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Environmental Product Declarations ( EPD ) across the industry . This allows designs and operators to know which items of equipment are the most efficient and low carbon intensity .
Yakov Danilevskiy , Vice President Strategy ,
Channels and Marketing , Schneider Electric
Increasingly , data centre operators and energy grid operators are entering into partnerships . The stable and continuous need for power from data centres allows them to sign long-term power contracts that can underpin the development of more renewable power . Power purchase agreements ( PPA ) give certainty to the RES market allowing more capacity to be brought safely online . storage systems ( BESS ), also being deployed . All of these contribute to greater resilience , allowing operators to reduce grid reliance where needed .
The impact of other resource use , such as water , is also of prime consideration .
The triple considerations of power ( PUE ), water ( WUE ) and carbon emissions must figure highly , while also thinking about how individual facilities will integrate into the local environment from an economic and social perspective , such as in district heating systems .
And , when all of these considerations are met , future proofing must be considered .
Modular architectures , created with digital design tools , leveraging best practices in design and the most efficient hardware from the outset , give designers the tools to create scalable facilities that embody all these principles . Initial design models can evolve into digital twins that can serve as useful sandbox environments . Here , new configurations , permutations and developments can be tested for impact and effectiveness before being implemented in a live environment .
Sustainability and energy efficiency
Despite rising electricity consumption in data centres attracting much media coverage , there is still strong evidence to suggest that relentless innovation has kept efficiency at a very high level . Data centre capacity globally has grown at around 17 % annually in recent years but energy consumption represents less than 2 % of total global energy demand .
Future workloads driving density
Even as new workloads emerge , such as the growing adoption of AI , others such as the likes of blockchainbased supply chains and next gen fintech , are likely to continue density trends associated with compute intensive workloads , with similar implications for space , power , and cooling .
According to Schneider Electric research , we estimate that in 2023 , AI consumption was of the order of 4.5 GW globally , but that will grow to between 14 and 18.7 GW by 2028 . AI power consumption was 8 % of total data centre power in 2023 but will grow to represent between 15 – 20 % in the same period . AI workloads were 95 % centrally deployed and 5 % edge in 2023 , by 2028 , we expect this to be on the order of 50 % central and 50 % edge deployed . All of these developments will impact how data centres are designed , deployed and operated .
Power supplies to racks and rows , as well as liquid cooling , are significant considerations for the transformation of existing facilities , and for the design of new ones . We have conducted extensive research in this area and produced a white paper with our findings that provides guidance on the four key AI attributes and trends that underpin physical infrastructure challenges in power , cooling racks and software management . The paper gives recommendations for assessing and supporting the extreme rack power densities of AI training servers , and guidance for achieving a successful transition from air cooling to liquid cooling to support the growing thermal design power ( TDP ) of AI workloads .
Maintaining that record of capacity and efficiency , data centre operators can scale with the right strategy , while prioritising sustainability and business goals .
To help with this , Schneider Electric was a signatory of the recent iMasons open letter advocating for the widespread adoption and implementation of
Complexity Risks
Gartner projects that by 2025 , 85 % of infrastructure strategies will integrate on-premises , colocation , cloud , and edge delivery options . Added to this , AI at the edge has some specific benefits regarding latency and bandwidth .
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