In my previous article, I discussed the flexibility of immersion cooled infrastructure, particularly for edge deployments, as well as its potential to enable significant scalability for datacenter operators while improving their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) posture. Now, let's delve deeper into the environmental sustainability benefits of immersion cooling, focusing on its impact on Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), and heat reuse.
I came across a great info-graphic by Shell, yes Shell, that, in hindsight, I could have replaced all my articles with. When big oil is leaning in, you know this thing has legs.
PUE Impact
Traditional air-cooled datacenter facilities heavily rely on HVAC systems to manage the heat generated by servers. These systems involve large air-conditioners that regulate temperature and humidity, with the air being circulated throughout the data halls to maintain optimal conditions. However, this approach is far from energy-efficient, leading to average PUE values of around 1.4-1.5 globally, even though exceptional cases like Google have achieved a commendable PUE of 1.1.
