Equinix commits to DC power usage reduction

Equinix has announced its commitment to reducing overall power use by increasing operating temperature ranges within its data centres — a move it claims is the first by an operator of colocation data centres.

Starting immediately, the company will begin to define a multi-year global roadmap for thermal operations within its data centres aimed at achieving significantly more efficient cooling and decreased carbon impacts, all while continuing to deliver a premium operating environment.

Over time, this initiative is expected to enable thousands of Equinix customers to reduce the Scope 3 carbon emissions associated with their data centre operations as supply chain sustainability becomes an increasingly important part of the overall environmental initiatives of today’s businesses.

IT equipment within data centres, including routers, servers and storage arrays, emit high levels of heat that require data centres to be fitted with robust cooling systems to remove that heat.

“Most data centres operate within restrictive temperature and humidity bands, resulting in environments that are unnecessarily cooler than required,” said Rob Brothers, Program Vice President, Datacentre Services, IDC.

“Equinix will work with enterprises to change the way we think about operating temperatures within data centre environments and how the industry can ensure optimal service levels for mission-critical digital infrastructure, while improving data centre efficiencies. With this initiative, Equinix will play a key role in driving change in the industry and help shape the overall sustainability story we all need to participate in,” he said.

It’s a move being applauded by the company’s partners.

“As a long-time partner, we are pleased to see that Equinix is driving efficient data centre operations through smart, sustainable operating practices,” said Sue Preston, vice president and general manager, Advisory and Professional Services, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

“Optimising data centre temperatures results in more efficient operations, benefiting businesses and the planet. Through the HPE GreenLake alliance, both HPE and Equinix offer a comprehensive, cloud-smart and sustainable customer solution,” she said.

As a part of this new efficiency initiative, Equinix expects to operate its facilities closer to 27°C (80°F), aligning operating limits across its global data centre portfolio with the globally accepted boundaries of the A1A standards from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). When combined with existing Equinix initiatives such as optimising the use of outside air temperatures to cool its data centres, this new initiative will contribute to the overall sustainability of its data centres through efficiency improvements measured through Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). PUE represents the total amount of power being used by a data centre divided by the power used to run the IT equipment within the data centre, providing an industry standard for data centre energy efficiency.

“Our cooling systems account for approximately 25% of our total energy usage globally,” said Raouf Abdel, Executive Vice President, Global Operations for Equinix.

“With this new initiative, we can intelligently adjust the thermostat in our data centres in the same way that consumers do in their homes. Once rolled out across our current global data centre footprint, we anticipate energy efficiency improvements of as much as 10% in various locations.”

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