Dispelling sustainability myths.

Data centers have long been accused as a potentially significant contributor to global carbon emissions, rivalling the airline industry. Whilst there has been positive news for the industry - for example, operators committing to self-regulation through the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact - a flurry of negative mainstream media headlines relating to the market were published last year, promoting this often poorly researched narrative. For example, it was widely reported in London that Thames Water is looking into the impact of data centers on water supplies. This news was closely followed by a story on house building being halted, purportedly due to data centerrelated electricity capacity issues. Both stories suggested that data center operations are directly (and negatively) impacting on peoples’ daily lives.

By Darren Watkins, olutions director at VIRTUS Data Centre.