White Paper: Fundamental Measures of Data Center Sustainability

As digital transformation continues to accelerate across the globe, the rising demand for data centers inevitably leads to increased energy consumption, carbon emissions, and water usage. Simultaneously, global awareness regarding sustainability is on the rise, prompting the emergence of key regulatory frameworks, such as the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), California Title 24 in the USA, Singapore’s Data Centre Energy Efficiency Scheme (DCS), Australia’s National Built Environment Rating System (NABERS), and United States SEC Climate Risk Disclosures. These directives, designed to manage environmental impacts, have highlighted the importance of sustainability in data center management. This whitepaper explores critical sustainability measures of data centers as outlined by various regulatory bodies, seeking to empower readers with a comprehensive understanding of data center sustainability in the light of these international directives. It delves into metrics like Average Delta T, Cooling Efficiency, Energy Consumption, Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), Total CO2, Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), Server Utilization, and Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE). By understanding and applying these measures, data centers can optimize their performance while reducing their environmental impact in an effective, compliant manner.