The Technical Committee are prioritising the following papers. Participation of Members in the development of the papers is encouraged and will be highly beneficial. The Technical Committee recognises the expertise of all Members and how valuable contributions are. All contributions, including by the Technical Committee are volunteering for the benefit of fellow Members and the industry. Contributing Members and their Companies will be credited in the papers.

Hydrogen Use and Technologies

This paper will investigate and assess the differing spatial and capital expenditure considerations for the implementation of hydrogen stand-by generation as a direct replacement to conventional diesel generation in a data centre environment. 

In order to gauge the feasibility of hydrogen as an alternate to diesel generation, two options will be evaluated: Hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen gas turbines. Total spatial considerations for storage and generation will be compared, in addition to the overall equipment costs. 

These considerations will be applied to two example data centres, one offering 7.2MW of customer IT (retail colocation scale) and one 60MW fit-out (hyperscale).

Data Insight and Digital Twins

The intention of this paper is to show the benefits and pitfalls of harnessing data – readily available –as a next step in Data Centre Operations. The paper will allow the reader to understand the gap from its current situation of the Data Centre systems and the potential to be more data driven in benefit of sustainability.

A Digital Twin of a Data Centre is a combination of a 3D model and data from the building, its systems and sensor, mirroring the physical subject. When a digital twin is modelled correctly (including taxonomy, underlying relations and tagging) analysis can be performed by programs i.e. learning engines and predict by means of simulation.

The main advantage of a digital twin is less time consumption by employees figuring out energy efficiency improvements. In a labor market where competent candidates are becoming scarce and companies keep growing, the less time a competent employee has. 

It may also give employees “warnings” where energy efficiency is slipping after implementation – keeping sustainability in check.

Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE)

This paper will examine what WUE is, how to calculate it and how it is a helpful metric for data centres. It will consider location issues and factors for different system types, with sample calculations for typical data centre case studies. It will also explore what can be done to improve WUE in practical terms and factors for Data Centre Designers and Operators to consider.

Whole Life Carbon for Data Centres

This paper will explain what a Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) is, some of the methodologies and reporting frameworks that currently exist. The paper will summarise the benefits of carrying out WLCA’s and how they can offer value to data centre operators in a time when there is a growing focus on decarbonisation, embodied carbon, and its impacts on our planet. It will also highlight some of the challenges the industry faces and provide recommendations on how to tackle these.

Zero Run Hours Diesel Generators 

There is a growing global perception that diesel generators are bad and should be eliminated as we move to being a carbon neutral industry by 2030. This is unrealistic at present and there are opportunities to significantly reduce carbon emissions and to demonstrate how the industry to responding to external pressures. 

There is potential to reduce the standby run hours for diesel generators and hence reduce carbon emissions and operating and maintenance costs. This paper will consider the technical challenges and potentially solutions taking into account current practice as well as emerging innovations from diesel generator manufacturers. Environmental, reliability and risk factors will be explored. 

Those interested in contributing should email papers@eudca.org to express their interest giving details of which paper they would like to participate in drafting.