What new developments in the field of waste heat recovery and climate solutions for data centres are currently discernible? In an interview with Sascha Oehl, Director Presales cloud & AI, at Huawei Technologies, we talk about cooling, heat recovery and energy efficiency in data centres. He is speaking at the first Data Center Expert Summit on 8 June in the panel “Keep Cool”.
Mr Oehl, what global sustainability trends do you expect for the data centre industry?
Oehl: I think that – motivated by the higher environmental awareness of customers and companies, as well as by clear advantages in the areas of power supply and data centre space – the approach to power consumption will become more important. The energy that we do not feed in at the beginning does not have to be cooled or recycled afterwards. This also means lower costs for emergency power, power supply, cooling and much more. We see these efficiency factors coming more and more to the fore in processors and solutions, and often as an important criterion in infrastructure tenders.
What new developments in the field of waste heat utilisation are currently discernible on the German market?
Oehl: In general, it has to be said that not even that many new concepts are needed. For our planet and for us, using proven technologies is already a huge step in the right direction. One example: Data centres produce heat very predictably and evenly over the year, as do industrial companies. This is why the concept of local and district heating was developed. Why does a family or the company need to heat with gas to produce heat when so much heat is “thrown out” right nextdoor? A rethinking has begun here, and this helps us all with our use of resources.
How can the potential of technologies such as IoT, 5G or artificial intelligence be implemented in a meaningful and sustainable way?
Oehl: IoT, 5G and AI will provide us with another significant boost. Processing can be more decentralized, which helps to reduce power usage for data transport. By distributing to more EDGE locations with correspondingly flexible 5G connectivity, we can cool more naturally.
AI will help us understand data more energy-efficiently and decide which data we still need and when we need it. The technologies are there; now it is important to use them and the corresponding concepts. Here we see again: Technologies that prevent the need for electricity in the first place help directly.
Thank you very much for the interview, Mr Oehl!
Sascha Oehl will be a speaker at the Data Center Expert Summit on 8 and 9 June. You can get tickets here.
