Can Electrolysis Reimagine Data Center Design?
With Singapore's business domain consuming 55% of the country's total water and predictions indicating a rise to 70% by 2060, the focus on sustainable water usage is more crucial than ever for industries like data centers.
In a landmark announcement, Digital Realty, a cloud and carrier-neutral data center solutions provider, has announced a cooling tower project at the SIN10 data center in Singapore. This move signals a milestone in water conservation and efficiency, especially for a city-state like Singapore, where water sustainability remains a primary concern.
This initiative is the maiden venture of this caliber in Singapore’s bustling data center realm. The technological marvel behind this feat is the DCI electrolysis process. Through this, Digital Realty has been able to eschew chemical treatments for blow-down water discharge. This innovative approach enables the reutilization of the same water pool in SIN10’s cooling towers thrice as much before discharging it as wastewater. The tangible result? A whopping 1.24 million liters of water are saved each month.
The impact of this initiative has been substantial. Post the DCI electrolysis adoption in February, there has been a 90% reduction in the monthly blow-down water discharge at SIN10. Moreover, the water usage efficiency (WUE) at SIN10 has seen a 15% surge, comfortably surpassing the Singapore Public Utilities Board's industry standard for data centers.
However, the benefits continue beyond water conservation. The SIN10 facility has witnessed reduced electricity demands due to less mineral accumulation in the cooling towers, ensuring the cooling systems operate optimally. This approach also diminishes the possibility of contaminating Singapore's water systems by discharging cleaner wastewater.
Digital Realty has always aimed to spearhead the data center sector's eco-conscious endeavors worldwide. Their holistic, science-driven methodology to sustainability stresses resource efficiency, covering energy, water, waste, and carbon. This project accentuates Digital Realty’s ongoing commitment to introducing actionable, impactful solutions to conserve essential resources globally. Since 2020, the firm has slashed its global water intensity by 7%. It complements other sustainability measures the company has rolled out in the Asia Pacific region, targeting significant reductions in carbon emissions by 2030.
Jon Curry, vice president of operations for APAC at Digital Realty, spoke about the company's drive, stating, “Digital Realty is committed to minimizing the environmental impact of data centers. This cooling tower initiative showcases how water usage can become far more efficient, and we hope this sets the standard for other data centers to follow.”
Expressing optimism over the project's potential, he added, "The project has yielded very promising results, and we intend to extend this initiative to our other two data centers in Singapore (SIN11 and SIN12) and do our part to optimize resource use in the industry. Sustainability will always be at the core of our business as we continue working toward building and maintaining data centers that maximize our customers' growth while minimizing our environmental impact."
Image credit: iStockphoto/zhoulaok
