A VICIOUS CYCLE
CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS
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“ [ Data centre operators must find a way ] to satisfy their insatiable need for energy , while being mandated to drastically reduce emissions ”
— Brendan Marren , Centrica
caveat that the industry ’ s growth comes part and parcel with the issue of its appetite for electricity . “ Continued expansion also presents a major complication : data storage is already one of the planet ’ s most energy-intensive industries and its growth is only set to rise as the need for server space increases .” According to Centrica ’ s own research , by the year 2040 , data centres will be responsible for a full 20 % of the world ’ s energy usage , compared to a mere 3 % in 2017 .
Marren notes that each year the UK ’ s data centre industry alone is estimated to consume between two and three terawatt hours of electricity , a figure he doesn ’ t see falling on its own , as the country ’ s digital infrastructure continues to develop . By 2025 , a recent report estimates that the UK ’ s data centre industry will exceed $ 8.4bn in size – exceeding the combined value of the entire African data centre industry by almost $ 2.5bn . At the same time , the UK government has committed to an environmental target of net zero by 2050 and , while this is neither the harshest deadline imposed by a government as part of its climate strategy , nor likely to be fast enough to avert a climate catastrophe , it ’ s a deadline that the UK data centre industry will find hard to beat , according to Marren . “ This combination of environmental pressure and growing concern over a consistent electricity supply puts data centres in an acute position – needing to satisfy their insatiable need for energy , while being mandated to drastically reduce emissions ,” he adds .
A VICIOUS CYCLE
In addition to its big picture contributions to climate change , the carbon impact of the data centre industry also threatens to make its own road towards sustainable practice even harder , further compounding the
DECEMBER 2020