How to Conserve Water in a Data Center

As businessess become increasingly more dependent on data centers, the need for continuous uptime becomes even more imperative. In an earlier post, we talked about how water cooling was more efficient than air-based cooling. Data centers that utilize the water-based cooling infrastructure consume water, and the higher the uptime requirement, the more water consumed. So what can a data center do to conserve water? Here are some tips:

Use closed loop cooling systems

Closed loop cooling systems have less evaporation that open loop systems. Closed loop systems use less water over time.

Increase efficiency of your data center hardware

The more energy consumed by the hardware in your facility, more heat will be generated and the requirement of water to cool it will be greater. Therefore, it is vital to maintain a definitive operational standard which ensures maximum output from minimal energy consumption.

Use recycled water

The water used for cooling data centers doesn’t need to be high quality like potable water, so you can make use of water that is recycled from places such as kitchen sinks and tubs.

Couple air and other alternative cooling mechanisms with water based cooling

Use methods such as hot aisle/cold aisle containment and free air circulation that add more strength to the cooling infrastructure without having to increase the consumption of water.

Choose the location wisely

It is recommended that you build a data center facility near a river or a water body that has plenty of water available, as opposed to land-locked areas  where sourcing water is a cumbersome task.

The cost of almost all resources rise over time. Water is becoming one of the more precious resources; data centers can do much to use water efficiently.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.