The operation of data centres are pretty one dimensional: they consume a huge volume of power and generate an equally large amount of heat. While our appetite for digitisation is expanding by leaps and bounds, so is the pressure on our environment. Phil Ratcliffe, Managing Director at Drees & Sommer UK, unpacks the various challenges in a fireside chat with Jagori Dhar, suggesting a road map to make data centres operationally better and viable for the long term from the ecological and digital standpoints.
He calls on the different stakeholder groups of developers, investors, operators and users to come together to explore holistic solutions that are beneficial across the board. From alternative uses of the excess heat for district heating to use of Cradle to Cradle design principle, modular and renewable technologies to build energy plus data centres that not only feed their own power needs but also plug the electricity requirements of our cities.
Are you interested to find out more? You can connect with Phil Ratcliffe on LinkedIn or email: phillip.ratcliffe(at)dreso.com.
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