The Dark Side of Data Centers
Watch the episode on YouTube right here!
The traditional way of looking at Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), doesn’t fit data centers. You can see why they would overlook them when there isn’t a huge amount globally – maybe only 11,000. But their impact is potentially huge. 3 to 4% of all carbon from energy use, comes from this small amount of data centers.
We created a podcast episode; “The Dark Side of Data Centers” with KOSMOS Senior Specialist (MEP, Cost & Carbon), Roger Barkley. Join us when we discuss data centers and the huge issues concerning sustainability.
Data centers are powering everything from social media to cloud computing.
It’s the backbone of our digital world.
However, they come with significant and complex sustainability challenges. Did you know that data centers are responsible for 1 to 2% of all CO2 emissions? And as previously mentioned; up to 3 to 4% of all carbon from energy use?
These are huge figures, and it will only continue growing.
That’s why, in today’s podcast, we’ll explore these challenges and the innovative solutions. We will uncover the data centers and learn practical steps that stakeholders can take in order to minimize the risks and their environmental impact.
Because, we need to be aware of the impact we make. Especially, when we introduce more and more AI into the world.
In the following article, we’ll discuss:
- Energy consumption and physical waste
- The lack of reusing combined with unfitting LCA
- New solutions come with new dynamics
Let’s get started!
Energy consumption and physical waste
It seems ironic that in times with such a focus on sustainability, we keep increasing our power consumption.
Especially, with the introduction of AI.
We’re trying to make buildings more energy efficient. We do this, partly, by introducing more data. But the data centers consume a huge part of the green energy we’re creating in the grid. Potentially forcing us to burn fossil fuels to keep up with the demand.
When you have huge demand of energy from the grid, it will consume all the green power and we’ll have to make up for it with dirtier ones.
The politics concerning green energy isn’t good enough.
The data centers we have right now may not be able to qualify for the future. If the governments and the industries want more AI, then they’re going to have to retrofit the centers or stop at a certain configuration.
There’s a lot of dark sides to data, and we haven’t even started discussing the physical waste produced every year.
What about the physical waste?
– Tons of IT waste are produced every year as a result of a small amount of data centers worldwide.
– The servers in the racks have a short lifespan. They’re replaced on average every three years. It’s not because they’re broken, but they’re technically obsolete.
– A big part of this physical waste problem that people aren’t seeing, is the replacement rate of equipment.
Let’s take a closer look at this physical waste problem.
The lack of reusing combined with an unfitting LCA
In the ideal world, we would have a circular economy. We would expand the lifespan of something by reusing it.
The reuse options of a circular economy:
1. We will have the least amount of waste if someone else is able to use the product as it is.
2. Otherwise, we can adjust the product which will make it useable in another context than previously.
3. The bottom of the rung is to break it down into raw materials and to reuse these instead of mining new ones.
4. The worst part is complete disposal. Maybe we can burn it to get some kind of energy? Or is it just dumped waste?
But with the server replacements in the data centers, there doesn’t seem to be a secondary market.
We’re not reusing.
We’re not expanding the lifespan.
All the best circular economy solutions are bypassed currently. And we go straight to recycling or throwing it in the bin. If we actually recycle it, it’s only a small proportion of the entire product we’re able to work with.
Sadly, this is not the only issue with data centers.
Another issue being, that many countries ignore stages like B7 when calculating LCAs – which is water consumption.
But water is a huge part of these centers and in general production-based buildings.
So the traditional way of looking at LCA doesn’t fit this.
How can we improve it?
New solutions come with new dynamics
It’s not something we can address later on.
Already in the design process of the building, we have to be aware of these challenges. We have to be aware of steps like B7 but also B6. We need to differentiate LCAs between people buildings and production-based buildings.
Right now, we only use LCA like we would on people based buildings thinking this will apply on the production-based too.
We need to change these LCA standards to match production-based buildings.
It’s not only the politicians who are capable of doing this. It’s also the people. People have to create pressure on the politicians. Data center owners, like Google and Facebook, have to stand up and create changes before fingers are pointed at them.
They should really be pragmatic and start looking for the cost effective solutions just to give themselves that protection of their brand.
Obviously, if they wait too long, and other companies are updating, they may suffer in the marketplace. There should be a desire to do something cost effective about all these things.
It’s cheaper to plan ahead rather than retrofitting later on.
But the problem is that the Construction Industry is not used to moving at such a fast pace.
The entire industry have to accept that this is a new dynamic situation. It has to think proactive and dynamically. Because, we need to be this proactive to get ahead of the curve. And to get the projects into the right setting for fulfilling the sustainable requirements.
Let’s plan ahead right now.