Top 20 Data Centre Energy Executives: Lex Coors, CTIO, Digital Realty

I can split this into a few parts. I am President of the European Data Centre Association, the Chair of the Policy Committee of the European Data Centres Association and a Board Member of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, a contributor member of the SMR programme from the European Commission (on the education and supply chain part), and a spectator of the Hydrogen Alliance. To ensure that you continue to grow and understand where the market is heading, it is important to keep your finger on the pulse and investigate all angles.

Looking at Digital Realty, we have SBTi [Science Based Targets Initiative] targets which represent a proactive and science-based approach to climate action. We are committed to the road to net zero and continuously reducing our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions.

Our strategy is not only about ensuring affordable energy, but also delivering affordable, sustainable products for our clients – energy is just one component. To achieve this, we focus on three areas – how to build, how to power and how to better operate more sustainable data centres.

In the build component, we must build and construct sustainable data centres which mimimise the impact on the community. Can we develop a design which miminises the amount of materials required? Are we designing for a low PUE? Further, are we looking at PUE in the right way? For example, using additional water is an easy way to bring your PUE down, yet water is valuable resource. Energy re-use is another important element, since 2010, 60-70% of our portfolio has been energy re-use ready.

With regards to power, Digital Realty uses 100% renewable energy. We are seeing our customers coming with us on this journey, they are not going to our competitors because green energy is slightly more expensive. This is also a great thing about the Climate Neutral Data Centre pact, the industry has jointly agreed to be on 100% renewable energy by 2030 and 75% by 2027. Collectively we are coming together to do the right thing for the planet.

With the third element, operations, we are making continuous improvements through technology investments and also simple target setting every year. Each year, we push to bring down PUE a little more, this is how you get really good results – continuous incremental improvements.

Before doing so, I must highlight all the good work that has been going on before this. We have been running on 100% clean energy for ten years, since 2015 we have been the largest US REIT issuer of green bonds, issuing over US$6bn, and we have contracted over 1.4GW of renewables globally – enough to power a small to medium sized city. Plus, we have a portfolio of over 12 million square feet (1.1 million sqm) with sustainable certifications.

Looking specifically at the past 12 months, we implemented the Apollo platform which uses machine learning to autodetect operational inefficiencies. This can, for example, detect clogged filters or detect deviations between supposedly parallel operating systems like chillers and suggest optimisations. Since it was deployed, . Apollo has achieved 18GW hours of energy savings – the equivalent of 1600 US households. We are now in the process of expanding the platform to Asia Pacific. The Apollo platform supports Digital Realty’s global sustainability targets by looking at energy efficiency improvements, and it also enables reliability improvements. Apollo also demonstrates how AI can be used for good within the industry.

My biggest concern is around what we are doing to the planet, and how we can ensure that we use and don’t abuse the resources that we have available.

For example, in Marseille we use water from the river to cool our data centres. When the water is released to the sea, we ensure that it is not higher than the sea temperature. If the exit water does reach that threshold, we switch to normal cooling. Other people, however, release hot water into rivers with the mindset that the impact on a big river is marginal. However, if everyone thought this way, the total impact would be significant.

As an industry we need to ensure that we are doing the right thing. This is why I am involved in hydrogen, SMRs and a whole host of other things to ensure we can strike the right balance of doing what is right for the planet whilst also making sensible business and economic decisions.  For example, some might say switching off a data centre is a more sustainable solution, but this is not a feasible option – it will impact the economy and prevent people from being able to do business.

I am fortunate that within the company I am given time to look at these things. This means that rather than keeping me awake at night, it keeps me busy in the day!