ARK DATA CENTRES
Pioneering sustainable solutions As Pip highlights , Ark Data Centres has been on a continuous journey of innovation when it comes to sustainability . One of the company ’ s earliest and most significant steps was the implementation of fresh air free cooling systems more than a decade ago . “ That ’ s where we take the outside air and cool the IT equipment to its required environmental conditions inside the data room with as little mechanical cooling as possible ,”.
This approach has significantly reduced the energy required for cooling : one of the most energy-intensive aspects of data centre operations . However , this innovative solution came with its own challenge – increased water usage for evaporative cooling during warmer periods .
“ The downside of that system was it used an awful lot of water , because we use evaporative cooling during the summer months or when external conditions are fairly dry ,” Pip explains . “ As soon as we realised that , we started saying , ‘ You know what ? We need to put in some way of using rainfall ’.”
The company ’ s latest designs take this concept even further , aiming for a closed-loop system . “ We have rainwater harvesting systems where we can and where it makes sense ,” Pip says . “ In our latest designs we have a system whereby we balance our water demand with our rainfall supply and we aim to avoid the use of any utility water during normal climatic conditions . We capture , store and buffer our rainwater before evaporating it in our cooling systems as efficiently as possible .”
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