Europe’s 448 million inhabitants seldom think about the extensive network of data centres that support their online activities, keeping everything from emails and images to business transactions. This infrastructure is vital to the digital economy, yet its increasing energy usage significantly affects households and the overall economy.
European data centres consume approximately 96 terawatt-hours each year, which is roughly equivalent to the electricity utilized by the combined populations of the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, and Romania. By 2030, the energy consumption of data centres is projected to triple, corresponding to the needs of 193 million residents or 43% of the EU.
While modern society relies on data centres, it is crucial that they operate efficiently. They are essential to the internet, artificial intelligence, and a Europe prepared for the digital era. These facilities consist of three main technologies that operate continuously: servers that process data, data storage systems that retain the information, and high-speed networks that transmit it.
Moreover, cooling systems, vital for managing heat and fire hazards, can use as much as half the energy consumed by the IT equipment.
As the demand for data centres increases, Europe is striving to lower energy consumption. The European Commission has set an appropriately ambitious target for data centres to achieve high efficiency by 2030. Fortunately, Europe does not need to trade off having top-tier digital infrastructure for sustainability, provided it makes informed decisions to enhance energy efficiency significantly.
However, reaching this objective necessitates confronting an inconvenient reality: over 80% of data storage depends on a 70-year-old technology—outdated and incredibly inefficient magnetic hard disk drives. These mechanical spinning disks are comparable to cathode ray televisions or incandescent bulbs, which Europe eliminated decades ago due to their inefficiency.
The ideal alternative is flash storage, the technology found in smartphones and laptops. Flash is widely accessible, performs better, is more dependable, and has a longer lifespan compared to mechanical disks.
More importantly, flash-based data storage systems use around 90% less energy and require 94% less space within data centres. Transitioning from disks to flash could lead to significant energy savings of 20% or more. By 2030, these energy reductions could support Poland’s entire population.
So, why hasn’t this change taken place? The challenge stems from IT inertia and outdated incentives. Disk drives are inexpensive to purchase but costly to operate (similar to cheap printers that have expensive ink). The real costs, such as higher energy consumption, strain on the power grid, increased CO2 emissions, and more electronic waste, remain obscured. In many regions, data centre operators do not need to factor in these external costs.
However, Europe is making progress: an EU draft plan suggests labeling data centre technologies based on energy and water consumption.
Transparency is useful, but more robust standards are necessary. The EU has a track record of establishing efficiency standards that prompt global transformations. In the late 2000s, the EU eliminated inefficient light bulbs despite their low price, which triggered innovation in LED lighting and reduced energy use for consumers. In the automotive industry, emissions standards drove car manufacturers to create cleaner engines.
Now, Europe has the chance to lead in the digital realm by instituting a “terabytes per watt” performance standard for data storage systems. This benchmark would create a minimum efficiency requirement and speed up the transition to more sustainable and effective storage technologies.
- The advantages of such a policy are evident.
- There would be a significant decrease in energy consumption and emissions: Utilizing current technology could lower total data centre energy use by about 20%.
- Improved energy security: Reduced energy consumption enhances Europe’s energy security. Every megawatt conserved helps keep factories running and homes warm during the winter, providing safeguards against disruptions in energy supply.
- Encouragement of innovation in Europe’s tech sector: Efficiency standards would compel data centre operators and manufacturers to meet new criteria, potentially leading to advances in energy-efficient cooling systems, energy-aware software, and high-density storage solutions. In Silicon Valley, well-crafted standards have fostered innovation and competition, ultimately benefiting consumers. Early adopters of all-flash storage are already seeing decreased operating costs and greater reliability in their systems.
- Some may contend that stringent standards could impede Europe’s digital advancement or raise costs. In this case, not taking action may pose more significant risks. Without strong data storage efficiency standards, we could encounter situations like what happened in London, where new housing development was halted because the local grid capacity was overwhelmed by data centres. By taking the lead on this issue, Europe can establish a global precedent.
