Shulou(Shulou.com)06/01 Report--

The concept of energy conservation and environmental protection has been deeply integrated into the process of data center construction. Today, energy conservation and environmental protection is a top priority for both new data centers and upgrades and expansions to existing data centers, and the key to achieving this goal is improving the overall energy efficiency of the data center. Equinix's practice illustrates this point.

In a newly released report, Green Click: How Companies Create Green Networks, Greenpeace analyzes how companies, including Equinix, are responding to green initiatives and using renewable resources to offset the potential environmental impact of operating the global Internet. Equinix is a world-renowned data center hosting provider with more than 100 data centers worldwide. If service providers like Equinix around the world can make positive improvements in equipment room design and operations, they can more effectively promote energy conservation and achieve sustainable development.

Energy conservation and environmental protection are beneficial to society

Equinix is planning a new green portal. Equinix will provide a chart showing energy demand, associated greenhouse gas footprints and regional power supply structure. Equinix has implemented a number of measures in its newly built plant rooms to improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption, including fuel cells, solar energy and green roofs. Equinix believes that increasing transparency in a company's energy use is the first step to influencing the entire market.

Mark Adams, chief development officer of Equinix, said: "The digital economy needs to be powered by electricity. The terminal equipment we carry with us is more inseparable from the support of electricity. Developing and implementing new and more efficient ways of using energy on a global scale is our mission as a technology innovator. Equinix is at the center of bringing together technologies such as the Internet, cloud and Internet of Things (IOT). We are committed to improving the efficiency of new data centers. "

Greenpeace points out that for the roughly 2.5 billion people globally connected, life without the Internet is unthinkable. Networks have restructured the fabric of everyday life and have become the basis of the global economy.

Equinix has played a very important role in the rapid development of the Internet for 15 years. Today, Equinix provides critical network connectivity and interconnection services that allow users to communicate across continents and seamlessly move data around the globe 24/7.

Greenpeace's report and Cisco VNI Index show that the number of connected users worldwide will grow from 2.3 billion in 2012 to 3.6 billion in 2017, accounting for approximately 50% of the global population. The degree of user dependence on the network will gradually deepen. Greenpeace's report also noted that rapid growth in cloud and Internet applications has increased people's demand for electricity.

Data center business wholesalers and colocation service providers are at the heart of power demand. Data centers are big consumers of electricity, not only to provide continuous power to critical network infrastructure, but also to ensure the reliability of data center operations. Network uptime is a key indicator to measure the quality of Internet service. Equinix prides itself on providing customers with industry-leading 99.999% data center availability.

The good news is that the internet is getting greener. Equinix has been building new or expanding existing data centers around the world. Equinix has developed best practices, theories and methodologies for data center sustainability that have been applied to new data centers.

Improving data center energy efficiency

Whether building a new data center or upgrading existing data center infrastructure, energy efficiency and sustainability are Equinix's focus. Equinix has implemented a number of new measures to reduce the environmental impact of data center operations.

At present, the major global carbon emitters are mainly concentrated in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Equinix is investing heavily in technologies that can effectively reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint. Since 2011, the Equinix Environmental Program has reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 50,000 tons, equivalent to nearly 10,000 cars per year.

Each Equinix data center incorporates new technologies and processes to reduce environmental impact. All Equinix data centers meet international environmental and energy management standards, and Equinix headquarters in Silicon Valley, California, USA, is LEED Gold certified. In addition, Equinix's data centers reduced electricity demand by 25 percent in 2013 by sourcing renewable energy. Equinix has also received Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and is actively utilizing local green energy in some of its data centers.

Equinix is committed to the continuous adoption of new energy sources and strives to strike a balance between energy costs and customer needs while remaining consistent with government policies. In fact, Equinix is already 100% renewable in Europe to power its data centers. Equinix is also actively evaluating renewable resources and alternative solutions around the world to meet short-and long-term application needs.

Equinix continuously evaluates data center energy efficiency and applies proven energy-efficient technologies and processes worldwide. For example, proactive monitoring of air flow systems to reduce electricity consumption has become standard technology for data center operations. Optimizing the cold channel inside the data center, effectively controlling the temperature, improving the efficiency of the chiller, effectively controlling the flow of chilled water, and using a modern lighting system have also been widely recognized by users.

With these green energy savings, Equinix's data center saves the equivalent of 8000 U.S. homes lighting electricity in one year.

The following green energy technologies have been widely deployed in Equinix data centers around the world: Adaptive control systems can proactively manage air flow through intelligent, distributed sensors and innovative control strategies to reduce energy consumption;ASHRAE thermal guidance has become an important technology to control the internal temperature of data center infrastructure, which can effectively reduce energy consumption while keeping computing equipment below safe operating temperatures; The use of cold/hot channel control technology can effectively avoid the mixing of cold air in the data center supply channel and warm air in the exhaust channel, thus achieving energy savings; energy-saving lighting systems are adopted, and motion activation control is adopted inside the data center, which can reduce energy consumption and ambient heat brought by lighting; variable frequency drives are deployed in chillers, pumps and fans in HVAC(heating ventilation and air conditioning) systems, which can automatically reduce engine speed and power consumption.

Equinix has set PUE values of 1.45 or lower for its own data centers. When building new data centers, Equinix will prioritize improving the overall energy efficiency of the data center.

Innovations in Data Center Energy Saving Technology

Equinix designs and builds new data centers, often to take advantage of unique site conditions, reduce energy consumption and reduce carbon footprint. Equinix uses different green energy-saving technologies in data centers with special requirements.

Deep Lake Cooling Equinix's data center in Toronto reduces data center energy consumption by utilizing the city's deep lake cooling system. The system draws water from the frigid depths of Lake Ontario, Canada, to cool buildings in urban areas, including Equinix's data center. This new approach reduces overall data center energy consumption by 50 percent or more.

Aquifer Energy Storage (ATES) Equinix's ATES system at its data center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, uses ice-cold groundwater to cool the data center, abandoning traditional mechanical cooling. When the temperature of the data center exceeds 18 ° C, the ATES system automatically starts to cool the equipment. Heat generated by IT equipment itself is also collected to help heat buildings near the data center.

Equinix's Silicon Valley, California data center features state-of-the-art refrigeration system technology that significantly reduces the power consumption required to cool the data center floor. The system uses highly efficient direct expansion coil and innovative evaporative condensation system, which can achieve higher refrigeration efficiency than traditional air cooling methods.

Direct and indirect savings Equinix has deployed air and fluid (usually water or glycol) savings in data centers around the world to provide "free cooling" to data centers, keeping temperatures within acceptable limits while reducing energy consumption. These new energy-saving devices can even replace traditional mechanical cooling systems altogether. Users can decide whether to install these savings devices based on the climatic conditions of the data center location and the space conditions of the data center.

Particle Temperature Control System Equinix installed a particle temperature control system at its data center in Singapore, reducing the PUE of the data center by 15%. The control system has been installed in Equinix data centers in Chicago, Silicon Valley, Sydney and Hong Kong.

Equinix's data center in Zurich covers the roof of the data center with greenery, reducing cooling costs and also reducing rainwater runoff to avoid polluting nearby lakes and rivers.

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