The ecological advantage

In the midst of rising energy costs, Jon Viggo Gunnarsson helps his data centre customers get greener, cleaner and leaner.

“Since customers eventually pay the price, we have found that they now care much more about environmental issues than before”
-Jon Viggo

How does a data centre bring down energy costs?

Jon Viggo. The data centre industry is continually searching for ways to improve the use of energy and cooling. No stone is left unturned. The industry is both in facility management and information technology and consequently has to look for every advantage at each decision point, from selecting building materials to choosing the optimal computer equipment with the best energy to computing power ratio. Location is vitally important, as are all the logistical aspects of the site for a proposed data centre. Climate, available energy and stability can be crucial, as well. Once those factors have been weighed and considered, the additional elements in any data centre business plan are put into place.

How can the customer know which data centre is ecologically friendly?

JV. Currently, there are no classifications or certifications that data centres can apply for or present as proof of their ecological efficiency, although this might be beneficial to both the industry and customers. However, various international organisations and movements gather and share information on environmental issues. Some geographical locations have certain advantages, obviously. The ideal data centre would be fairly new, located where the energy is clean and plentiful and from renewable resources, pollution free, and relatively close to its target markets, or with acceptable latency. This is not always feasible. However, data centres being designed and constructed today are much more energy efficient than those built 10 or 20 years ago. Additionally, there is a greater awareness of the environmental impact the data centre industry has on global warming, particularly in those areas that use energy made from oil, coal or gas. In the UK, businesses are waking up to the new legislation, which will impose taxes on the largest users of energy, so the pressure is increasing on the data centre industry to provide solutions. The focus is now both on Power Utilisation Efficiency (PUE) and green energy. Businesses are willing to look farther afield to find the right mix, and they are expanding their horizon. New data centre locations are gaining attention and Iceland is one of those. It has clean, abundant energy from pollution-free, natural and renewable sources and stable energy prices.

How does a country's power infrastructure affect a data centre customer?

Some European countries have reached or are near to reaching the capacity of the electrical power distribution system, at least in some areas. Consequently, a data centre customer may not get all the electrical power that they might want, in order to make the most of his investment at a given location. This decreases efficiency and puts constraints on what kind of equipment or service can be run at that location. Therefore, customers in areas with ageing power infrastructure are increasingly looking for data centres that can provide a higher power density to their equipment, while remaining competitive on all other fronts.

What is the competitive advantage of using an eco-friendly data centre?

Every business that is in touch with its customers makes an effort to be aware of the changes that affect its clients. The quicker they respond, the more likely they are to retain their customers and attract new ones. There is probably no single issue more predominant in this day and age than man's effect on the environment. Conversely, the bottom line matters most for business. When these two go hand in hand, everybody wins.

Biography

Jon Viggo Gunnarsson is the Chief Executive Officer at Thor Data Center in Iceland, which is considered the most eco-friendly data centre in the world today.