Water consumption concerns as data center use increases
October 10, 2024
How can we take a more sustainable approach to cooling data centers? Justin Hsiao and Saahil Tumber share thoughts in Building Operating Management.
It’s a great time to be in the data center business according to JLL’s new U.S. Data Center Report, which indicates that the market has doubled in size in four years.
“This incredible trajectory is being driven by our voracious fourth industrial revolution appetite for digital services; every application you use, photo you take and video you record generates content which consumes data center space and energy,” says Sean Farney, vice president, Americas Data Center Strategy, JLL. “Without restricting access or authoring capabilities—especially as each new generation becomes more digitally native—this growth will continue upward.”
The growth in data centers is also being driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, high-performance computing, cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality, social media and autonomous vehicles, among other factors.
“From what we've observed, this growth isn’t limited to certain regions of the country. There is a renewed focus on emerging, smaller markets as the established, major markets are seeing significant power delivery times,” says Justin Hsiao, mechanical senior project engineer, Stantec.