The Unsustainable Data Center

I’m proud to say that we do many things very well in the digital infrastructure industry. We build global capacity at scale. We drive efficient operations by removing waste and streamlining operational practices. We deal with extreme supply chain constraints.  We build businesses that attract massive capital investments and deliver consistent results. We come together to tackle global challenges such as climate change through efforts like the iMasons Climate Accord. Bottom line, we build the underlying engine that enables the internet of everything for every person and machine on the planet. That is a big responsibility and I know that everyone takes it very seriously.

While there are innumerable accomplishments to celebrate and we are making progress, I would be remiss not to address the elephant in the room. Our industry has accepted certain assumptions that are holding us back from achieving net-zero.

SOIREE IN SCOTLAND

In September of 2023, I had the privilege of attending the Power Down, Getting Green conference in St Andrews Scotland hosted by Schneider Electric and Kohler. 60 executives gathered together to focus on driving sustainability in data centers. The event was kicked off by our hosts Rob McKernan from Schneider Electric and Charles Hunsucker from Kohler. They challenged the group to step away from the daily grind and dig in. Engage. Share. Debate. Ultimately, find out what we can do together. It started with a presentation from Robert Swan OBE, on the art of the impossible. He shared his story on being the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles.

Over this exclusive three day event attendees collaborated in different sessions including understanding scope 3 emissions led by Louis Liu and Alex Rako, on-site energy led by Stuart Sheehan, Francisco Morgocz and Adam Wray-Summerson, off-site energy led by Kevin Melville, Joe Kava, and Chris Pennington, sustainability reporting led by Utaukwa Allen, Charlie Evans, Anna Timme and a compelling introduction to the Wyoming Hyperscale White Box data center led by Michael Bell.

On the final day, I had the pleasure of leading a working session with Joe Reele on sustainable data center design.

Over the previous two days, the group had participated in content-rich discussions led by attendees on different aspects of forging the path to Net-Zero. For our session, we decided to be a bit controversial. We were aware that this was a seasoned group of industry professionals with global experience. They’ve dealt with the challenges of operating data center infrastructure at scale for nearly every type of customer in every global environment. Bottom line, they have been there and done that.

Our goal was to get them out of their comfort zone by being contrarian. We wanted to challenge them to think differently. We then wanted them to dig into the topic and apply their knowledge and experience on how we may be able to solve it.

How did we do that? We reversed the standard approach. We presented the Unsustainable Data Center.  The industry assumptions that are holding us back from achieving net zero.

Prior to the event, Joe and I compiled thirteen assumptions across six areas – data center design, operations, supply chain, tenant usage, sustainability and local community impact. This was the contrarian part. The assumptions were presented as facts that we all live with. Meaning, the majority of the industry has accepted these assumptions and do not believe they can change.

1. All Workloads Require High SLAs
   Customers (Procurement, Operations and Engineering) require it so I have no choice.
2. Data Centers Require Generators
   The utility will fail for long durations so we have no choice but to use generators as backups.
3. Building New Data Centers Will Change Local Ecosystems.
   We have no other way to build. We have to bulldoze the land to build big concrete buildings.
4. My Data Center Design is Different Than My Peers
   My company is unique. I could adopt a standard data center design as long as it’s mine.  But, I can’t share it.
5. I Need 48 hrs of On-Site Energy
   Current energy storage solutions cannot achieve this so I have to use generators to handle grid outages.
6. Diesel Is The Most Reliable Backup
   HVO is not a viable fuel for generators. Less output, less efficiency, lack of supply, delivery and support in the right areas.
7. Micro Grids Are Not Viable
   Power generation is a utility issue. Microgrids are more expensive and cannot scale.
8. Power Utilization is a Tenant Issue
   As a colo provider, all of the critical power is allocated. Tenant usage is a customer issue and out of my control.
9. Clean Energy Is Not a Viable Option
   Hard to secure, more expensive, variable supply so it is not a reliable solution. I can’t be on the bleeding edge. We have to provide reliable power today.
10. There is No Carbon Accounting Business Case
    There is nothing  tangible yet. I have to wait for others to prove it first.
11. The Supply Chain Can’t Support or Scale Alternate Fuels so I Can’t Adopt Them.
    HVO, Hydrogen, Sustainable Aviation Fuel are all concepts, not real solutions.
12. Data Centers Only Provide Economic Value To Local Communities.
    We provide jobs and tax revenue. There’s not much more we can do for the local community or justify from an investment standpoint. It is what it is.
13. We are bound to specific locations because of latency.
    We must build data center zones in regional clusters near major cities to deliver for the clients.

This presentation elicited an interesting response from the attendees. All eyes were on the screen. No one was on their phone. Everyone was taking it in. Processing. There were nods of acknowledgement as well as looks of skepticism. The room simultaneously agreed AND disagreed with the list. They believe the assumptions were accurate but at the same time did not believe it was something we should accept. Mission 1 accomplished! We got them thinking.

We then asked them to break into five groups to tackle three things. First, are there any assumptions missing? If so, add them to your list. Second, stack rank your list and identify the top three that are the most critical to tackle as an industry. Third, summarize your thoughts on how to break through those assumptions. The challenge was each table had to complete this exercise in 30 minutes and read out their results in 2 minutes or less. We love challenging highly competitive overachievers that deal with time pressures and business demands every day. They did not disappoint!

