ASK THE EXPERT: Data Center Sustainability Requires a More Connected Scorecard

Data center sustainability is becoming a more complex engineering challenge as AI increases power density and changes the requirements for thermal management. Traditional efficiency measures remain important, but operators also need to consider data center water use, heat recovery, infrastructure flexibility, and the relationship between energy, water, and thermal performance.

Data Center Sustainability Requires a Broader Scorecard explores how these priorities intersect as higher-density computing makes AI data center cooling and liquid cooling increasingly central to facility design. Understanding how cooling capacity, coolant flow, and changing IT loads interact can help operators improve efficiency while maintaining reliable performance.

PUE, WUE, and ERE each provide an important piece of the sustainability scorecard, helping operators evaluate energy efficiency, water use, and opportunities to put waste heat to work. Cooling architecture influences those outcomes, while designing for data center heat recovery early can open opportunities to put recovered heat to productive use and build greater flexibility into the facility. Read more in this Ask the Expert to learn how a broader approach to data center sustainability can help align efficiency, water use, thermal management, and infrastructure performance.

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