Chapter 5: Internal infrastructures¶

Following references were considered to build this part of the questionnaire:

Important: the following evaluation has been designed for a Data Centre owner. If the organisation is an end client that does not own a Data Centre, it can be used to evaluate the maturity of this client in requesting the information from the owners of the Data Centres it uses.

Open questions¶

How is Sustainable IT integrated into the design and management of data centres, infrastructures and facilities?
How is Sustainable IT integrated into the design and management of the internal network (LAN) infrastructures and facilities?
How is sustainable IT integrated into the selection and management of data centres physical assets (servers) in a data centre?
How is sustainable IT integrated into the selection and management of the physical assets of an internal network (LAN)?

5.1 How is Sustainable IT integrated into the design and management of data centres, infrastructures and facilities?¶

Rationale¶

The Design phase is a critical step that defines a large part of the environmental performance of a Data Centre throughout its life. Even if some optimization can be done during the operational phase, and some refurbishment too, the initial design generally sets the “dimension”, i.e. the order of magnitude of subsequent performance.

Evaluation criteria¶

Evaluation criterion	Recommended priority	Proposed weighting (total = 34 points)
The Data Centre owner has taken into account its energy, environmental and societal performance during the call for tender and the design phase, including the location. For example: installation on land that had already been developed, proximity to demand for warm air (offices, swimming pools, etc.), choice of eco-responsible materials.	P1	3
The Data Centre owner shall indicate if its data centre conforms to environmental buildings standards such as BREAM or LEED.	P1	3
The Data centre owner knows and complies with the European regulation about reporting: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-yoursay/initiatives/13818-Data-centres-in-Europe-reportingscheme_en	P1	3
The Data centre owner must indicate its action plan for compliance with national regulations for performance. Example: “Décret Tertiaire” in France.	P1	3
The Data Centre owner is able to communicate a PUE and the methodology that was adopted for its computation (ISO standard, for example). The means and granularity of measurement must be communicated, specifying real measures, the source of consumption measured (cooling, electrical losses, lighting, warming of oil for diesel generators, etc.) and estimations when measurements are not available. For example, the EN 50600-4-2 standard defines different level of PUE according to data availability: PUE1, PUE2, PUE3.	P1	3
Referring to the ADEME PCR “Methodological standard for the environmental assessment of Datacenter IT hosting services and cloud services”, the communication of other indicators is also requested: WUE, CUE, ERF and REF. These indicators are mandatory to prevent impacts transfer for example from Energy/GHG emissions impacts to water impacts by using evaporative cooling technologies.	P1	3
The Data Centre owner adopts technical best practices for the management of Data Centre infrastructures management. Ex: European Code of Conduct (EU CoC), in line with the European regulation. Example of technical best practices: cold or hot aisle containment, free cooling or free chilling, heat recovery, immersive cooling, class of electrical transformers A0AK or more performant, chillers with magnetic rollers.	P2	2
The PUE should be reported quarterly at least, and this reporting and its frequency should be contractual.	P2	2
Global consumption must be communicated (energy, water, refrigerant gas leakages) at least quarterly to expose drifts.	P2	2
The Data Center owner shall indicate how many times the data or systems are duplicated under the back-up and security policy.	P2	2
The conclusions of regulatory energy audits shall be communicated to clients with proof that they are used to build the masterplan and the rationalization of the pool of data centers, should be brought.	P3	1
Data centers are designed for a maximum external air temperature. This information must be communicated to anticipate any operational security degradation induced by global warming.	P3	1
Its initiative is endorsed by a public commitment, e.g. EU CoC signature.	P3	1
Its initiative is also extended to its stakeholders and suppliers.	P3	1
The PUE is communicated with information that enables the estimation of performance from it: location (or external annual average temperature), Tiering level (for security as defined by the Uptime Institute), the age of the Data Centre, weather correction, the IT load (proportion of real power used for IT including network and servers, compared to the maximum capacity).	P3	1
The PUE shall be communicated with a reference curve, PUE as a function of IT load to enable comparison of measured values to the theoretical one.	P3	1
This curve shall have been verified at the delivery of the Data Centre, using variable resistances in place of servers in the bays. The measure should be done with external temperature representative for an average annual air temperature.	P3	1
For Fire protection systems, low impact technologies are deployed; for example: fogging instead of FM200 gas.	P3	1

5.2 How is Sustainable IT integrated into the design and management of the internal network (LAN) infrastructures and facilities?¶

Rationale¶

Internal Networks operate 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Their energy consumption is not negligible, and network equipment becomes obsolete rapidly, it must generally be replaced every 4 to 5 years. Specific actions are possible within the internal teams responsible for LAN activities.

