Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Energy efficiency: it generates a Capex increase of 15% but saves up to 40% in consumption

For there to be a breakdown in energy consumption, data center companies must stop focusing on costs and incorporate the new tools available.

The International Energy Agency estimates that more than 1% of the world's energy is consumed by data centers. If efficiency measures are applied, this percentage will not grow. For there to be a real breakdown and for data centers to start playing their role in mitigating climate change, decisions around powering these firms must stop focusing on costs. Today this value continues to predominate in Latin America and Argentina.

The opportunity lies in the design from scratch of new data centers, both Edge and Hyperscalers, and the possibility of incorporating any of the alternatives available in the market. During this year and the next one, additions of energy efficiency tools are expected due to the arrival of 5G: after all, the combination of 5G and Edge will increase data processing power consumption by 1.5 to 2 times.

Refrigeration is key in the new energy equation, because it represents 40% of the consumption of a data center. Vertiv highlighted in this regard air conditioning technologies adapted for medium, small and micro data centers. The company also offers chillers with adiabatic technology: steam is used in a circuit before using the cooling capacity of compressors. Finally, and if the geographic location of the data center allows it, free cooling is the most profitable alternative: it refers to free cooling through the use of low external air temperatures, which helps to cool the water and then use it in processes. industrial or air conditioning systems.

A second important decision in terms of efficiency is the supply with renewable energy. There are three ways to acquire them: long-term contracts with electricity companies under a “carbon neutral” scheme; carbon credits (one of the international decontamination mechanisms, proposed in the Kyoto Protocol, to reduce emissions); or agreements with public utilities such as Power Purchase Agreement with a guarantee that all energy delivered will be certified and tracked by world organizations dedicated to renewable energy.

Among those who opt for PPAs is Telefónica, which has 60 data centers deployed in Latin America and Europe, generating 5% of its annual energy consumption. The company handles three ways of being renewable, as described by Nilmar Seccomandi David, director of Infrastructure Transformation at Telefónica, in a virtual event: PPA agreements, recertifications or self-generated reductions. The first alternative is the preferred one, with three agreements signed in Spain and others in Mexico and Brazil. Indeed, the Brazilian subsidiary managed to be the first one with offset emissions.

Beyond powering of data centers, the use of lithium ion batteries for UPS equipment leads among the tools to optimize the consumption of internal equipment. Other factors to take into account to reduce the consumption of a data center are water supply; modularity in structures; and containment systems that optimize cooling.

The issue of energy efficiency does not emerge as a major current concern of data centers in Latin America, as Convergencialatina has shown, and it could only be so in three to five years. Globally, it already defines a new watershed in the industry: in the last twelve months the environmental impact of a data center has become an important criterion for the customer to evaluate where they place their workloads.

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