The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia took place on September 5-6, 2024 in Singapore. It gathered pioneers, entrepreneurs, and authorities on sustainability. It tackled the urgent issues of energy use and environmental effects in the quickly expanding data center industry. With the explosion of global data use, the summit showed an invaluable opportunity. This is to examine the latest techniques for optimizing operational effectiveness and simultaneously reducing energy expenses and emissions. From artificial intelligence solutions to new cooling methodologies, the conference provided a complete overview of what to expect in future eco-friendly data centers. This article includes some of the important takeaways, interesting sessions, and great networking possibilities. These elements make sustainability events like these a must-attend event for anyone in the data center and sustainability industries.

Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia: What Did The Sessions Talk About?

The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia featured diverse sessions covering critical aspects of data center energy efficiency and sustainability. Here’s a breakdown of some key talks:

Local challenges, global impact: Mapping the journey of Data Centres in Asia

Pithambar GONA, CEO of STACK Infrastructure Asia Pacific, led this comprehensive session. The speaker explored the global impact of AI on data centers, the future of sustainable data centers, and the importance of a holistic approach. Furthermore, the discussion emphasized innovation in scaling sustainable solutions and highlighted the industry’s collective opportunity to lead in sustainability efforts. So, this addressed both local challenges and global impacts in the evolving landscape of data centers in Asia.

Carbon Footprint Reduction Strategies

Kavickumar MURUGANATHAN Microsoft gave some tips on how to decrease the carbon footprint in the data centers. Energy-saving technology adoption, renewable energy source investments, carbon offsetting programs, and renewable energy certificate acquisition were all discussed throughout the event. In addition, the speaker discussed the necessity of collaborating with stakeholders, utilities, and municipal governments to influence policy. These allow renewable energy and carbon reduction goals to be met in the data center industry.

Beyond Energy Efficiency: The Role of Environmental Commodities in Decarbonizing Data Centers

Aymeric de CONDE of Strive by STX discussed the paramount importance of environmental commodities in the decarbonization of data centers. Topics discussed in the seminar included STX’s decarbonization offerings, the expansion of data centers abroad and throughout Southeast Asia, and the growing need for electricity. Furthermore, the speaker discussed key decarbonization drivers, including regulatory pressures, corporate net-zero targets, and market demand for low-carbon data centers. Moreover, the discussion ended with some strategies on how to combat emissions. It also reflected some options to do so outside the scope of the value chain.

Heat Transfer and Waste Heat Management

Richard MILLS of ESR Data Centres discussed the commercial rewards of heat transfer and utilization in data centers. So, the session explored collaboration opportunities with power grids and local communities for efficient heat management. Furthermore, the speaker talked about setting up and enforcing heat-sharing agreements, and how contract management is a key part of these types of endeavors. Additionally, the session highlighted innovative approaches to turning waste heat into a valuable resource.

Strategies For Sustainable Data Center Operations

Chandra IRAWAN of Pure Data Centers Group discussed the core strategies for green data centers. Furthermore, the session covered crucial factors in data center design, the utilization of renewable energy, and the implementation of energy-saving measures. Moreover, the speaker talked about ways to cut back on carbon emissions in the scope 1, 2, and 3 of data center operations. The session also discussed global efforts and the best practices to have low-carbon data centers.

FIRESIDE CHAT

Eugene SEO, Managing Director of Data Centres at Capitaland, led this fireside chat introducing Capitaland Group and its Data Centre Business Vertical. Furthermore, the discussion focused on building and operating green and sustainable data centers. Moreover, the speaker pointed out the need for the data center value chain to work together on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concerns. The speaker also mentioned how Capitaland has been developing and managing sustainable data centers.

Datacenter Efficiency and Emissions: From Guesswork to Precision

Babak Falsafi, president of the SDEA (Swiss Datacenter Efficiency Association) spoke about the growing data center industry and how its consumption of energy is growing. Furthermore, the speaker presented SDEA’s holistic, full-stack DC energy efficiency and emissions architecture. He demonstrated the SDEA Navigator, which has three online calculators that allow one to measure operational DC & IT efficiency and emissions. So, this moves the guesswork out of the data center performance for the industry.

PANEL DISCUSSION: Collaboration and Industry Initiatives for Green Data Centers

This panel discussion featured Aymeric de CONDE from Strive by STX, Chandra IRAWAN from Pure Data Centers Group, and Kavickumar MURUGANATHAN from Microsoft. The experts shared insights on industry collaboration and initiatives for promoting green data centers. Additionally, they shared about their most successful practices and the hardships and benefits of greening in the data center industry.

Strategies for Scaling Sustainable Data Center Infrastructure

Suppan SARAVANAMUTHU, director of operations for Iron Mountain Data Centres in Asia Pacific, spoke about the best practices for infrastructure improvement of sustainable data centers. Furthermore, the session included a discussion of energy-efficient designs, renewable energy integration, and unique cooling methods. Moreover, the speaker discussed the data center industry and how to balance expansion with the environment.

