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Characteristics of low-carbon data centres

Nature Climate Change volume 3, pages 627–630 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Data centre services hold promise for reducing societal carbon emissions, but an imperfect and evolving portfolio of performance metrics obscures which data centre characteristics correspond to low-carbon operations. Meanwhile, policymakers face a pressing question: can we identify and promote tangible characteristics that reliably represent low-carbon data centres today while the world awaits better metrics? Fortunately, data centre energy models can provide actionable guidance. Here, we present results that identify such characteristics and illuminate the factors that govern a data centre's actual carbon performance. These results can help public and private sector policymakers accelerate the transition to a low-carbon Internet by aligning data centre incentives with factors that truly matter.

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Figure 1: Prototypical US data centre carbon footprint and plausible reductions.
Figure 2: Energy–carbon performance map.

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Acknowledgements

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is supported by the US Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Room L494, Evanston, 60208, Illinois, USA

    Eric Masanet

  2. Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Building 90R2000, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Arman Shehabi

  3. Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University, PO Box 1545, Burlingame, 94010, California, USA

    Jonathan Koomey

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  1. Eric Masanet
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Correspondence to Eric Masanet.

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S1: Methods, data sources, and assumptions for Figure 1 (PDF 508 kb)

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Masanet, E., Shehabi, A. & Koomey, J. Characteristics of low-carbon data centres. Nature Clim Change 3, 627–630 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1786

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