Diegem / Antwerp / Aalst, October 11, 2018 - The three LCL data centers participate in the "European Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers" program. This is an initiative of the European Commission's scientific service. The aim is to reduce the energy consumption of data centers in Europe and thus reduce CO2 emissions, reduce global warming and also save costs. In addition to being a participant, LCL is the first data center company in Belgium to also be "endorser". As an "endorser", LCL advises clients on how to use the installations better to save energy.
The IT sector is responsible for up to 2% of global CO2 emissions. Moreover, it is estimated that data centers have the fastest growing ecological footprint from the entire IT sector, including new developments such as cloud computing and digitization. The "European Code of Conduct" for data centers was designed to limit the increasing energy consumption of data centers and to reduce the impact on the environment, economy and energy security. The program sets out ambitious standards that inform and encourage participants to reduce their energy consumption in a cost-efficient manner, without impeding the critical function of data centers. The UN report this week showed that "far-reaching and unseen" changes are needed to achieve the climate target.
LCL is approved as a participant in the program. For example, the data center company promises to adopt the standards of the code of conduct in a continuous improvement process. For the application process, LCL has carried out an energy zero measurement and audit to identify the savings options. In addition, LCL has submitted an action plan. The next step is to implement the action plan and regularly monitor energy consumption. To conduct the audit and prepare the action plan, LCL called on the advice of the sustainable IT consultancy company Carbon3IT.
"The aim is to be even more aware of the consumption of our data centers and their impact on the environment," says managing director Laurens van Reijen. “Data centers are major users, but they are also indispensable. That is why we need to think about ways to optimize its energy efficiency. We now have a better view of our energy consumption and proactively think about future actions to control it. The first domain we focus on is making cooling more energy efficient. The results of our efforts can already be seen there. ”
The power usage effectiveness (PUE) is calculated by dividing the total consumption of the data center by the energy consumption of the IT equipment (servers, storage, network). The closer that number 1 approaches, the more energy-efficient the data center. The PUE of LCL has fallen by 5 to 7% since the start of the application process.
In addition, LCL is the first data center company in Belgium to also be "endorser": promoter and advisor of its customers' code of conduct. The organization provides best practice guidelines for energy management. "There will be more and more rules for IT companies," says van Reijen. “We are happy to advise our customers on the best practices they can implement to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. We are already looking forward to the new guidelines on the ecological design of servers that the committee is currently working out. That way our customers can consciously buy energy efficient servers. "
