Today, data centers serve as the backbone of a connected world, with digitization driving the demand for increased data processing, storage, and networking. Unfortunately, our industry is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions, categorized into Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Scope 1 represents direct emissions from data center operations, such as diesel backup generators. Scope 2 accounts for CO2 emissions linked to electricity generation in specific regions, while
Scope 3 encompasses emissions related to the supply chain, including IT equipment purchased throughout a data center's lifecycle.
As we expand data center capacity, the need to comprehend and measure emissions is ever-growing. Modeling tools are a key solution that help to increase awareness of the relationship between data center usage and emissions by identifying and quantifying a data center's carbon footprint over time. Schneider Electric has recently introduced the Data Center Lifecycle CO2e Calculator, a vendor-agnostic and scientifically researched tool that provides accurate and transparent results.
This calculator empowers users to input specific data sets, tailoring them to their unique data centers. Factors such as location (globally), capacity, IT load, rack power density, IT refresh cycle frequency, and physical infrastructure attributes can all be accounted for with ease.
In
Figure 1, we observe a hypothetical 3MW data center located in Virginia, with a 90% IT load and a power rack density of 8kW. The input values dictate that servers and storage are refreshed every 4 years, while networking equipment is updated every 5 years. This data center employs a robust 2N power infrastructure, complete with UPS and N+1 diesel backup generators, which operate for 30 hours annually. The UPS boasts industry-standard double conversion efficiency, ensuring optimal power usage.
