Introduction

The rapid rise of AI demand has significantly increased the demand and cost of energy. As this happens, data centers are required to be more energy efficient. This article explores the specific and impactful changes we can make to the data centers to make them more energy efficient while maintaining the performance.

Where Data Centers Consume the Most Energy

Data centers are energy intensive facilities. Its demand is driven by the computing operations and the infrastructure that supports them. Cooling systems take up around 40% of the total energy used in data centers. In many cases, they use just as much or even more than the IT equipment itself.

These systems are essential to prevent overheating of the hardware. This makes them the primary concern to make data centers more energy efficient. 

Then there are servers, storage, network hardware, etc. These things require constant electricity to process data, store information, and maintain network connectivity. These things generate a lot of heat, necessitating cooling systems.

Recommended Changes

In order to make data centers more energy efficient, we can take several steps by making the cooling process require less energy and choosing the right source of energy. The best way is to use immersion cooling. Here are the changes we can make. 

  1. Immersion Cooling

    Immersion cooling can cut down the energy used for cooling by a lot more than the traditional cooling systems, making it one of the best options to make data centers more energy efficient.

    Besides, it makes the storage requirements less, reducing even more energy consumption.

    Microsoft is using two-phase immersion cooling, where servers are dipped into a special fluid that boils at a low temperature. This helps get rid of heat faster, lets them pack more servers in less space, and cuts down the energy use by around 5% to 15% per server.

    These fluids are usually dielectric fluids, which are designed to transfer heat better than air. Fluids used in immersion cooling have a much higher thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity compared to air, which means that they absorb more heat without heating up fast. This lets them carry the heat away faster and more efficiently.

    Here is the change we can make to improve immersion cooling.

    1. Using Fluids with More Latent Heat of Vaporisation

      If the latent heat of vaporisation of a fluid is greater, it means it absorbs more heat to evaporate. This makes the fluid absorb more heat and significantly improve the cooling system while using less energy. A fluid with higher latent heat can absorb more thermal energy during the phase change, keeping the server temperatures stable even under heavy loads.

      We can always change the phase of the evaporated fluid back to liquid and keep the loop running. This closed-loop setup helps recycle the same fluid continuously, which saves resources while keeping the servers cool with minimal energy input.

  2. Choosing the Right Location

    We can use the climate and location to reduce the energy required for the cooling system. For minimising the required energy, we can choose the locations with the characteristics below.

    1. Locations with Cold Climate

      We can place data centers where the weather is cold. When the weather is naturally cold, we need to put less effort into making things cool. As a result, we need less energy for cooling, making data centers more energy efficient.

    2. Underwater

      Placing data centers under water with a place where the weather is cold makes the required energy for the cooling system even less, making Data Centers more energy efficient.

      Microsoft has implemented this idea by placing a data center underwater. They used the cold seawater to keep things cool. After running for some time, it turned out to be more reliable and used less energy than land-based data centers. This showed that underwater data centers can actually work and save energy.

    3. Space

      Space doesn’t have a fixed temperature like Earth. Near Earth, objects in space can become extremely hot or cold depending on sunlight. Even though it’s not practical yet, using space for cooling could save a lot of energy in theory.

      If we place data centers in space, it will require significantly less energy for the cooling system. Though it will be very expensive to build and maintain the data centers in space, and latency being worse, it would be much more energy efficient.

  3. Sources of Energy

    The key is to produce maximum output with the minimum input. Traditional power plants that power data centers require a lot of fuel to produce energy. Here are some recommended power plants we can use to run data centers.

    1. Nuclear Power Plants

      Nuclear power plants require a lot less fuel to produce massive amounts of energy. Nuclear fission is significantly more energy efficient than fossil fuel. Planting Nuclear Power Plants is expensive, but they are more cost effective in the long term.

      The change we can make here to make them more efficient is using Nuclear Fusion. If we can figure out how to use nuclear fusion properly, it could give us even more energy than nuclear fission. It would be cleaner and way more powerful in the long run.

    2. Hybrid Power Plants

      To make energy use more efficient, we can combine different types of power sources in one place—like wind turbines, solar panels, hydro, nuclear, and traditional power plants. Each of them can be used at different times depending on the situation. This makes the system more flexible and less dependent on any single energy source. It also improves efficiency and reliability, which is great for high-demand facilities like data centers.

  4. Using Hardware that can function at Higher Rates of Temperature or Produce Less Heat

    Another thing we can do is design the hardware in data centers in a way that it can function higher temperatures safely. If the hardware can keep running well even when it’s a bit warmer, we can run cooling systems while saving a lot of energy.

    Besides, we can focus on making hardware that produce less heat in the first place. We can do that by using low-power components, efficient chips, and better circuit designs. Less heat means the cooling systems don’t have to work as hard, requiring less energy.

    These changes reduce the load on the cooling system. And when the cooling system works less, the energy use drops. That makes the whole data center more efficient, and cost-effective.

  5. Minimising the Storage Requirements

    Storage is one of the biggest energy consumers in data centers. All the data has to be stored, backed up, and constantly available, which that takes a lot of power. If we can reduce the storage requirements, we can cut down energy use in a big way.

    One way to do this is by using immersion cooling systems. These systems not only cool the servers but also help improve the performance and lifespan of storage devices by keeping them at a stable temperature. 

    When storage devices run cooler and smoother, they need less power and break down less often, saving both energy and maintenance costs.

Conclusion

In a world where we are in a tsunami of data, we need to make data centers more energy efficient in order to keep going. By taking effective steps, we can significantly reduce energy consumption, and help shape the future of data centers.



Sources:

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  • Foley, M. J. (2021, April 6). *Microsoft gets two-phase immersion cooling running in an Azure data center*. ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-gets-two-phase-immersion-cooling-running-in-an-azure-data-center
  • International Atomic Energy Agency. (n.d.). *Innovations for 24/7 low carbon energy: The power of hybrid energy systems*. https://www.iaea.org/bulletin/innovations-for-247-low-carbon-energy-the-power-of-hybrid-energy-systems
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