Data centre: Difference between revisions
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Data centres are the second largest contributor to the footprint of digital technology, behind users' devices and ahead of networks. Public debate frequently reverses this order. | Data centres are the second largest contributor to the footprint of digital technology, behind users' devices and ahead of networks. Public debate frequently reverses this order. | ||
Their impact is not only electrical. Cooling consumes water, construction consumes materials, and the equipment inside is replaced on short cycles, which makes [[Manufacturing|manufacturing]] a significant share of the total. | Their impact is not only electrical. Cooling consumes water, construction consumes materials and land, and the equipment inside is replaced on short cycles, which makes [[Manufacturing|manufacturing]] a significant share of the total. | ||
== | == Categories == | ||
[[Power Usage Effectiveness|PUE]] | ; Enterprise data centres | ||
: privately owned, generally with moderate utilisation rates and average efficiency | |||
; Hyperscale facilities | |||
: designed for economies of scale, with better energy efficiency per unit of computing but very large absolute consumption | |||
; Edge facilities | |||
: small, close to users, intended to reduce latency and network transport | |||
== Indicators, and their limits == | |||
[[Power Usage Effectiveness|PUE]] measures the ratio of total energy to IT energy. Water use effectiveness measures water per unit of IT energy. Carbon use effectiveness measures emissions. | |||
None of them measures whether the computing being done is useful. A facility running under-used servers can post excellent indicators while wasting most of what it draws. Actual utilisation rates matter more than any efficiency ratio. | |||
== Heat recovery == | |||
The heat dissipated can be reused for district heating, swimming pools or greenhouses. Several such installations operate in northern Europe. Recovery requires proximity to a consumer and a design that anticipates it, which excludes most existing facilities. | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
* [[Power Usage Effectiveness]] · [[Carbon footprint]] · [[ | * [[Power Usage Effectiveness]] · [[Green IT]] · [[Carbon footprint]] · [[Digital sobriety]] · [[Manufacturing]] | ||
[[Category:Concepts]] | [[Category:Concepts]] | ||
[[de:Rechenzentrum]] | |||
[[es:Centro de Datos]] | |||
[[fr:DataCenter]] | |||
Latest revision as of 18:33, 6 August 2026
A data centre is a facility housing the servers, storage and network equipment that process and store data, together with the power supply, cooling and security systems that keep them running.
Place in the digital footprint
Data centres are the second largest contributor to the footprint of digital technology, behind users' devices and ahead of networks. Public debate frequently reverses this order.
Their impact is not only electrical. Cooling consumes water, construction consumes materials and land, and the equipment inside is replaced on short cycles, which makes manufacturing a significant share of the total.
Categories
- Enterprise data centres
- privately owned, generally with moderate utilisation rates and average efficiency
- Hyperscale facilities
- designed for economies of scale, with better energy efficiency per unit of computing but very large absolute consumption
- Edge facilities
- small, close to users, intended to reduce latency and network transport
Indicators, and their limits
PUE measures the ratio of total energy to IT energy. Water use effectiveness measures water per unit of IT energy. Carbon use effectiveness measures emissions.
None of them measures whether the computing being done is useful. A facility running under-used servers can post excellent indicators while wasting most of what it draws. Actual utilisation rates matter more than any efficiency ratio.
Heat recovery
The heat dissipated can be reused for district heating, swimming pools or greenhouses. Several such installations operate in northern Europe. Recovery requires proximity to a consumer and a design that anticipates it, which excludes most existing facilities.
