatives have led to
a significant reduction in the
energy consumption associated
with data centres.
However, energy consumption
of IT hardware continues to rise
simply because of the capacity
demands of the digital age, which
as a by-product produce vast
amounts of low grade heat energy.
The ability to recycle this ‘heat’
energy is receiving a greater focus,
not only in terms of commercial
returns and legislative compliance,
but more importantly in avoiding
the use of prime carbon producing
energy sources to heat building
space. There are however some
logistical challenges in realising
the potential from this waste
energy source, whilst also ensuring
May 2017 | 17