Honeywell Li Ye: In the era of carbon neutrality, data centers are accelerating their green transformation

Shanghai, China, April 6, 2021 – In an era of rapid information development, data centers are booming. With the rapid development of various data centers on the one hand, and the high energy consumption and cost burden on the other, energy-saving and low-carbon green data centers have become the key to whether enterprises can achieve intelligent and digital transformation.

In China, under the goal of carbon neutrality, the role of green data centers as the digital foundation of "new infrastructure" is becoming more and more important.

Recently, Li Ye, global vice president and general manager of Honeywell Intelligent Building Technology Group in China, expressed his views on the urgency of developing green data centers and the idea of building green data centers.

Green data centers are more than just energy saving

In the era of big data, the processing power and storage capacity of data centers have increased exponentially, and the consumption of energy has also increased - it is certain that energy pressure has become one of the main pain points of data centers. According to iResearch's research, electricity costs currently account for more than half of the overall operating expenses of data centers[1].

At the same time, the United Nations is calling on countries to take action to accelerate the achievement of carbon neutrality. An increasing number of countries have put forward relevant visions or commitments. In this context, the construction of green data centers is not only about saving energy, but also becoming a part of promoting global sustainable development.

Data center owners and facility managers have realized the importance of building green data centers. According to a report by Markets and Markets[2], the global green data center market will increase from US$49.2 billion in 2020 to US$140.3 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.1%.

China announced in September 2020 that it would strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The 14th Five-Year Plan and the Outline of the Long-Range Objectives Through 2035 have clearly stated that it is necessary to build a "modern infrastructure system with complete systems, efficient and practical, intelligent, green, safe and reliable", and also proposed to promote energy efficiency improvement in emerging fields such as 5G and big data centers.

At the beginning of March, the National Development and Reform Commission has stated that the "14th Five-Year Plan" for new infrastructure construction will be introduced this year, and it is necessary to vigorously develop the digital economy, expand 5G applications, and accelerate the construction of industrial Internet and data centers. The comprehensive deployment of next-generation information and communication infrastructure such as data centers is also part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 14th Five-Year Plan to accelerate the development of the digital economy and create new momentum for development through digital transformation.

Take a multi-pronged approach to build a green data center

Building a green data center doesn't happen overnight, and it can't be done overnight. In this regard, at the beginning of data center design, attention should be paid to site selection optimization and energy consumption system design.

Buildings themselves have an important place in energy management and can help reduce energy consumption with a few simple structural improvement steps. The largest consumer of energy within a data center is core IT, and consolidating servers can also help cut energy use.

For example, condition-based maintenance (CBM) can help optimize the operation of ventilation systems, air handling units, and chillers by using machine learning. The use of free cooling is an important trend for data centers striving to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. Free cooling has a significant impact on the location of new facilities, and more and more data center owners are considering new sites that offer abundant free cooling. At the same time, issues such as particulate filtration and resistance to humidity need to be taken into account.

For those data centers that have already been built, even systems that are about to become obsolete can achieve energy savings. The most likely improvements to be implemented typically come from integrating the management control system within the facility.

With better monitoring and control of building services, facility managers can leverage modern building management technology to better manage energy consumption in data centers. IT and facility managers must work together to achieve data center energy efficiency goals.

Promote green data centers, industrial chain collaboration "on the way"

According to its life cycle, data centers can be divided into four stages: planning, design, construction, and operation, and each stage has different upstream and downstream industrial chains.

As a member of the industry chain, Honeywell is committed to promoting the development of green data centers. For instance, in October 2020, Honeywell and Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, announced that they would work together to create more sustainable and efficient solutions for data center operations.

In addition to the high pressure of energy consumption, the data center should have a fast response, high stability requirements, convenient expansion, and equipment security, which are all pain points in construction. Therefore, the synergy and cooperation of the industrial chain is crucial for the development of green data centers. It can be seen that favorable policies, industrial alliances, and cooperation between enterprises are adding impetus to the development of green data centers.

This is not only for the long-term development of the industry, but also for the sustainable development of the world.

[1] The data comes from the "2020 China Data Center Industry Research Report" released by iResearch

[2] The data comes from the "2026 Vertical and Regional Global Data Center Scale Forecast" report released by market research institute Markets and Markets™

Honeywell Li Ye: In the era of carbon neutrality, data centers are accelerating their green transformation

Honeywell Li Ye: In the era of carbon neutrality, data centers are accelerating their green transformation

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