Chicago CH1 data hall
Agility is key to meeting customers ’ demands As Papouchado describes , the data centre industry as a whole must evolve by embracing the sustainability challenge .
A forward looking approach to sustainability is further evidenced with Serverfarm ’ s water usage . Data centre cooling operations have used water for decades . In traditional evaporative cooling and other high-water use systems , a 40MW data centre could use 500 million gallons of water each year . With climate change associated droughts across the world leading to restrictions on water use , data centre operators must look to alternative solutions .
“ Cooling is becoming more efficient , and this efficiency is only going to increase as we transition from air cooling to directto-chip and different types of water cooling ,” Papouchado says .
With Serverfarm highly aware of water use within the data centre , Papouchado explains that the business minimises water use . Serverfarm engineers work constantly to reduce water usage wherever possible , for example , by utilising efficient closedloop systems .
“ All of our data centres are now adaptable to liquid cooling . Just like we have gone from 1kW racks to 60kW , we are moving from air cooling to technologies such
88 April 2024