“ A more accountable and circular data centre economy model ensures assets are being responsibly reclaimed , refurbished , resold and reused much closer to home ”
ANDREW GOMARSALL MBE EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN , N2S
“ In a linear economy , a data centre server is manufactured and , within around three years , it ’ s ready for decommissioning which typically means disposal and ending up in landfill or being burned ,” says Gomarsall . “ Often , still perfectly usable equipment is routinely discarded , and with almost 20 % of it going straight to landfill or incineration ( according to UN estimates ), far too much material , precious metals , earth materials and other valuable components are being wasted .” Globally , more than 50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated each year ( the equivalent of all the commercial aircraft ever built ). If nothing is done , that figure is expected to more than double by 2050 to around 120 million tonnes . “ The material value of all this waste is unimaginable ,” adds Gomarsall . “ For printed circuit board waste alone , the UN puts the figure at $ 62.5 billion per year . These discarded components contain up to 40 rare and precious metals including gold , silver , platinum , copper and palladium . Many of the materials used are in increasingly limited supply , or hard to access and are lost due to ritual processes with a detrimental effect to our planet . The irony is , a circular economy would drive better quality yields of material , for example , one tonne of iPhones would deliver 300 times more gold than a tonne of gold ore and 6.5 times more silver than a tonne of silver ore .”
Omega : single stack system by Aceleron datacentremagazine . com 69