Data center energy efficiency and sustainability have become mandatory considerations among data center managers over the past few years. While big tech firms, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, run their data center operations very efficiently and have committed to transitioning to 100% renewable energy, globally, data center power consumption amounts to approximately 416 terawatts — roughly 3% of all electricity generated on the planet.
Worldwide, internet traffic tripled between 2015 and 2019 and is expected to double by 2022, according to Cisco. Meanwhile, the proliferation of AI applications among enterprises and the anticipated surge in the number of sensors expected to be deployed with the mainstream adoption of the IoT raises the questions of how much more energy usage in data centers will increase, and what this growth will mean for the release of carbon emissions globally.