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On the way to the ecological and sustainable Data Center

Industry

14/10/2024

Data centres’ energy use

Data centres use a lot of electricity: in total, no less than 200 terawatt hours (TWh) a year, a staggering 1% of global demand. And this is only the beginning. New digital technologies are emerging and businesses & consumers have a seemingly endless appetite for data. The need for storage and processing is forecast to increase by 50% between now and 2030, fuelled by the rise of AI and increased reliance on cloud services. To put things in perspective, the electricity consumption of the world’s data centres is comparable to that of a country the size of Spain.

Designing the sustainable data centre of tomorrow 

At GSE, we integrate sustainability into the data centres we build, minimising their carbon footprints and other environmental impacts. We suggest options for renewable energy, including from on-site solar farms that provide a valuable source of electricity for the facilities. In addition, freecooling technologies, which use outside air to cool the servers, consume less power than conventional air conditioning. Their effectiveness depends on the lowest temperatures, generally at night or in winter, making them suited to areas where temperatures regularly drop below a given minimum.

Your high-quality, standards-compliant data centre

We consider our clients’ requirements and specific needs to design their data centres – and we suggest the most suited standards accordingly. The main standard we apply is that of the Uptime Institute, known as Tier Classification. Widely recognised and used in the data centre industry, it assesses the reliability and redundancy of infrastructures based on specific criteria such as maintenance, power and cooling. 

The Tier Classification defines four levels – Tier I to Tier IV – corresponding to an increasing degree of system availability and redundancy.  



Tier I: Basic infrastructure 

  • Description: A Tier I data centre offers a basic infrastructure with non-redundant components. It has a single distribution path for power and cooling, with no component redundancy. This type of data centre is vulnerable to planned maintenance work and unforeseen outages. 
  • Availability: 99.671%. Equipment requires up to 28 or 29 hours downtime per year. 
  • Typical use: Small businesses or operations where a short period of downtime is acceptable. 

Tier II: Redundant infrastructure 

  • Description: A Tier II data centre has redundant components for some systems, such as cooling units and backup generators. Although it has a single distribution path, the redundancy of some components reduces interruptions caused by equipment failure or planned maintenance work. 
  • Availability: 99.741%. Downtime does not exceed 22.7 hours per year. 
  • Typical use: Medium-sized businesses that have a certain tolerance for planned interruptions.  

Tier III: Simultaneously available infrastructure

  • Description: A Tier III data centre is designed to be maintainable without interruption, allowing every component and system to be serviced without impacting critical IT operations. It has multiple distribution paths for power and cooling, enabling flows to be redirected in the event of maintenance work or failure. 
  • Availability: 99.982%. Downtime does not exceed 1.6 hours per year.  
  • Typical use: Large businesses and organisations requiring high availability with minimal downtime. 

Tier IV: Fault-tolerant infrastructure 

  • Description: A Tier IV data centre offers the highest degree of redundancy and fault tolerance. All components and distribution paths are redundant and independent, enabling the facility to continue operating even in the event of a major breakdown. It is designed to simultaneously handle a component failure and maintenance operations without interrupting IT services. 
  • Availability: 99.995%. Downtime does not exceed 0.5 hours per year. This tier also offers 96 hours’ protection against power failures and redundancies. 
  • Typical use: critical organisations where no interruption is acceptable, such as large banks, government institutions and telecommunications companies.  

This Tier Classification certifies the data centres’ usability, ensuring that they meet the highest standards of performance and resilience, in line with each client’s requirements. 

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