Sustainability

Green Data Centers

Datacenter Rotterdam and Datacenter Groningen were already energy-efficient, but we are continuously making them greener. For instance, in 2012, our Datacenter in Rotterdam was one of the most energy-efficient data centers in Europe.

Bytesnet is committed to a safe and sustainable digital society. This commitment is reflected in our services, the way our data centers operate, and the various measures we take to minimize CO2 emissions. This is not only good for the planet but also benefits our data centers, employees, and customers.

Green Energy

Bytesnet purchases green energy through Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) certificates. A GoO is a document that proves the origin of sustainably produced energy. The issuance and trading of GoOs are regulated by law and are part of the European Energy Certificate System (EECS), managed by the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB). GoOs can be issued for electricity generated from solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass.

In recent years, there have been questions raised about electricity from biomass and hydropower, as it may include partially grey energy. Therefore, Bytesnet purchases GoOs from European Wind sources.

Hydrogen

As the first datacenter in the Netherlands, Bytesnet is participating in a pilot to utilize green hydrogen for electricity supply. We support the Hydrogen Valley Noord-Nederland project within the HEAVENN project. At d’Root, our Datacenter in Groningen, a fuel cell installation will use green hydrogen to provide a part of our electricity supply, especially during peak hours.

Cooling without drinking water

Computers and servers generate a significant amount of heat. Cooling is essential to prevent equipment overheating and automatic shutdowns. Data centers typically use large cooling systems, and many of them rely not only on electricity but also on a significant amount of drinking water for cooling purposes. Evaporating water is part of a cooling method that is efficient, but the high consumption of drinking water has its downside, especially during water shortages in warm summers.

Bytesnet has opted for cooling methods in its data centers in Rotterdam and Groningen that do not use drinking water but are still highly efficient, making the most of cool outdoor air. The Rotterdam Datacenter uses the Kyotowiel, while the new d’ROOT Datacenter in Groningen utilizes the Low-Speed Ventilation technique in combination with a closed cooling system. To learn more, read our article ‘Sustainability is in the DNA of Bytesnet’.

Residual Heat

A significant amount of energy used in data centers is required for cooling server rooms. At Bytesnet, we have been using free air cooling for many years, a smart and efficient way to utilize outdoor air.

In Datacenter Groningen, we have a partnership with WarmteStad to supply the heat produced by servers (27ºC-35ºC) and our HPC platform (50ºC-55ºC) for our science cloud to WarmteStad’s district heating network, benefiting the heating of homes and buildings in the city of Groningen

Immersion Cooling

In Datacenter Groningen, customers dealing with large volumes of data and algorithms can utilize the High Performance Computing services provided by Bytesnet. These processors are energy-intensive and generate more heat, which places higher demands on cooling.

To address this, we employ Immersion Cooling, a technology developed by the Dutch company Asperitas. In this closed liquid-cooled system, servers are submerged in a special oil. Cooling in this manner is not only much more efficient than air cooling but also allows for better reuse of the released heat, as it is of a higher temperature. As a result, the CO2 reduction for the district heating network is at least 55 percent.

SmartPower&Performance

Many of our customers’ IT managers choose the maximum power management settings (High Available) for their servers to ensure constant availability. However, this results in the servers running continuously at their maximum power, even when it is not necessary.

In collaboration with our Dutch partner Tuuring, we have developed a platform that monitors server performance and energy consumption. Together, we have created a solution to combine power management with Performance Management: SmartPower&Performance. This offering allows customers to reduce server energy consumption by at least 10% without sacrificing performance. This not only leads to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions but also offers attractive cost savings. Moreover, optimizing power management is recognized by the Dutch government as an energy-saving measure for businesses to comply with their energy-saving obligations.

Low PUE Value

At Bytesnet, we are conscious of our carbon footprint, and we also help our customers reduce theirs. A useful metric in our industry is the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), which indicates the energy efficiency of a data center, including all supporting equipment. It represents the total energy usage of a data center divided by the usage by the IT equipment. The ideal PUE value is 1, where all energy is utilized for IT equipment. On average, Dutch data centers score a PUE value of 1.3. The design PUE value of our data center in Groningen is calculated at 1.13. Based on the current filling, we already achieve a PUE value of 1.25.