LOGO

As the Earth is threatened by climate change, the entire world is accelerating its movement toward carbon neutrality.

Recently, many executives may have become interested in achieving ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) goals.

For those who are interested in ESG, we would like to introduce sustainable innovations and initiatives by companies that handle data centers, which require a lot of energy for power, air conditioning, and other operations.

・Microsoft

The company announced the opening of its newest sustainable data center in Sweden.

The data center region is committed to reducing its carbon footprint, achieving zero waste certification, and operating on 100% carbon-free energy.

The fuel used in this data center is the world’s first Nordic Ecolabeled fuel, which contains more than 50% renewable raw materials and reduces carbon dioxide emissions nearly as much as standard fossil fuels.

This saves energy, water, and other resources, and reduces waste generation, making the facility a true embodiment of ESG goals.

A rainwater harvesting method has also been developed to provide water for humidification in data centers.

This method involves collecting rainwater at the data center and using it for equipment within the data center.

Other data center servers are cooled year-round with 100% outside air, contributing to ESG goals.

Swedish data centers are among the most sustainably designed and operated in the world, said Elaine Barnekow, general manager of Microsoft Sweden.

They have also launched a data center region in Arizona, USA, called “West US 3”.

As part of the theme of going carbon negative by 2030, this region has entered into a green energy power purchase agreement for the electricity used in all of its data centers.

To make this policy a reality, Microsoft has built the 150-megawatt Sun Streams 2 solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant.

Keep an eye on the future developments of Microsoft.

・NTT

NTT Smart Connect plans to introduce a variety of energy-saving equipment at its Sonezaki Data Center (tentative name), which will be opened in April 2022 in the Dojima proximity area.

As for the breakdown of power consumption in a typical data center, it has been found that cooling equipment-related accounts for about 45%. They are trying to maximize the cooling capacity with an all-in-one package that includes a control panel and automatic control equipment.

In addition, it is a unique design that does not require a blowout chamber for construction, and by reversing the fan and cold water coils, it is possible to equalize the pressure in the fan room.

Therefore, it rectifies the airflow passing through the coil, making it possible to equalize the wind direction and wind speed distribution of the blown airflow.

They have also introduced our own high-efficiency EC fan that reduces power consumption by about 50%, and we can see a positive attitude toward energy conservation.

・Kyocera Communication System

The company aims to open a data center that uses renewable energy directly in Ishikari City, Hokkaido.

Plans are underway to send electricity directly from solar and wind power plants to the data center, and to use snow accumulated in the winter to cool the data center in the summer.

・Sony Group

The Sony Group has developed an image sensor equipped with AI that can reduce power consumption in data centers.

The captured images are processed by AI, narrowed down to the necessary information, and sent to the data center. This is an epoch-making mechanism that reduces the network load and power consumption compared to sending image data as it is shot.

In addition to the above, sustainable data center initiatives are progressing rapidly around the world.
Keep an eye on future data center trends.

We hear that the enormous amount of power consumed by data centers have a significant impact on investment sentiment to data centers.
It is critical to realize power supply generated by a sustainable and reliable renewable energy system.
　
Underwater power generation has the potential to be one of the solutions to this issue.
Unlike tidal power generators, the “Kaireyu” ocean current power generation system, which is in the stage of commercialization in 10 years, is an experimental machine designed to utilize energy from ocean currents. The current for generation moves slower, but exists more widely in the ocean.
This means that we can install more generators and can get renewable power in more sites.
Ocean current power generation is much more efficient than wind power generation, and not intermittent as solar power generation. Japan is not an ideal area for solar power generation, and it is difficult to install tidal power generators because of active exercises by the navies near Japan.
This report says that these troublesome give Japanese researchers more opportunities for this project.