Warming Helsinki with energy efficient Data Centers

Our favorite IT provider Academica is now constructing one of the world’s most energy efficient data centers. But not only that, it is also the first one with a full heat recovery system. The realization of this projects happens in close cooperation with the local energy utility, Helsinki Energy. In other words, warmth from the servers and other equipment is not exhausted away. It transferred to Helsinki Energy’s district heating network.

According to our initial calculations, once fully equipped the data center is able to heat some 120 households in wintertime. During summer, when the heating needs are much lower, sea water is used as an auxiliary cooling source. 120 households is a huge number and one meaningful step towards the creation of carbon-neutral cities.

Benefits for the data center customers

Energy consumption of each rack in the data center is measured with sub-minute intervals. Customers receive full transparency and will only pay for the energy they consume. They may also decide which type of energy they would like to support – wind, nuclear, fossil etc. Just like households are nowadays able to do.

As far as we know, this is also the first data center in which it instantly pays off for customers to utilize servers with low power consumption. Customers with existing servers may also radically lower their overall consumption by adjusting the servers’ power usage according to natural usage patterns – most retail systems are idling during nighttime, for instance.

Measurements at the core of energy efficiency

The data center will be operational still during this year. I’m sure to be posting measurements as they’re implemented.

This will also be the world’s most measured data center, not least because we will locate one of our Nordic BaseN Platform node groups there.

Are you striving to implement the next level of energy efficient data centers? Get in touch and let’s do something good for the environment. We should and can do this.

 

 

//Pasi

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