Hot Aisle Insight

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While this is the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, it is only the second annual International Data Center Day. So, how do we reconcile the Earth Day goals to mitigate climate change and pollution with the general perception that massive data centers are consuming terawatt hours of energy and creating a negative evironmental impact?

Welcome to the new decade, where uber-scale is the new normal. I can’t even keep track of the new data centers announced last year. We seem to have mastered the art of data center power delivery systems at scales that were previously unimaginable.

As is my usual practice for the annual predictions column, I queried the official Hot Aisle Insight virtual crystal ball for guidance on trends and developments that dominate in the coming year, especially since 2020 begins a new decade.

In several of my past columns, I have discussed liquid cooling. It would appear my articles over the past five years have had their effect, since lately it seems like almost everyone is offering some form of liquid cooling system.

In my last column, I discussed the new space race by Amazon and SpaceX to launch tens of thousands of satellites to provide internet access from anywhere on earth.

It has been almost three years since the ASHRAE 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers was finalized and went into effect in 2016, yet even today, many in the data center industry are not fully aware of its existence or its implications.