This season, consider a gift that improves the world while also delivering long-term improvements to your data center. At a time when energy use is on an increasing number of agendas, sustainable data centers make the perfect present!

Data center sustainability involves greater energy efficiency. By using electricity and other resources more carefully, a green data center reduces its effects on the environment. That same care with resources also lowers costs and drives superior performance.

In total, data centers already use around 1–2% of global electricity. This percentage is rapidly increasing, putting pressure on the industry to find more sustainable solutions. As data centers surpass other industries in energy use, they can no longer get away with inefficient practices.

Sustainability is rising to the top of corporate agendas, with most data centers competing to become more sustainable. This comes in response to the damage already caused to the environment. In addition, governments are increasing regulations, which will continue to push sustainability into more data centers.

Now you can make your data center more sustainable with Green Revolution Cooling’s (GRC) liquid immersion cooling. This technology uses 95% less electricity than regular air cooling. In fact, it’s such a game-changer that this one move will make huge inroads for your organization’s green computing goals.

Why You Need a Sustainable Data Center

Sustainable data centers meet the needs of both the present and the future. By managing resources such as electricity and water, you can serve customers in a way that keeps the data center operating profitably for years.

Each data center requires resource inputs to convert into the computation that customers buy. A sustainable data center needs less input, so it saves you money and leaves energy sources untapped for later. Electricity is one of the main expenses that worry data centers, with cooling and IT equipment as the two biggest users of electricity.

Green data centers have numerous advantages over conventional data centers. In addition to lower operating costs, they need less real estate, which also lowers your capital expenses. Sustainable facilities also use less water and produce fewer carbon emissions.

These aren’t the only benefits. Sustainable data centers with liquid immersion cooling systems can also reuse waste heat. Technology such as GRC’s immersion tanks will transfer server heat into a liquid that you can recycle to heat a building’s air and water, among numerous other applications. This would not have been practical with traditional air-cooled data centers.

Data centers should also work on their sustainability to comply with growing government regulations. Some areas—particularly in Europe—already have stringent requirements, and the global direction is toward green regulations. Voters increasingly favor sustainability, and data center customers add pressure through their purchase decisions.

How to Make Your Data Center Sustainable

There are several approaches you can take to make sustainable data centers. One of the easiest and most effective is to install liquid immersion cooling. This technology performs much better than air cooling while using less electricity and water.

Another way immersion cooling helps sustainability is to reduce electronic waste (e-waste). GRC’s liquid coolant protects equipment against corrosion, dust, and overheating. And since you don’t need server fans any more, the system also reduces vibrations. All these defenses extend the life of hardware.

Using renewable energy will also contribute to a data center’s sustainability. When burned, traditional fossil fuels emit carbon that has been stored in the earth. The fossil fuel itself then becomes gradually exhausted. By contrast, if you use renewable resources like wind and solar power, you eliminate these problems.

By measuring your resource use, you can evaluate how well or poorly your practices are working to create a green data center. For instance, there are standards including the power usage effectiveness (PUE), carbon usage effectiveness (CUE), and water usage effectiveness (WUE) metrics. Each of these calculates how your data center uses a resource, revealing which practices are most successful.

You can also work to attain sustainability certifications such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Each certification requires you to meet efficiency standards, so your data center will become more sustainable in the process of qualifying.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to create sustainable data centers. For example, automation can make almost any process more efficient, so you could use artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize your energy use. It’s also a good idea to use efficient technologies such as LED lights and lithium batteries in backup supplies.

Companies That Have Gone Green

Some big names in tech have already switched to sustainable data centers. As a result, they’re seeing benefits such as smaller electricity bills and less waste. Resources now go toward meeting customer demands instead of spilling into the environment.

For instance, graphics card giant Nvidia is famous for power-hungry graphics processing units (GPUs). Now, it’s making energy-efficient cards for data centers with liquid cooling technology. Liquid transports heat far more efficiently than air can. The major server suppliers will support Nvidia’s liquid-cooled cards.

Intel, a member of GRC’s Global Alliance Partners, is another company that has been struggling with growing power use. Today, it is addressing this challenge with a $700 million project for sustainable data center cooling.

Web stalwarts Google and Facebook are making their global data center infrastructure green as well. Google is working to eliminate carbon from its energy sources, and Facebook has moved to entirely renewable resources with zero net emissions.

Join the Sustainable Data Centers Using Immersion Cooling

More and more companies are upgrading to sustainable data centers thanks to a growing desire from customers, regulators, and stakeholders to go green. Using sustainable technology like liquid immersion cooling also benefits your company through lower costs and higher performance.

Learn all the advantages of liquid immersion cooling in the Guide to Sustainability Metrics with GRC’s ICEraQ™—Going Beyond the Traditional Data Center.

Many companies have already transitioned to sustainable data centers. The benefits are clear and the trend is growing. Join the green revolution to protect the environment and boost profits. Contact GRC today for the gift that keeps on giving.