The Environmental Impact of Data Centers – Concerns and Solutions to Become Greener

Data centers undeniably carry a substantial environmental footprint. A recent report from Google show that despite significant investments in renewable clean energy, total greenhouse data center co2 emissions continue to rise exponentially from data centers.

This unrelenting increase is driven by increased consumption, supply chain emissions, and the expanding use of AI, all of which relies heavily on the intensive processing of data housed within data centers and hyperscale data centers. Alongside this escalating data center greenhouse gas emission impact also sits a staggering increase in e-waste generation, with a 2024 UN report indicating that e-waste is growing five times faster than documented recycling efforts.

With a greater spotlight on e-waste, evidenced by an ‘International E-Waste Day’ celebration established by the WEEE Forum, it’s important to explore how reducing e-waste from data centers can advance sustainability goals. Focus should be in tandem with raising awareness of the environmental impact of data centers, therefore promoting responsible recycling practices to support long-term sustainability.

What are Data Centers and how do they Function?

A data center is any facility that offers interconnected compute, processing, storage and networking capabilities provided from hardware devices housed within it. To operate, these systems also need dedicated power supplies and cooling systems. However, data centers vary greatly in types – private enterprise (company owned); co-located – or co-lo- (rented space within a larger data center); and increasingly, large cloud data centers owned by cloud service providers, sometimes at the top end, known as hyperscalers.

A data center’s primary function is to act as the IT infrastructure backbone to manage, process and store data essential for applications, cloud, online services and the digital economy at large. The main types of hardware assets housed inside are servers, storage devices and arrays, networking equipment, cooling units and power supplies – all of which need WEEE management and adherence.

Volumes of these data center assets vary depending on the size of the data center and its supporting function, ranging from small data centers, (one step up from dedicated server rooms), to massive hyperscale cloud facilities. (the largest recorded allegedly being the China Telecom data center in Hohhot that spans 1km² and can support more than 1 million servers!).

6 ways Data Centers Impact the Environment

Mid-sized data centers regularly accommodate tens of thousands of data center assets. Regardless of the data center size, data center efficiency should always be considered in the initial data center design and should be the number one consideration when looking at the data center environmental impact.

Businesses must actively encourage energy efficiency in data centers and investigate how to make data centers more sustainable. This also brings in other aspects of IT management processes, such as data center infrastructure management (DCIM).

DCIM is advocated for optimal data center infrastructure efficiency and for lowering impact on the environment through use of such processes such as virtualization to decrease server energy consumption.

Regardless of size, there are universal characteristics of data centers that create negative environmental impacts on the environment and that need to be addressed when trying to decrease data center footprints.

1. Enormous Data Center Power Usage

Topping the bill are the vast amounts of energy consumption used through powering data center assets.

Servers, storage and network equipment need constant operation, running alongside cooling systems to regulate optimal temperatures of around 20°C. This 24×7 data center power usage combined with the extra-ordinary growth of the sector has led to some equally shocking projections on data center emission growth.

In fact a recent Morgan Stanley research analysis noted that data center carbon emissions from hyperscale data centers will burgeon and by 2030, global data center greenhouse gas emissions will amount to 40% of what the US emits in a year.

2. Growing E-Waste Disposal

Compounding the situation on negative outputs from the sector are the increasingly high e-waste mountains. Data center procurement works on relatively short windows with short equipment lifespans. By serving the needs to power cloud and AI capabilities and meet competitive service levels, major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, AWS, continuously invest in the latest generations of hardware, equipped with the latest processing capabilities, efficiencies (ironically), and reliabilities.

As frequent upgraders of hardware, data centers often have a relatively short equipment lifespan timescale (between 3 -5 years). Such a rapid cycle of replacement can result in large quantities of discarded electronics that are deemed obsolete far earlier than required. (Not also forgetting that data centers often used highly specialized, custom-built hardware).

Luckily, there is an established and reputable secondary market for early recycling, even on bespoke, specialized assets.

3. Damaging Data Center Emissions

While there has been a sustained push towards sustainable, renewable energy sourcing, many data centers still rely on electricity generated from irreplaceable fossil fuels and directly contributing to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, worsening climate change.

4. Inefficient Water Usage

In environments where water is scarce/unpredictable, the amount of water used within data center cooling systems can create an imbalance that can strain and sometimes overwhelm local water resources, prompting vigorous debates in water-stretched regions such as the AI data center belt that has sprung up around Mesa, Arizona.

5. Cooling Systems Creating Micro-Climates

Data centres’ powerful cooling systems continuously release warm air into the local environment, and it’s feared that this continuous release cycle can create data center ‘micro-climates’.

