While government’s appetite for regulating and enforcing sustainable practices vary globally, Europe is widely seen as the most progressive when it comes to businesses and data centers in particular. In this article, we explore the EU’s regulatory intent and its impact on traditional data centers and modular data centers (MDCs).

It should be noted that the EU’s regulatory policies are being adopted elsewhere. In Asia, Singapore and Malaysia are leading the way in developing sustainable data center policies. Similar policies have been proposed in the US, but as yet have not been adopted.

Why Are Sustainable Regulations Needed?

The EU has set an overall 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% (compared to 1990). A key strategy toward this goal is to focus on increased energy efficiency. To that end, the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), along with other energy and climate rules, has been adopted which includes an obligation for monitoring and reporting the energy performance of data centers via a European database.

The database will collect and regularly publish aggregate data on the energy performance and water footprint of data centers with significant energy consumption – mainly any data center with a power demand of 500 kW or more. The EED provides guidance on what data is required to be reported and how the data is to be calculated to ensure uniformity.

Data center operators, owners and businesses need to be aware of the sustainability regulations and the performance indicators that will be collected in the database. At this point, these are required reporting regulations only and there are no ‘not to exceed’ numbers in place.

A Brief Look at the Reporting Requirements: 

Sustainable Performance Indicators of Data Centers

• Power demand of all installed information technology.
• Total floor area – if the data center is in a shared space or if components of the data center serve other areas of the structure, a percentage is allowed in the total floor area calculation. If a data center comprises several buildings, they all must be included in the total floor area calculation. A separate calculation for the total floor area of computers is also required.
• Total energy consumption measured in kWh of the data center (not including backup generators). This includes the use of electricity, fuels and other energy sources used for cooling.
• Total energy consumption of IT equipment – annual energy consumption at every UPS connected to the data center’s IT equipment.

Measurement of Energy Consumption

• Any data center functions that support the stability, reliability, and resilience of the electrical grid such as peak demand shifting or firm frequency response.
• Average battery capacity of any data center batteries offered to the electrical grid.
• Total water input – a measure of all water volumes used within the data center for environmental, power, security and IT purposes.

Water input and Waste Heat Reused

• Total potable water input that enters the data center.
• Waste heat reused outside of the datacenter.
• Average waste heat temperature of the fluid used to cool data center equipment. Reporting is also required on the types of refrigerants used in cooling and A/C equipment, the number of cooling degree days in a calendar year as defined by provided methodology and with a base temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.
• Total renewable energy consumption and total renewable energy consumption from Guarantees of Origin that are purchased and retired (e.g. carbon credits).

ICT Capacity

• Server capacity (active state) for each server or group of servers typically measured by pre-defined methods or provided by the server manufacturer. When servers are upgraded, these calculations are redone.
• Storage capacity of all SSD and HDD storage devices.

Data Traffic

• Incoming traffic bandwidth.
• Outgoing traffic bandwidth.
• Incoming data traffic.
• Outgoing data traffic.

As you can see, the reporting burden is not insignificant. The reporting database will be used to set standards of future operation and form the basis for compliance and penalties. It is best to partner with a data center provider that knows these regulations and can advise you in the planning phase on the equipment and data center design that puts you in a position to meet the reporting requirements now and potential future compliances.

Other EU regulations that impact data centers

The EED is only one of the regulations that you need to be concerned with. Depending on the region, there may be country-specific regulations on data center construction, cooling methods and energy usage. The main set of sustainability requirements are under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) whose regulations have a phased rollout beginning in 2024 through to 2026 for EU companies and through 2028 for non-EU companies that fall under the regulation depending on their annual turnover.

In addition to stating their sustainability target and annual progress toward those targets, companies are required to disclose greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. And, beginning in 2026, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate any negative human rights and environmental impacts in their operations and value chains. Other regulations are in place intended to address climate change, chemical management, and electronic/electrical waste.

If your head is spinning over these regulations, you are not alone. It is imperative that you work with a partner who understands these regulations and can advise you at the planning and design phases of your data center project on how best to be compliant and assist in establishing systems that make reporting a part of normal operations.

ECOBLOX has the experience and expertise to aid in new modular data center projects and updating existing data centers to be better equipped to comply with these new regulations. In addition, ECOBLOX’s DCIM software platform can automatically monitor, capture and report the required metrics.