Scientists at the university have dedicated themselves to a holistic view of the energy consumption of Data Centres in the recently launched "TEMPRO" project. The special thing about it: They are taking the entire life cycle of the equipment into account.
Using energy and raw materials in Data Centres more efficiently - this is the goal of the project "Total Energy Management for Professional Data Centres" (TEMPRO), which was recently launched at the University of Oldenburg. Instead of only analysing the ongoing operation of a Data Centre, as was previously the case, the TEMPro team is taking a holistic approach: it is looking at the entire life cycle of the equipment - from raw material extraction to recycling.
The head of the joint project with several partners from research, industry and municipal administration is Oldenburg sustainability expert Dr Alexandra Pehlken. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is funding the three-year joint project with around 2.2 million euros, of which almost 600,000 euros will go to Oldenburg.
Thinking about "grey energy"
There are currently around 50,000 Data Centres in Germany. With a consumption of around ten terawatt hours, or ten billion kilowatt hours, studies show that they account for around two per cent of annual electricity requirements. However, Pehlken argues that the actual electrical energy requirements of Data Centres are much higher: "Consequently, the so-called 'grey energy' should also be taken into account, i.e. the energy consumption that occurs before and after the infrastructure is used.
"This starts with the extraction of raw materials such as gold, silver, copper, neodymium and tantalum, which are required for the data centre components. But it also includes their production, transport and storage and ends with recycling." Only on this holistic basis can solid statements on energy efficiency be made. Another advantage of the holistic approach is that it reveals additional potential savings.
Developing the basis for a holistic assessment
Over the next three years, the TEMPRO team wants to create the scientific basis for a holistic energy efficiency assessment of Data Centres and research new efficiency technologies. The participants also want to design, prototype and test a software tool for data centre operators.
In addition to Pehlken, Prof Dr Jorge Marx Gomez, business informatics specialist, and Prof Dr Klaus Fichter, economist, from the University of Oldenburg are also involved - the Department of Economics and Law and the Department of Computing Science are working closely together here. Pehlken has headed the junior research group "Cascade Use" at the University of Oldenburg since 2014, which is dedicated to sustainable resource management.