This isn’t always negative. In the cooler climes for instance, such as Stockholm, this has become a force for good, with warmth repurposed and diverted to heat local homes and businesses.

6. Improper Disposal of Technology

We already discussed that the potential for improper e-waste disposal is high due to the sheer volume of assets in data centers. Improper disposal can release hazardous materials like lead, mercury and cadium into the environment, all present in circuit boards and processors.

Worse still, some developed countries have in the past, regularly shipped e-waste to developing countries, although the Basel Convention has aimed to eradicate this.

Data Center Energy Consumption Forecast

So what does the future hold for data center infrastructure efficiency? The aforementioned Morgan Stanley report made for grim headline readings that the global data center industry tech suppliers will create emissions equivalent to 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030, driven mainly through the growth of hyperscale data centers expanding their AI and cloud computing capabilities.

However, reversely, these are the very organizations leading the charge in the green data center market through innovative use of clean power, energy efficient assets, zero e-waste landfill and greener building materials. However, such is the growth in Cloud computing, crypto and AI, universally, growth in energy use looks set to rise in the data center sector by 80% (via the International Energy Agency).

7 Tips – How to Make Data Centers More Sustainable

So, hyperscalers and extreme-scale data centers to one side, what can you do to reduce your own data center carbon footprint and reduce e-waste? Here are 7 suggestions.

1. Use Renewable Energy

Consider renewable energy sources suitable to your geo conditions: Transitioning to renewable energy, (solar, wind) drastically offsets the carbon footprint of a data center.

These types of technology are now readily available in different sizes so its relatively easy to incorporate renewables like solar panels and wind turbines on-site to supplement power needs and work with your prevailing climate.

Plus, closely examine your existing energy supplier’s green credentials and note their sustainability goals and current investments away from fossil. Renewable energy credits can also be purchased to offset non-renewable energy usage.

2. Liquid Cooling Solutions

Check your cooling measures both for temperature systems and cooling within assets themselves.

Air conditioning is intensive, but temperatures above 25°C can be catastrophic in these settings, so consider methods such as liquid immersion cooling, direct to chip, and air-free cooling to increase heat transfer efficiency and reliance on water-intensive cooling systems.

3. Understand your Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)

Understanding the ratio of total power consumed to power used by computing equipment is the first critical step and understanding how you can achieve an ideal PUE (close to 1.0).

Once you have that ratio outlined, you can use it as a baseline from which to advance including using and increasing server virtualization and hardware efficiencies to reduce your data center power demands.

4. Check Energy-Saving Ratings

Like all electrical items, usually the most modern data center assets come with the greatest energy efficiency ratings, so it could be time to upgrade flagging parts of the estate in order to decrease the overall data center energy consumption tally.

5. Embrace Virtualization

Server, storage and network virtualization are established technologies that have been around for decades. It allows data center leads to dramatically cut their physical machine footprint by creating multiple virtual servers that can run off single nodes.

6. Sustainable Cloud Data Centers

Consider also that some loads can be transferred to the cloud, but instead of just shifting the problem elsewhere, check first that the cloud provider provides strong current and future sustainability guarantees.

7. Waste Heat Recovery and Recycle Water

Prioritise recycling and consider implementing the waste recovery of heat, by re-utilizing the heat by-product in turn to reheat office spaces and buildings nearby.

This same approach can be adopted by recycling of water within the cooling system and capturing rainwater for cooling purposes in future.

Building Energy Efficiency in Data Centers with Park Place Technologies

It’s evident that data centers need to operate more sustainably, however making that a reality can be difficult. By utilizing Park Place Technologies services, organizations take immediate, measurable steps toward environmental sustainability.

• Park Place’s third-party maintenance service greatly extends the life of hardware beyond OEM EOSL dates, reducing waste.
• Park Place’s liquid cooling solutions, including immersion and direct-to-chip cooling, improves data center PUE and drives down organizational sustainability costs.
• Park Place-owned Curvature re-furbishes hardware, keeping equipment out of landfills and extending the life of data center assets.
• Park Place ITAD services meet federal standards for disposal and destruction. All destruction services adhere to the NIST 800-88 & DOD 5220.22-M standards.
• Park Place ensures that any equipment that is not reused is recycled in the most environmentally responsible way. All materials are tracked throughout the recycling process. Recycling services are in compliance with EC WEEE regulations and all applicable laws and backed with a Certificate of Recycling.

Contact Park Place Technologies today to learn how we can help power organizational sustainability goals.