Green data center for the environment

neuCentrIX - 16/08/2022 10:00

The rise of internet users worldwide has brought the need for many data centers. Studies show that over half of all data centers have been built in the last ten years. However, while these data centers are the backbone of the internet, they come with many environmental effects. They require a lot of electricity to power their servers running 24/7, need many cooling resources, and contribute to carbon emissions. 

This means that there is a need for the development of green data centers which are more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In this article, we tell you what green data centers and their role in reducing data center impacts on the environment are. 

What is a green data center?

Like any regular data center, a green data center is a facility with many servers for storing, managing and transmitting data. However, it is more environmentally friendly and has a unique design to maximize power efficiency. While they have similar features as traditional data centers, their internal system settings are more technologically advanced. This makes them have lower energy consumption and emit less carbon footprint while in use. 

A green data center contains a series of infrastructure that requires added support. This support can be provided by equipment such as cloud services, data protection security, and colocation services. Cloud service is among the most critical assets that most data centers require. However, some also rely on third-party internet carrier service providers. 

There has been a recent rise in the number of green data centers worldwide as countries continue to fight against climate change. By 2021, the green data center market cap was valued at around $59.33 billion. The green data center market is projected to grow by 23.6% by 2026. This shows how data centers are shifting from traditional energy sources to more sustainable ones by increasing green data centers. 

Why a green data center?

The need for people to make more green data centers has been brought about by many impacts brought by regular data centers. Every data center contains thousands of servers constantly working to fulfill data requests by people on the internet. But in the process, they use a lot of electricity – which is in most cases generated from unsustainable sources. 

Data centers consume up to 2% of the world's electricity demands and contribute 0.3% of the total carbon emission. With green data centers, we can highly reduce this amount of pollution. 

Role of green data centers for the environment 

Green data centers have a significant role to play as far as environmental conservation is concerned. Here are a few benefits they bring. 

  • Energy-saving: Green data centers have more advanced equipment that requires less energy. This means there will be a reduced dependence on nonrenewable energy sources. 
  • Cost efficiency: Green data centers use renewable energy, so they reduce the cost of running the entire facility. 
  • Environment sustainability: Green data centers emit less carbon footprint. This means they will be more sustainable and help fight against climate change. 

The development of green data centers is a major step towards the reduction of environmental pollution. They lower electricity usage, reduce carbon footprint and make data centers more cost efficient.