Evaluation criteria¶

Evaluation criterion	Recommended priority	Proposed weighting (total = 16 points)
The data centre owner must indicate whether its data centre has an embedded network backbone and whether the energy consumption of that backbone is included in the computation of the PUE or not.	P2	8
The energy consumption of the network (Local Area Network) must be identified and segregated from other sources consumption, with specific means.	P2	8

5.3 How is sustainable IT integrated into the selection and management of data centres physical assets (servers) in a data centre?¶

Rationale¶

Like any IT equipment, physical assets such as servers are responsible for a large part of the environmental footprint of a data centre. Their selection is strategic in limiting their initial global impacts, enabling the efficient use of energy and maximizing their operational lives.

Evaluation criteria¶

Evaluation criterion	Recommended priority	Proposed weighting (total = 32 points)
Relevant Eco-labels must be requested in the Calls for Tender for servers. EPEAT, TCO are recommended. 80+ and Energy star that consider only energy performance are not sufficient. It is highly recommended to request a label of type 1 as defined in the ISO14024 standard.	P1	4
The DPP (Digital Product Passport) is requested and considered in the selection process. It must conform to the framework of the DPP EU regulation published on 13th June 2024, “Setting of eco-design requirements for sustainable products”.	P1	3
ASHRAE standards (A3 minimum, and A4 highly recommended) shall be requested to enable a higher temperature in cold aisle containment, and a wider range of humidity.	P1	4
The lifespan of servers must be known and communicated	P1	4
The Data Center owner shall indicate how many times the network systems are duplicated for back-up and security policy.	P1	3
The energy consumption of servers must be identified and separated from other sources of consumption, with specific means (for example PDU).	P2	2
Virtualization of servers shall be deployed, and the virtualization rate shall be monitored.	P2	2
Unused machines and virtual machines must be identified. Their detection shall trigger a decommissioning process including end users.	P2	2
The lifespan of servers shall be at least 7 years; 10 years is possible and recommended.	P2	2
Using refurbished servers shall be promoted.	P2	2
Urbanization must be done to avoid hot points that will require a reduction in the setting of blown cold air.	P3	1
The efficiency of the urbanization should be verified regularly specific means such as thermal cameras. Air leakages and hot points must be avoided.	P3	1
The Configuration Management Databases (CMDB) used to manage the allocation of servers, and the digital services, must cover all servers and link digital services to the hardware used to operate them. It must be up to date.	P3	1
The Data Center owner and the servers operator shall adopt scalability technologies and train its staff in them to enable the highest optimization of servers’ usage.	P3	1

5.4 How is sustainable IT integrated into the selection and management of the physical assets of an internal network (LAN)?¶

Rationale¶

Like any IT equipment, network physical assets such as switches and routers are responsible for a large part of the environmental footprint of the LAN. Their selection is strategic in limiting their initial global impacts, enabling energy efficiency in use and maximizing their operational lives.

Evaluation criteria¶

Evaluation criterion	Recommended priority	Proposed weighting (total = 18 points)
Relevant Eco-labels must be requested in the Calls for Tender for network equipment: switches, routers, Wi-Fi hotspot, etc. TCO is highly recommended since it is the first eco-label to cover network equipment. 80+ and Energy star which consider only energy performance are useful to promote energy savings, but they are not sufficient. It is highly recommended to request a label of type 1 as defined in the ISO14024 standard.	P1	4
The DPP (Digital Product Passport) is requested and considered in the selection process. It must conform to the framework of the DPP EU regulation published on 13th June 2024, “Setting of eco-design requirements for sustainable products”.	P1	4
An action plan for increasing the lifespan of network equipment by reducing its speed of obsolescence (by, for example, limiting the bandwidth requested inside the organisation) shall be set up and communicated.	P1	4
The lifespan of network equipment (routers, Wi-Fi, switches, etc..) must be known and declared.	P2	2
Virtualization of network equipment shall be deployed, and the virtualization rate shall be monitored.	P2	2
The consumption of network equipment should be drastically reduced when bandwidth is low (nights, weekends). And the consumption when operating should be proportional to the bandwidth.	P3	1
The team responsible for networks (LANs) shall ask a supplier of network equipment to produce a table comparing the energy consumption of the equipment that it provides, to the average consumption of equipment on the market, and its evolution.	P3	1