THE DATA CENTRE INTERVIEW
“ That means making design, cooling and workload decisions that remain efficient under sustained demand, rather than just current loads.”
He argues that organisations should also take a wider view of how digital infrastructure is integrated into society and systems such as energy and water supply.
“ Without this shift, operators risk optimising individual components in isolation while locking in inefficiencies that become increasingly difficult and expensive to reverse,” James explains.
Treating facilities as ecosystems requires coordination across power and cooling The ecosystem James describes approach centres on three areas: physical efficiency of data centres, workload efficiency and circularity in equipment reuse and recycling. But James says data centres interact with power and water supplies in ways that demand careful planning.
“ By thinking carefully about how these interactions take place, and focusing on the fundamentals, data centre operators can make explicit
24 March 2026