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A material social view on data center waste heat: Novel uses and metrics

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A material social view on data center waste heat: Novel uses and metrics. / Terenius, Petter; Garraghan, Peter; Harper, Richard.
In: Frontiers in Sustainability, Vol. 3, 1008583, 25.01.2023, p. 1-22.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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Terenius P, Garraghan P, Harper R. A material social view on data center waste heat: Novel uses and metrics. Frontiers in Sustainability. 2023 Jan 25;3:1-22. 1008583. doi: 10.3389/frsus.2022.1008583

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Bibtex

@article{b3c2e658c7da49e7932d120bb992f1ae,
title = "A material social view on data center waste heat: Novel uses and metrics",
abstract = "Today's data centers use substantial amounts of the world's electrical supply. However, in line with circular economy concepts, much of this energy can be reused. Such reuse includes the heating of buildings, but also commodity dehydration, electricity production and energy storage. This multi-disciplinary paper presents several novel applications for data center waste heat. Next, the paper accounts for three case studies, taken from three different societal contexts: urban Malaysia, rural Costa Rica and semi-urban Sweden. A discussion on data center energy metrics leads to the development of a new metric, Datacenter Energy Sustainability Score (DESS), which is evaluated within the three use cases. Last, it is shown how a material social view on metrics provides a way past a problem that has haunted the data center industry for the last 15 years, whilst benefitting both data center owners who want to compete through sustainability as well as stakeholders from governments on local, regional and national levels. The paper makes clear that a sustainability strategy should be based on a material social view and stretch beyond the building itself. In fact, and as demonstrated by the relevance of DESS, modern data centers are so energy-efficient that data center sustainability is no longer mainly an engineering issue, but a matter requiring multi-disciplinary insights, approaches and collaboration.",
keywords = "Sustainability, sustainability, renewable energy, society, waste heat, commodity dehydration, metrics, circular economy, data center",
author = "Petter Terenius and Peter Garraghan and Richard Harper",
year = "2023",
month = jan,
day = "25",
doi = "10.3389/frsus.2022.1008583",
language = "English",
volume = "3",
pages = "1--22",
journal = "Frontiers in Sustainability",
issn = "2673-4524",
publisher = "Frontiers Media",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - A material social view on data center waste heat: Novel uses and metrics

AU - Terenius, Petter

AU - Garraghan, Peter

AU - Harper, Richard

PY - 2023/1/25

Y1 - 2023/1/25

N2 - Today's data centers use substantial amounts of the world's electrical supply. However, in line with circular economy concepts, much of this energy can be reused. Such reuse includes the heating of buildings, but also commodity dehydration, electricity production and energy storage. This multi-disciplinary paper presents several novel applications for data center waste heat. Next, the paper accounts for three case studies, taken from three different societal contexts: urban Malaysia, rural Costa Rica and semi-urban Sweden. A discussion on data center energy metrics leads to the development of a new metric, Datacenter Energy Sustainability Score (DESS), which is evaluated within the three use cases. Last, it is shown how a material social view on metrics provides a way past a problem that has haunted the data center industry for the last 15 years, whilst benefitting both data center owners who want to compete through sustainability as well as stakeholders from governments on local, regional and national levels. The paper makes clear that a sustainability strategy should be based on a material social view and stretch beyond the building itself. In fact, and as demonstrated by the relevance of DESS, modern data centers are so energy-efficient that data center sustainability is no longer mainly an engineering issue, but a matter requiring multi-disciplinary insights, approaches and collaboration.

AB - Today's data centers use substantial amounts of the world's electrical supply. However, in line with circular economy concepts, much of this energy can be reused. Such reuse includes the heating of buildings, but also commodity dehydration, electricity production and energy storage. This multi-disciplinary paper presents several novel applications for data center waste heat. Next, the paper accounts for three case studies, taken from three different societal contexts: urban Malaysia, rural Costa Rica and semi-urban Sweden. A discussion on data center energy metrics leads to the development of a new metric, Datacenter Energy Sustainability Score (DESS), which is evaluated within the three use cases. Last, it is shown how a material social view on metrics provides a way past a problem that has haunted the data center industry for the last 15 years, whilst benefitting both data center owners who want to compete through sustainability as well as stakeholders from governments on local, regional and national levels. The paper makes clear that a sustainability strategy should be based on a material social view and stretch beyond the building itself. In fact, and as demonstrated by the relevance of DESS, modern data centers are so energy-efficient that data center sustainability is no longer mainly an engineering issue, but a matter requiring multi-disciplinary insights, approaches and collaboration.

KW - Sustainability

KW - sustainability

KW - renewable energy

KW - society

KW - waste heat

KW - commodity dehydration

KW - metrics

KW - circular economy

KW - data center

U2 - 10.3389/frsus.2022.1008583

DO - 10.3389/frsus.2022.1008583

M3 - Journal article

VL - 3

SP - 1

EP - 22

JO - Frontiers in Sustainability

JF - Frontiers in Sustainability

SN - 2673-4524

M1 - 1008583

ER -