Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies
Summary: The climate impact of data centers is expected to increase due to rising demand for information and communication technology services. At the same time, the European Union aims for climate neutral data centers by 2030. To map potential developments of emissions associated with data centers...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | iScience |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224028645 |
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| author | Tuğana Aslan Peter Holzapfel Lutz Stobbe Andreas Grimm Nils F. Nissen Matthias Finkbeiner |
| author_facet | Tuğana Aslan Peter Holzapfel Lutz Stobbe Andreas Grimm Nils F. Nissen Matthias Finkbeiner |
| author_sort | Tuğana Aslan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: The climate impact of data centers is expected to increase due to rising demand for information and communication technology services. At the same time, the European Union aims for climate neutral data centers by 2030. To map potential developments of emissions associated with data centers to the year 2030, we develop a generic data center greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory in accordance with the GHG protocol. Our results show that climate neutrality cannot be achieved by reduction measures only. We predict an increase in energy use for our illustrative Germany-based data center by 20%, and an increase in the overall carbon footprint by 13% between 2020 and 2030. Although operational measures and increased use of renewable electricity can decrease GHG emissions over the 2020 level by up to 70%, achieving net zero inevitably requires mechanisms to mitigate and compensate emissions across the value chain. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f4efe192b8d44fa3b3d873d2b9458a9a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj-art-f4efe192b8d44fa3b3d873d2b9458a9a2025-01-11T06:41:49ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-01-01281111637Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategiesTuğana Aslan0Peter Holzapfel1Lutz Stobbe2Andreas Grimm3Nils F. Nissen4Matthias Finkbeiner5Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics/Research Fab Microelectronics Germany, Berlin, Germany; Corresponding authorChair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Environmental & Reliability Engineering, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, Berlin, GermanyFraunhofer Group for Microelectronics/Research Fab Microelectronics Germany, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Environmental & Reliability Engineering, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, Berlin, GermanyChair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanySummary: The climate impact of data centers is expected to increase due to rising demand for information and communication technology services. At the same time, the European Union aims for climate neutral data centers by 2030. To map potential developments of emissions associated with data centers to the year 2030, we develop a generic data center greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory in accordance with the GHG protocol. Our results show that climate neutrality cannot be achieved by reduction measures only. We predict an increase in energy use for our illustrative Germany-based data center by 20%, and an increase in the overall carbon footprint by 13% between 2020 and 2030. Although operational measures and increased use of renewable electricity can decrease GHG emissions over the 2020 level by up to 70%, achieving net zero inevitably requires mechanisms to mitigate and compensate emissions across the value chain.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224028645Information systemsEnergy sustainabilityEnergy systemsEnergy Modelling |
| spellingShingle | Tuğana Aslan Peter Holzapfel Lutz Stobbe Andreas Grimm Nils F. Nissen Matthias Finkbeiner Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies iScience Information systems Energy sustainability Energy systems Energy Modelling |
| title | Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies |
| title_full | Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies |
| title_fullStr | Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies |
| title_short | Toward climate neutral data centers: Greenhouse gas inventory, scenarios, and strategies |
| title_sort | toward climate neutral data centers greenhouse gas inventory scenarios and strategies |
| topic | Information systems Energy sustainability Energy systems Energy Modelling |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224028645 |
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