T.News No 4
The World's First Data Energy Center® Emerges!
T.Loop is thrilled to announce that our inaugural Data Energy Center® - DEC001 is now operational. We welcome the significant interest in witnessing how a data center can function as a combined power and heat producer in a building, while offering cutting-edge technology such as liquid cooling and state-of-the-art solutions for connectivity and IT operations.
Our commitment to pioneering in this field marks the beginning of an exciting journey, and we look forward to welcoming all those interested in collaborating with us by placing their operations in our Data Energy Center® or in any of our upcoming, innovative projects.
Layer & Mesh: Our Connectivity Partner!
We are delighted to have entered into a partnership with Layer & Mesh. For T.Loop, it is crucial to provide our colocation customers with fast and secure connectivity to all their resources, whether it's point-to-point, cross-connect, internet, or their own IP network. Layer & Mesh boasts the world's fastest city network, with 100,000 Mbit/s and 0.1 milliseconds latency. Based on visionary thinking, they have constructed a network that T.Loop can now leverage, including in our first Data Energy Center® in Häggvik.
New Regulations for Data Centers – CSRD
CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) is an EU directive aiming to help the EU achieve its Net Zero goals by 2050 through increased sustainability reporting requirements. It demands more transparency and standardized measurement of sustainability outcomes, raising the bar for data quality and reporting processes. For data centers, this means increased reporting requirements, promoting responsible resource usage.
In Germany, regulations have been adopted, gradually to be implemented by 2028. These include heat recovery and low PUE values, applying to all data centers over 200 kW. A challenge in Germany is limited heat recovery for district heating and the difficulty in significantly lowering PUE, depending on how the data center is designed. While the German rules are not identical to the EU's CSRD, they could be seen as a precursor to clearer guidance on data center owners' responsibility to support energy systems.
At T.Loop, we advocate for a common standard – see our previous op-ed on Realtid.
How to Assess Data Center Efficiency?
To answer this question, understanding various metrics is essential. Today, we briefly mention PUE and Net Zero Efficiency.
PUE
The most common metric is Power Usage Efficiency (PUE), indicating the ratio of energy used for IT operations to other purposes. The ideal PUE is 1, signifying that all energy is efficiently used for IT operations. Achieving this is challenging due to energy needs for cooling, lighting, and other infrastructure components. Improvements often involve optimizing the data center's design and cooling systems to reduce energy consumption. Lowering PUE not only cuts costs but also reduces environmental impact through lower CO2 emissions. When comparing PUE between data centers, be aware of inherent limitations, including variations over time based on capacity usage, design, and IT equipment efficiency.
Net Zero Efficiency
This is not a metric but rather an overarching goal and concept striving for zero net energy consumption through energy efficiency and renewable energy production. It includes sustainable techniques like efficient energy use, heat recovery, and leveraging resources to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact. It is central to sustainable construction, reducing reliance on non-renewable energy sources and lowering CO2 emissions. It serves as a guiding principle for environmentally friendly building standards and energy management.
T.Loop aims to be transparent about our metrics and their evolution. We will report on our performance as our operations develop. After all, we have our slogan – "Less carbon in computing."