FIRESIDE CHAT: Boosting the sustainability and green credentials of data centers

The fireside conversation on greener and more sustainable data center design was facilitated by CtrlS CEO and founder Sridhar PINNAPUREDDY. Furthermore, the discussion covered CtrlS’s approaches to environmental responsibility, energy efficiency, and sustainable practices in data center operations. Additionally, the speaker discussed how the company plans to mitigate environmental impact while still accommodating the increasing need for data.

Scalable And Compact: The Advantages of Modular Data Centers

Sujit PANDA, COO of BDx Data Centers, expounded on the benefits of modular data centers. Furthermore, the session covered flexibility in expansion, efficient space utilization, and adaptability to changing needs offered by modular designs. Moreover, the speaker pointed out how modular data centers are space-saving and conserve resources. The speaker also talked about how these data centers are easily adaptable to the constantly changing needs of the data center world.

Your Energy Supply: Strategies For Ensuring Reliability and Sustainability

Kevin TIRTADJAJA of Alibaba Cloud spoke about the increasing effects of data centers on the power grid. Furthermore, this session discussed ways to increase renewable energy production and use, commercial contracts for clean and renewable energy, and also the advantages and disadvantages of microgrids. The speaker also discussed best practice outage management strategies for data centers, balancing reliability with sustainability.

AI and digital infrastructure towards a sustainable future: A Tale Of Twin Transition

Yonggang WEN, President’s Chair in Computer Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, spoke on AI, digital infrastructure, and sustainability. Furthermore, the conversation went into how AI could help make the data centers more efficient and green. The session also shed light on all the problems and possibilities of this “dual transition” to a greener digital age.

Unlocking Sustainability: A Journey Inside a Cutting-Edge Datacenter

Michael HOLM, Global Sector Lead at Helsinki Data Center, Telia Company, gave the attendees a dive into a state-of-the-art center. The session covered the European Energy Directive’s impact on data centers, the importance of location for efficiency, grid integration through UPS, and innovative approaches to waste heat utilization. The speaker also provided Actual applications and approaches to increasing sustainability in today’s data center management.

Let’s know About The Sponsor For The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia

The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia was sponsored by STRIVE by STX as the Bronze Sponsor. STRIVE by STX is the climate action branch of STX Group, a firm that enables corporations to embark on their decarbonization path.

STRIVE by STX has a lot of experience with environmental commodities and provides customized decarbonization strategies. This helps companies to navigate the intricacies of environmental markets. Moreover, they are a global firm that assists sustainability-minded companies in reaching their net-zero targets and adhering to changing laws. The company specializes in sourcing a great range of decarbonization solutions. This includes:

• Renewable energy and Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs)
• Energy efficiency measures
• Biomethane and biofuels
• Carbon credits

This comprehensive approach aligns perfectly with the Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia’s focus on holistic sustainability strategies for data centers. In addition, STRIVE by STX’s attendance at the summit enhanced the conversation on sustainable data center operations by giving participants access to state-of-the-art information on environmental commodities and decarbonization techniques. It also underlined how important it is for technology providers, sustainability advisors, and data center managers to collaborate to meet the industry’s overall goals for energy efficiency and carbon reduction.

How Did The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia Provide Value For The Attendees?

The attendees of the Energy Efficiency for Data Centers Summit Asia received a great deal of value. Here’s how:

Cutting-edge insights: A distinguished lineup of speakers from top organizations and enterprises in the data center and sustainability sectors graced the event. This made way for the delegates to get knowledge about the most recent developments in energy conservation and the reduction of carbon footprints in the data center industry, including trends, technologies, and techniques.

Networking Opportunities: A two-hour cocktail reception and three hours of nonstop networking sessions gave guests plenty of opportunity to network with professionals from across the globe. These interactions led to a great deal of knowledge sharing, potential collaborations, and business opportunities.

Diverse Session Formats: Keynote speeches, panel discussions, fireside chats, and interactive presentations were all included in the conference. This variety ensured that complex topics were explored from multiple angles. It catered to different learning preferences and provided a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Global Perspective: With speakers and attendees from various countries and regions, the summit provided a global and practical perspective on data center energy efficiency. Gaining an understanding of various regulatory frameworks and local standards of excellence was made possible in particular by this global viewpoint.

Sustainability Focus: The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia offered a thorough examination of one of the most important issues confronting the data center industry at the moment by focusing the whole event on energy efficiency and sustainability. Attendees left with a thorough grasp of how to tackle sustainability in their operations because of this targeted approach.

To Sum Up

The Energy Efficiency For Data Centers Summit Asia stood effective in connecting present challenges and future solutions in the data center world. It gathered some of the leading thinkers, innovators, and practitioners, and provided an atmosphere of cooperative education and resolution. The attendees received great information on new technologies, regulatory issues, and energy-saving/environment-friendly practices. 

Not only did the summit emphasize the imperative need for eco-friendly data centers, but also offered tangible methods for realizing these innovations. In the constantly changing digital world, events such as these help to mold a greener future for the industry. If you want to be a part of future sustainability events, make sure you watch out and register in advance!