EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
SHOULD THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE DATA CENTERS BE DEFINED BY THEIR ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY ?
This month ’ s news that Vertiv has unveiled the Vertiv EnerSav initiative reinforces the case for future data centers being built to ecologically sustainable standards . When a specialist global operator like Vertiv gets it , the debate doesn ’ t hedge bets . Now , surely , it ’ s only a matter of how .
The Vertiv service , available throughout Asia , Australia and New Zealand , is about data center optimization – essentially identifying cost saving opportunities by reducing energy consumption without the need for a major infrastructure overhaul .
But the mindset is moving toward building new centers to be defined by their ecological sustainability .
As one of the world ’ s largest data center hubs , Singapore , for instance , has been warned by one of its biggest business players that it could lose future demand to regional economies unless it expands its capacity for new centers in an environmentally friendly way .
Singapore ended a three-year pause on new data center projects last year and called for applications to build new facilities with higher green standards .
Despite its limited land size , Singapore ranks among the most desirable data center locations , tying with Silicon Valley for second place globally and ranking first in Asia , according to a study by Cushman & Wakefield , a real estate services company .
Singapore ’ s challenges prove particularly acute where year-round high temperatures and humidity require more energy to cool the stacks of servers . With over 70 facilities , data centers consume more than 7 % of the city-state ’ s total electricity .
Among the conditions for new applications , total allocated capacity is capped at 60 megawatts per year , which is much lower than the industry ’ s demand . And Singapore still accounts for some 60 % of Southeast Asia ’ s total data center capacity .
The global asset manager Keppel , headquartered in Singapore , wants authorities to raise the capacity to meet growing demand from big tech . Keppel ’ s key proposal is to build a data center development called Datapark +, which seeks to use spare shipping docks and operate on a green energy grid using hydrogen , which burns without emitting carbon dioxide . Keppel claims the park will have more data center capacity than has been constructed in Singapore over the past decade . In this , Keppel sets a strong example for seeing the way ahead .
The corporation is also developing new data centers with higher energy efficiency and planning to export them to other major data center hubs . One example is the floating data center that would both save energy and get past Singapore ’ s geographical constraints . Keppel partnered with Australia ’ s transport and logistics provider Toll Group in 2020 to study the feasibility of the floating data center . The facility will be constructed on an offshore platform and use seawater to cool servers , cutting energy needs . And approval has been acquired for the construction of a floating data center which , now at the final design stage , will also be part of the Datapark + project in the future .
Pushing its message wider , Keppel is looking over the next two years at other cities for its data center business . India , Japan and South Korea are leading candidates with strong demand from big tech .
32 INTELLIGENTCIO APAC www . intelligentcio . com