With energy being a crucial geopolitical concern, the EU has the opportunity to enhance its digital infrastructure while reducing energy consumption. The European Parliament and Commission ought to establish mandatory efficiency standards and provide incentives for upgrades. By the end of the decade, data centres should exemplify efficiency rather than hinder energy or housing objectives.
Seventy years ago, hard disk drives were pivotal in ushering in the computer age. Today, they have become obsolete. Europe can pioneer a new phase of highly efficient data storage, where every watt of energy produces greater digital output. The benefits will be far-reaching – from families in Madrid enjoying reduced electricity bills to entrepreneurs in Helsinki growing their businesses sustainably, and the planet experiencing less strain from our advancements.
Europe possesses the ability and innovative drive to turn this vision into reality. It’s time to take action.
In 2022, electricity usage by data centres totaled 460 terawatt hours, which accounted for 2% of global electricity consumption. This figure is rapidly increasing, particularly due to energy needs associated with artificial intelligence. The challenge is particularly pronounced in specific regions of Europe – in Ireland, the proportion of electricity consumed by data centres is projected to rise from a substantial 21% in 2023 to 32% by 2026. In Denmark, data centre electricity usage could increase sixfold by 2030. Hyperscale data centres – large, highly efficient facilities with numerous server nodes that are geographically distributed and collectively managed – contribute to a dramatic rise in demand for computing power. The environmental impact of data centres, particularly their carbon footprint, is becoming an urgent issue.
Electricity grids have the ability to transport clean energy from optimal wind and solar generation sites to areas of high demand, while also helping to balance differing electricity generation across regions. But what if we could move the demand itself closer to the renewable electricity generation sites? Few demand sources have this level of flexibility, but in some respects, data centres are unique: many computational tasks, such as offline data processing, can be scheduled at different times and locations without strict deadlines.
There is significant demand for new data-centre facilities that are yet to be established. Utilizing data centres’ flexibility can yield many of the advantages associated with expanding the grid, yet without facing the obstacles of NIMBYism or protracted construction timelines for new power lines. Transmitting data over long distances is more economical than transporting the energy required to process that data at its final destination. By redistributing computational loads among different data centre sites and varying time periods, computing can occur in alignment with the availability of green electricity, resulting in considerable savings both in energy expenses and emissions.
Companies can tap into three geography- and weather-related characteristics to effectively utilize this flexibility. The first characteristic is the geographic variation in local renewable energy capacities, which refers to the amount of electricity produced by a specific solar or wind installation on average each year. The availability of renewable energy differs greatly across Europe: southern regions receive significantly more sunlight, while northern countries typically experience stronger winds. By leveraging this flexibility, we can maximize the use of renewable energy resources across the continent.
The second characteristic pertains to the considerable differences in weather patterns throughout Europe. For instance, the wind generation relationship between Denmark and Portugal shows almost no correlation. This indicates that when wind production is low in one area, it may be high in another. A distance of 300-400 kilometers is enough for two wind turbines to exhibit disparate generation patterns. Data centres can take advantage of this by dynamically adjusting computing tasks to locations with higher wind energy availability, thus reducing dependency on grid electricity or energy storage during times of low local wind production.
The third characteristic involves the time lags in solar radiation peaks caused by the Earth’s rotation. Solar generation peaks in eastern and western Europe occur several hours apart, providing an opportunity to align computing workloads with these temporal changes, ultimately lowering costs related to expensive energy storage. For instance, a data centre located in Greece might perform computations needed for Portugal during one time of day, while the Portuguese data centre handles tasks for Greece a few hours later. This synchronization ensures that workloads follow the sun effectively.
Utilizing this flexibility can help address one of the major challenges associated with renewable energy: limited grid infrastructure. Expanding Europe’s electricity grid to accommodate increased renewable energy generation requires significant investment in power transmission lines. It has been estimated that up to 76 gigawatts of new demand in the United States – equivalent to 10% of its peak electricity load – could be integrated with minimal production loss if the load is flexible and can be temporarily reduced during peak demand periods.