Cloud provider: Grid’s emissions

Context

Your company is planning a new high-performance data center. You can meet reliability goals in several ways—but each comes with different environmental consequences.

Dilemma

Do you:
A) Invest in cutting-edge infrastructure, lowering carbon intensity, but with higher upfront costs and complex logistics.
B) Stick with standard infrastructure and cheaper power options, saving on short-term expenses but locking in higher emissions over the long term.

Summary

The significant energy consumption required for powering servers and cooling systems leads to substantial greenhouse gas emissions, especially when reliant on fossil fuels.

A study assessed the environmental footprint of a theoretical 8650 m² data center in Italy with 5000 kW IT capacity, analyzing scenarios that vary energy sources, IT refresh rates, and physical infrastructure. The baseline scenario showed 677,724 tCO₂eq emissions over 10 years (925 kg/MWh). Optimizing server refresh intervals (Scenario 1) reduced emissions to 602,197 tCO₂eq, while upgrading infrastructure (Scenario 2) cut emissions by 28% (719 kg/MWh).

Resources:

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-024-02419-2