As expected the feedback was great. Kristen Vosmaer, Charlie Evans, Amanda Abell, Chris Pennington and Greg Jones spoke for the tables. This resulted in four assumptions being added to the list.

1. It’s too costly to build green.
   The technology does not exist today and it is just too difficult of a problem to solve economically and ecologically.
2. Only new data centers can be sustainable.
   The current data centers are outdated technologically and have too much carbon debt so we have to tear down and start again.
3. The supply chain is already streamlined.
   Collaboration has diminishing returns because everyone has already optimized their piece.
4. Regulations restrict my ability to be innovative.
   It’s too difficult to navigate these rules. It limits our ability to try new things.

The tables provided their top three picks and a quick summary of ideas on how to tackle them. After the table readouts a lively conversation continued in the room.

Post event, Joe and I worked with the Schneider and Kohler teams to synthesize the feedback and finalize the ranking of the top 3. This was also an interesting exercise as we now had 17 different assumptions. As we walked through the feedback we found that it was better to combine and tweak some of the assumptions. 

LOCAL COMMUNITY

Over the 12-18 months we have seen a visual shift in community opinions around data centers. Northern Virginia local residents have started to protest data centers including in front of one of the prominent events, DICE East that I attended. Dublin had protests against the lifting of the data center bans initiated in 2021. Maryland State’s Public Service Commission rejected an application from Aligned Data Centers to build 264MW on the Quantum Loophole campus over concerns of carbon emissions.

Our industry has a threefold problem in this area. We are not consistently or effectively connected with the local community to understand their concerns and needs and how we can work together to solve them. We lack consistent connections with local, state and federal government agencies to align with economic and ecological goals. Finally, we lack a consistent framework to measure effectiveness of data centers deployments in any local community and their benefits of doing so. We don’t have a consistent industry strategy, story or message to communicate. This means local communities and governments will fill in the blanks with what they know. This has to change.

GREEN POWER

Most people thought the pandemic driven power consumption in data centers was going to be a spike that would eventually come back down. That was not the case. The entire world got the taste of work/play from anywhere. The tools used to make that remote interaction happen, matured faster than at any other time in history. The pandemic led boost in data center capacity led to an unprecedented shortage of power capacity across all major markets globally. Colo data centers and hypescalers gobbled up everything they could find even before it was built. Then GenerativeAI hit and compounded the problem even further. Our industry is now forecasted to triple in the next 10 years with nearly 38GW of new capacity needed for GenerativeAI alone by 2028.

The lack of utility power capacity in the right areas has driven multiple actions. Companies are moving to areas that have power. They are considering on-site generation solutions they would not have even approached earlier. The pandemic and GenerativeAI boom have initiated a forcing function to address the availability of power. The issue is that companies now have conflicting priorities. The biggest companies in the world have made public commitments to achieving net-zero goals, including 100% clean energy for their data centers. This leads to a conundrum. Do they get power at all costs to drive their business, including compromising on their sustainability goals? For the sake of the planet and our species, we cannot let this happen.

DATA CENTER DESIGN

Many of you know that I have strong opinions on the inefficiencies that we have in data center deployments. My article in Issue 10 of Interglobix magazine introduced a new metric that could drive change. Power Capacity Effectiveness (PCE).  It is not limited by data center design. It is limited by legacy processes in procurement requirements and compounding buffers in the technology stack that lead to significant stranded capacity. This has been the norm for decades for the marjorty of digital infrastructure deployments. While utilization efficiencies vary based on the company size, integration of their stack and progressive implementation activities, the fact remains that the majority of data centers are sold out but underutilized.

The discussion in Scotland highlighted the disconnect between the providers and the consumers. The customers are requiring colo operators to build to certain specifications that are counter to higher utilization, efficiency and lower carbon. This leads to decisions that were clearly outlined in the 13 of the 17 assumptions outlined in the article. This means the business limitations are causing the issues. We can’t let this go unchallenged.

TURNING A NEGATIVE INTO A POSITIVE

The goal that Joe and I set for our presentation was simple. Turn a negative into a positive by bringing the industry assumptions front and center so they can be addressed. The bonus was the exercise created a short list of efforts that we can all sink our teeth into.

I wrote this article to continue that momentum by sharing what we have learned. We had an incredible group of people gather in Scotland to work together. This exercise has led to a clear list of industry assumptions and three critical areas we can all work on together on to change them. These three solutions are not a “nice to have”. They are a must have. If we do not align with local communities and governments, our industry growth will slow. If we do not embrace clean energy solutions, we will not be able to achieve our ambitions set in the iMasons Climate Accord. If we do not challenge data center design principles and align our offerings to more modern cloud architectures, we will continue to perpetuate significant stranded capacity, increase prices, lower efficiency, and slow our industry growth.

Schneider, Kohler and Infrastructure Masons are committed to do their part to drive this forward. We would love your help. Reach out to dean@imasons.org and joe.reele@se.com to continue the discussion and stay tuned to Interglobix for more updates on this effort.