The planet is warming. Climate change is creating hotter and drier summers, warmer and wetter winters, and more frequent and intense weather extremes. The UK Met Office’s State of the UK Climate report showed the ten hottest years in the UK since 1884 occurred since 2002, and this summer, Death Valley in California recorded a temperature just 2.8 degrees celsius below the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded on earth. Meanwhile, in Europe, 64 wildfires started in Greece on the hottest day of the season so far, and Italy has experienced temperatures of 44 degrees celsius and even ‘tennis-ball sized hailstorms’.
All industries have a responsibility towards the climate, including the data center sector, and we are committed to playing our part towards a more sustainable future. In all our European operations, CyrusOne has already shifted to 100% renewable energy, and for the first time, more than 50% of electricity powering our facilities globally was covered by zero-carbon renewable sources. As detailed in our 2023 Sustainability Report, our climate targets received validation from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi):
- By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
- By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
While we all work together to combat climate change, it is also important to adapt to change that is already occurring. Data center providers which don’t invest in planning for cooling in very hot weather at all would risk exposing themselves and their customer base to potential server downtime, and conversely, if temperatures became too cold, systems could face component failure and widespread pipe bursts.
CyrusOne’s approach
CyrusOne’s colocation, hyperscale, and built-to-serve environments offer world-class flexibility and long-term stability. We work with a sustainability mindset and design our data centers to future-proof them. In other words, we take an agile and proactive approach to mitigating instances of extreme weather to continually maintain environmental conditions in our data halls for our customers, so that whatever the weather, they remain resilient.
As a basis, we follow the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) industry standards for data center cooling planning. But, as these standards just provide the expected maximum and minimum temperatures, they cannot accurately account for the extremes being observed across Europe, we also plan for what temperatures could reach so we are always prepared.
Our uptime record compared to others in the industry is a testament to our processes and our outstanding team members who think ahead strategically and work quickly to adapt to change.
At CyrusOne, we have our best and brightest engineers consistently tracking local short and long-range weather forecasting and determining the most appropriate ‘trigger points’ for additional action at each site via our building management systems, actions which may include greater servicing, enhanced operating procedures or increasing the head count. We also plan for potential needs for additional cooling capacity, making sure they are ready for use at the drop of a hat and that our colleagues are fully trained and prepared for deployments so there is no gap in uptime. And, with future weather events remaining unpredictable, we also keep track of data to help us improve how we keep everything cool in the event of even greater extremes to reduce future risk and help us with future data center designs.
With proper planning, monitoring, analysis, and ability to adapt to change, it’s no surprise our customers keep coming back to us for support with their data center requirements. We’re taking the long-term view, investing in ESG as well as putting steps in place to protect data centers and our customer data, and that’s what will keep us successful for years to come so we are always prepared.
To learn more about our approach to sustainability, visit our website here.
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