Green light for data centers: The new UZ80 environmental signs in Austria

Von WOM

The growing use of data, in particular through artificial intelligence, leads to a constant increase in data consumption worldwide. In Austria, data use has increased significantly since Corona pandemic, which confirmed the Federal Ministry of Climate Protection. At the same time, numerous data centers were created, which often consume an enormous amount of energy, while the waste heat emerges is unused. In order to counteract this, the new certification "UZ 80" was recently launched by the Austrian environmental label, which highlights environmentally friendly data centers.

You can hardly imagine data center consumption: on average, it takes more than 100 times the electricity of a large commercial agency. In large facilities, electricity consumption is comparable to that of a small town in the USA. These facts are the reason why on October 10, 2023 the EU-wide energy efficiency directive (EED III) came into force, introducing specific regulations for data centers and creating more transparency about their ecological footprint.

What does the new certification bring?

The "UZ80" certification offers Austrian data centers the opportunity to make their environmentally friendly efforts visible and to make them attractive for public tenders and consumers. According to information from the environmental sign, this initiative is a significant step towards a more energy-efficient future. Andreas Tschulik, a representative of the environmental sign, emphasizes that the development of the guidelines took more than two years, since the topics of energy and resource efficiency are complex in data centers.

In order to qualify for the UZ80 seal, the data centers have to prove that they work particularly energy-efficiently and resource-saving. A long -term strategy to increase energy efficiency plays a crucial role. In addition, continuous monitoring of energy and water consumption is required. A detailed energy efficiency report, in which goals for increasing efficiency are set, is also part of the application.

use of waste heat as best practice

A positive example of the sensible use of waste heat is the Floridsdorf hospital in Vienna. Here a large part of the heat requirement is covered by the waste heat of the server rooms. By cooling the air in the server rooms to about 26 ° C, the resulting cool air can be increased to 82 ° C using heat pumps. As a result, the hospital can cover between 50 and 70 percent of its heat requirement with this effectively used waste heat. The Austrian government supported the project with 3.5 million euros from the environmental fund, and it is speculated that in the future the surrounding districts could also be heated by such measures.

The Federal Correct Center has already taken steps to qualify for the new certification; Private data centers also show interest. It remains to be seen at which data center in Austria the first UZ80 seal will be awarded.

The implementation of the new guideline and the introduction of the UZ80 seal illustrate the challenges and opportunities associated with digitization and the increasing energy requirement of the ICT sector. The focus here is not only to reduce energy consumption, but also on sustainable energy generation and use of resources, which is of great importance for the environment and can promote a more efficient society of the future. A deeper analysis of these topics offers The article from www.trendingopics.eu .