Vienna's data center: Austria's first awarded with environmental signs!

Vienna's data center: Austria's first awarded with environmental signs!

The data center of the city of Vienna in the 22nd district was the first data center in Austria on May 25, 2025. This represents an important step towards sustainability, whereby the data center sets new standards in technology and environmentally friendly practice. With the implementation of an environmentally friendly and resource-saving energy monitoring system, the efficiency of operational processes is continuously monitored in order to document progress and develop energy saving measures.

The cooling systems that use outside air and local groundwater are particularly innovative. In certain months, even cold aggregates can be completely omitted, which leads to significant electricity savings. The growing demand for IT services in Vienna is effectively supported by these measures. According to press.wien.gv.at, the data centers in Austria needed a total of 1.2 terawatt hours (TWH), enough for around 400,000 households.

challenges of the industry

Despite these progress, data centers face major challenges. Energy consumption increases with the increasing use of artificial intelligence, which also contains the energy transition. These developments can also be seen in the context of the data consumption in Austria, which has risen significantly since Corona pandemic, as wien.orf.at

In order to reduce the ecological footprint of the industry, the certification with the environmental label has reacted to market development since the end of 2024. This guideline, known as UZ80, signals energy and resource-efficient services in data centers, whereby the Federal Ministry of Climate Protection (BMK) has set up the criteria. Special efforts are required to increase energy efficiency and to ensure environmental compatibility.

use of waste heat

One of the solutions for increasing efficiency is the use of waste heat, which is already implemented in several data centers. In Frankfurt am Main, for example, large -scale heat pumps cover 60 % of the heat requirement of a residential area with data center. Digital reality is used in Vienna to heat the Floridsdorf Clinic. These innovative approaches are necessary in order to reduce the increase in energy consumption and the large amount of unused waste heat by data centers, as described in detail in the guidelines, which also developed the [Envilatziche.at] (https://www.umweltzeichen.at/de/start/neue-z-z-z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--zi--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--z--uz-uBrechen centers), which has also been significantly developed.

The data center in Vienna is operated by WSE Wiener Lockeort Development GmbH and used by Vienna Digital (MA 01). With the achievement of the environmental sign, the focus not only has on measures to improve energy efficiency, but also criteria for sustainable procurement in the federal area are also sought. This sign serves as an information instrument for customers and procurers so that energy -efficient data center services become transparent and understandable.