PIP SQUIRE
ARK DATA CENTRES
“ DATA CENTRES ARE BIG BEASTS . WE USE A LOT OF ENERGY , ABSOLUTELY , BUT COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE INTERNET THAT WE ARE SUPPORTING , IT ’ S LESS THAN 4 %”
PIP SQUIRE HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY , ARK DATA CENTRES
The hidden cost of our digital lives The average person might not realise the environmental implications of their digital activities . Every photo shared , every video streamed and every document saved in the cloud contributes to the energy consumption of data centres worldwide .
“ Data centres are big beasts . We use a lot of energy , absolutely , but compared to the rest of the internet that we are supporting , it ’ s very small ,” Pip explains . “ 50 % of all the energy required to run the internet , including end-user devices , is consumed by those devices themselves . 25 % of the energy is used sending the data from that end-user device to a data centre . The last 25 % is used in the data centre itself . Of this last 25 % used in the data centre , 80-85 % is used by the servers supporting all our data needs , the remaining 15 % is what the data centre consumes to support the servers . In other words , the data centre itself only
PIP SQUIRE
TITLE : HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY
INDUSTRY : ENGINEERING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
LOCATION : UNITED KINGDOM
Pip Squire has successfully designed , configured and delivered data centres for Ark since before Ark was Ark . Founded in 2005 , Ark has been providing facilities since its inception and has become wellknown for its commitment to social responsibility .
Pip has been central to the delivery of 13 operational data centre buildings across five separate campus locations in the UK , providing in excess of 140MW of IT capacity . A further three large data centres > 100MW ( IT ) are in the construction phase , with a further two > 100MW ( IT ) in the planning phase .
As part of a large American engineering construction organisation that focuses on power , water and telecoms , Pip led the European renewable energy team — with a particular focus on hydro , marine and tidal power systems — from 1999 to 2008 . At the same time , he combined the company ’ s power and telecom specialties to provide a data centre offering that ultimately led to his life at Ark Data Centres where he started as employee number 1 in 2008 .
58 November 2024