Data Center Sustainability Through Evaporative Cooling

A new white paper from Nortek Data Center Cooling outlines a path to data center sustainability that balances power and water utilization for data center cooling. According to the paper, “new technology such as the StatePoint indirect evaporative cooling system using membrane exchangers is a breakthrough in sustainability and can be the foundation for a data center’s environmental goals.”

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Chiller and cooling technology that was state-of-the-art fifteen years ago can still handle the growth in server rack heat density seen today, but it demands wasteful power and water consumption. That’s why the data center industry is rushing to find cooling technology solutions that address both power and water sustainability issues, as well as the rise in computing loads. Nortek outlines how their StatePoint Liquid Chilling system helps to meet data center sustainability goals. “Instead of wetted media, direct spray and other traditional evaporative cooling methods that often consume large amounts of water, this patented indirect evaporative cooling method uses a liquid-to-air membrane exchanger strategy that has never before been commercialized in the HVAC industry.”

“The data center industry is changing at a rapid rate propagated by emerging trends toward artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, autonomous automobiles, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D graphics and other technologies that generate high rack heat densities.” – Nortek Data Center Cooling, “Finding Sustainable Solutions to Data Center Power and Water Use”

The report goes on to explain that StatePoint reduces, or eliminates, vapor compression or compression-based methods from the chilled water process, reducing power costs. The technology also reduces the amount of fouled water. According to the author, “the StatePoint membrane exchanger maintains a high level of water cleanliness, which allows the evaporative cooled water to be used directly in the primary chilled water circuit. This improves efficiency and cuts maintenance costs.”

In the paper, Nortek presents a mini case study of a data center in Frankfurt, Germany, and outlines other ways the technology contributes to achieving data center sustainability goals. The author explains how the system pinpoints temperature control for operational efficiency, addresses the trend toward higher data hall temperatures, and solves temperature swings. The paper also provide peak pPUE and water consumption comparisons.

Download the full report to learn more about how StatePoint’s evaporative cooling system can reduce capital costs with less water storage and help you achieve your data center sustainability goals.