Efficient and effective data centre cooling technologies boost sustainability
Digital services have rapidly become the backbone of any business. Nowadays, businesses rely on computing resources such as searches, data transfer, SQL queries and delivery of computing services to sustain, grow and improve customer experience. Millions of business customers are performing these tasks all over the world, and in some cases at the same time. With all these IT servers’ requirements, a considerable amount of power is required, and the heat that is produced in this case is huge. To get the perspective as far as the amount of heat that is generated in the process is concerned, think about your computer when you work; the components can get extremely hot that you can’t touch them, therefore you need internal fans to disperse the heat constantly. When you talk about the numerous server rooms with stacks of aisles and aisles of machines, then the heating problem becomes significant.
How to cool the servers effectively
To function optimally, servers need to be cooled at all times. Failure to manage airflow and heat in a data centre can lead to disastrous effects. As per definition, a cooling system regulates a number of parameters in a modern data centre such as temperature, energy use, cooling performance, and fluid flow characteristics, leading to the achievement of maximum efficiency.
Benefits
- With proper and effective cooling technologies, equipment in a data centre will stay online. Overheating can damage the servers leading to knock-on effects for the data centre itself and business customers.
- While data may not travel faster in cooler rooms, it travels faster than it would over crashed servers. Since data centres can develop some hot spots, coming up with a new solution can be done efficiently. Using efficient cooling technologies can efficiently change the way cold air is utilised in the data centres. Overall, this enables greater efficiency in scaling up a data centre.
- Data centre equipment that constantly overheats normally fails before they get to its expected end of life. Therefore, having an efficient data cooling technology such as liquid immersion starts paying off immediately. Your hardware submerged in a dielectric liquid will last longer and with this, the business will spend a relatively less amount when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure, it’s predicted to be up 40% longer. With this incentive, a business should strive to move towards green IT solutions rather than increasing electronic waste which comes with the constant replacement of data centre infrastructure.
Data centre cooling concerns
Data centre cooling brings some significant impact on the planet and therefore business. First, the cost of cooling infrastructure (air-conditioning units, condensers, compressors, evaporators, and humidifiers) installation can be quite prohibitive. Secondly, the amount of energy needed to run these units and IT servers is enormous. It means that businesses have to spend a considerable amount to cater to the power bills. Also, the fact that most of the power is generated using non-fossil fuels, means increased demand for energy and increases the carbon footprint of the IT systems.
However, there is hope. Tackling the energy and cooling requirements of a data centre can be addressed by the adoption of renewable energy coupled with efficient data centre cooling technologies such as liquid immersion cooling.
Data centre cooling is an important component in digital transformation. When done effectively, it significantly reduces the IT sector’s carbon footprint. Businesses should use effective cooling technologies to ensure the sustainable use of digital services.
