(09 November 2020) – Today, the European Commission publishes the results of a study that shows technical and policy options to limit surge in energy consumption for cloud and data centres.
Results show that energy consumption of data centres in EU Member States is expected to increase from 2.7% of the electricity demand in 2018 to 3.2% by 2030. The study provides technical and policy options to limit this increase.
Technical solutions include more efficient cooling systems, heat reuse, the use of renewable energy to supply data centres, and the construction of these data centres in regions with a cold climate.
Policy options include the use of Green Public Procurement, rules for Europe’s public authorities to use their purchasing power to choose environmentally friendly services but also setting up transparency requirements and fostering uniform indicators for energy-efficiency.