Having spent some time in Singapore for both business an pleasure, I am aware how hot and humid it can be with temperatures & humidity making it a tough environment to work in. Add in to that, the need for data centres to be kept at between 23 - 27 degrees Celsius and humidity between 50 - 60 percent in even cooler temperatures and you can see the challenge for an island nation wanting to place itself at the heart of the critical data supply platform while at the same time leading the charge for green energy to combat climate change.

A new S$23million research programme by two leading Universities has just been announced. The National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University are setting up a testbed facility with ‘state-of-the-art’ equipment which promises to be up and running by Oct 2021.

Called the less than catchy Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT), it promised to “promote the co-creation and demonstration of advanced cooling technologies”, the universities said in a joint press release.  

Given that collaboration is seen as key to accelerating the move to improve many areas affecting climate change, this program will be jointly funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF), a department under the Prime Minister’s Office, and Facebook, which is the anchor industry partner.

“Companies will share their needs and requirements with the research community to ideate and innovate the solutions,” the press release said.

One area that researchers are examining is a heat sink design with both air and liquid modes of cooling in a single integrated piece that eliminates the connectors and ducts.

The promise for this project is that if successfully developed and tested, a combination of the new cooling technologies it could reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by “up to 25 per cent”, compared with data centres that are traditionally air-cooled. 

In addition, an industry-wide adoption across the entire tropical region can also potentially cut the industry’s energy usage by “at least 40 per cent”, the press release said.

“The demonstration and validation of innovative cooling technologies at the testbed facility can greatly mitigate the operational and financial risks of adopting these solutions,” the universities said.

“This will accelerate adoption, as well as enhance the sustainability of the data centre industry in Singapore and the wider tropical region.”

Beyond the project timeline itself, the STDCT hopes to recommend operating guidelines and set new standards based on proven findings from its new technologies to enable greener data centres.

As you might expect from a facility set up to improve energy efficient for all data centres, this one will feature energy-efficient cooling solutions, such as the StatePoint Liquid Cooling System developed by Nortek Air Solutions and Facebook that helps data centres to operate more efficiently in tropical locations.

GREENING DATA CENTRES

We know that data is key in all areas of business and this rise of the digital economy has increased demand for data centres but there are huge concerns being raised about booming industry’s huge energy needs - currently estimated by the International Energy Agency as using around 1 per cent of the world’s electricity -so this is a timely development.

In Singapore, data centres accounted for 7 per cent of the country’s total electricity consumption last year. This is projected to reach 12 per cent by 2030, the universities’ press release said.

With the industry being an “intensive” user of electricity and water, a “temporary pause” has since been imposed on the building of new data centres as local authorities mull a balance between environmental sustainability and supporting business needs.

The Government has said it is in the midst of concluding its review and intends to share its plans with the industry later this year.NRF’s chief executive Low Teck Seng said the STDCT will help to accelerate the development and test-bedding of innovative and sustainable solutions for data centres towards commercial deployment.

It will also support Singapore’s journey towards becoming a low-emissions economy as part of the foundation’s Energy Grid 2.0 programme, he added.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), which is supporting the research programme, said it will work closely with the industry to bring about more energy-efficient data centres and encourage the adoption of best-in-class technologies, solutions and standards. 

“This will enable us to grow our data centre ecosystem sustainably and further entrench Singapore as one of the world’s leading data centre hubs,” said cluster director for infrastructure planning and facilitation Yeo Tiong Yeow.