4c. Select greener data centre providers
Data centre providers may differ significantly in terms of the availability of renewable energy in the regions where their facilties are based and how they monitor and report on electricity consumption and water usage.
Sub-actions
4c. (i) Choose providers with regions with renewable energy available
4c. (ii) Choose providers monitoring energy and water usage
4c. (iii) Ensure providers supply reporting tools and actionable data on environmental impact
(i) Choose providers with regions with renewable energy available
Select cloud provider regions where the grid carbon intensity is low.
Choose cloud providers with higher proportion of energy consumed by the data centre that comes from renewable resources.
NB: Government departments may be constrained to choosing regions within the UK for reasons of data sovereignty
Environmental benefit:
Data centres in regions with a lower-carbon grid mix will likely have lower operational carbon footprint.
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(ii) Choose providers monitoring energy and water usage
The energy efficiency of a data centre is often expressed in terms of Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). It is calculated by dividing the total amount of energy consumed by the facility by the energy used specifically by the IT equipment.
Water plays an essential role in cooling data centres. Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) is a measure of water efficiency. Tracking water use is even more important in areas of water stress and where free cooling is not used.
Environmental benefit:
Monitoring energy and water use allows comparison between the efficiency of data centres.
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(iii) Ensure providers supply reporting tools and actionable data on environmental impact
Check providers have tools available to estimate, monitor and manage cloud environmental footprint.
When working with hyperscalers, confirm that these tools and professional services are available where your organization is consuming cloud services.
Environmental benefit:
Actionable data empowers action!