One of the key advantages of having a data centre in Northern Europe is that fresh air cooling can be used all year round as our temperate climate is ideal for a combination of free cooling and evaporative cooling.
Not only can this result in huge energy savings when compared to refrigerant based alternatives but 99% ASHRAE class one compliancy can be achieved, making it the ideal solution for both new build and retrofit data centres and server rooms.
How Does it Work?
Direct free cooling exploits low external temperatures by utilising outside air to cool the data centre. On hotter days, the natural process of evaporative cooling can be used to lower the air temperature. Careful use of filtration to remove gaseous particulates and controlled air mixing to ensure constant temperatures allows fresh air technologies to be used for the cooling of the majority of IT equipment.
Why Now?
The adoption of free cooling has recently increased, with many of the hyperscalers implementing fresh air-cooling technologies into their facilities, with great success. This adoption at the larger end of the market and the large energy savings has driven a demand for smaller facilities wanting to exploit the energy saving and cost saving associated with free cooling. Additionally government attention on the power draw to data centres has increased pressure on the industry to look at ways to reduce overall power consumption.
