HYPERSCALE emissions credits . We can ' t avoid emitting carbon . You can ' t test your diesel backup generators once a month and not be emitting carbon . It ' s impossible .”
The idea that a company purchasing 100 % renewable power is 100 % carbon neutral is , at best , naive . At worst , it ’ s deliberately evasive . The challenge lies , Schedin explains , in a lack of true , nuanced examination of a company ’ s Scope 3 emissions - which he calls “ the next big hurdle for the industry ' s sustainability efforts .”
Going as Green as Possible EcoDataCenter is a solid contender for the title of “ world ’ s most sustainable data centre company ”. It even bills its flagship site in Falun , Sweden , as the world ’ s first “ climate positive ” data centre .
To give an idea of how EcoDataCenter can be climate positive in a world where even climate neutrality is a myth , Schedin breaks down the steps for getting as close as possible to a supposedly unattainable goal . “ First , your power supply should obviously be renewable , but you should also be as close to the source of that power generation as possible in order to minimise distribution losses ,” he says . “ Keep in mind that , in Sweden , the third largest consumer of power is distribution loss .” He adds that the Falun site is located more or less adjacent to the hydroelectric power plant that supplies most of its electricity .
“ THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CLIMATE NEUTRAL RENEWABLE POWER PRODUCTION ; EVEN RENEWABLE POWER COMES WITH EMBEDDED CARBON ”
LARS SCHEDIN SENIOR ADVISOR , ECODATACENTER
100 % renewable power will only get you so far , however . Schedin stresses that it ’ s imperative that data centre operators make use of the excess heat emitted by their servers . While he notes that it doesn ' t matter what you ' re connected to ( in the last year I ’ ve seen data centres hooked up to swimming pools , housing complexes , and even a lobster farm ), but “ you need some way to recapture , redirect , and reuse heat from your servers .”
EcoDataCenters ’ site redirects excess heat into a local district heating system . “ The combined heat and power plant where we redirect our excess heat is only 200 m away from our Falun data centre , so we can recapture a large portion of our emitted heat and use it to warm local homes very efficiently ,” Schedin says .
Additionally , excess heat that isn ' t needed by the district heating system is redirected to a sawdust pellet factory , which creates fuel that can be stored , sold to homes and industries in the wintertime , and burned for fuel .
“ We avoid a lot of emissions , both in our own operations and in the district heating system - because when it really gets cold , the district will peak its heating with oil or gas ,” Schedin explains . “ When we calculate our emissions , we also try to track exactly how many carbon emissions we ' re avoiding with things like heat recapture .” The result of using excess heat recapture and renewable energy , then , is that
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