The Case for Sustainability in Data Centers

Energy efficiency has become increasingly important in the data center industry, driven by rising energy prices, environmental legislation, corporate social responsibility pressures, and competition. Energy efficiency is part of sustainability, however, consideration of other aspects such as the embodied environmental impact of materials, components, and systems is needed for a holistic view. Life-cycle assessment (LCA)is a useful methodology that examines wider environmental impact including areas of protection such as climate change, ecosystem quality, human health, and resource depletion. The industry is starting to become more aware of these issues and is developing metrics to quantify performance. This paper describes key data center sustainability issues identified by the life-cycle assessment of data centers and proposes how the industry could approach its environmental responsibilities in order to capitalize on the business opportunity as well as demonstrating sustainable leadership.