EARTH ERC Researchers Investigate Cooling of Data Centers
Outcome/Accomplishment
Research led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH-M) atmospheric scientists has shown that projected future climate conditions—higher temperatures and humidity—could reduce the availability of one of the cheapest and most energy-efficient approaches to cooling data centers: “direct air free cooling.” UH-M is a partner institution of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Applied Technology Hub (EARTH), headquartered at the University of Kansas.
Impact/Benefits
Reliable operation of data centers has become essential to nearly all sectors of modern society, including healthcare, education, government services, power grid operation, banking, defense, and disaster relief. This research provides data center builders and operators with insights that can inform contingency planning, system override and redundancy requirements, and reliability decisions.
Explanation/Background
With the artificial intelligence boom, the demand for data centers is increasing just as climate conditions are limiting an efficient approach to cooling these facilities. The research team, led by Christina Karamperidou, atmospheric sciences professor in the UH-M School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, assessed historical and projected temperatures and humidity levels around the world and compared them to the conditions required for “direct air free cooling,” wherein naturally colder outside air is brought in to cool a building or equipment.
“We found that periods of time when temperature and humidity exceed recommended operating thresholds for direct air free cooling are becoming more frequent and lasting longer in many regions,” Karamperidou said. The researchers combined high-resolution hourly weather observations with climate model simulations and a global database of data center locations. This allowed them to evaluate how often environmental conditions exceeded recommended operating limits for direct air free cooling, both historically and in future climate scenarios. By analyzing global datasets, they were able to identify large-scale patterns and trends that would not be seen from studies focused on individual facilities.
The researchers found that over the past 45 years, the number of hours characterized by high temperature and humidity conditions that limit direct air cooling has increased significantly, particularly across the tropics and the southeastern U.S. A site- and market-level analysis further showed that the share of data centers exposed to conditions that limit air free cooling availability for at least one quarter of the year is rising. Projections through mid-century indicate continued expansion of these constraints with sustained warming and increasing humidity.
One of their key findings is that in several regions, worst-day conditions are increasing more rapidly than average conditions, indicating that environmental stress is becoming more concentrated in relatively rare but consequential events. “This suggests that infrastructure planning may need to account not only for average environmental conditions but also for how the most stressful days are changing over time,” Karamperidou said.
Location
Lawrence, KSwebsite
Start Year
Energy and Sustainability
Energy and Smart Infrastructure
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Outcome/Accomplishment
Research led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH-M) atmospheric scientists has shown that projected future climate conditions—higher temperatures and humidity—could reduce the availability of one of the cheapest and most energy-efficient approaches to cooling data centers: “direct air free cooling.” UH-M is a partner institution of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Applied Technology Hub (EARTH), headquartered at the University of Kansas.
Location
Lawrence, KSwebsite
Start Year
Energy and Sustainability
Energy and Smart Infrastructure
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Impact/benefits
Reliable operation of data centers has become essential to nearly all sectors of modern society, including healthcare, education, government services, power grid operation, banking, defense, and disaster relief. This research provides data center builders and operators with insights that can inform contingency planning, system override and redundancy requirements, and reliability decisions.
Explanation/Background
With the artificial intelligence boom, the demand for data centers is increasing just as climate conditions are limiting an efficient approach to cooling these facilities. The research team, led by Christina Karamperidou, atmospheric sciences professor in the UH-M School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, assessed historical and projected temperatures and humidity levels around the world and compared them to the conditions required for “direct air free cooling,” wherein naturally colder outside air is brought in to cool a building or equipment.
“We found that periods of time when temperature and humidity exceed recommended operating thresholds for direct air free cooling are becoming more frequent and lasting longer in many regions,” Karamperidou said. The researchers combined high-resolution hourly weather observations with climate model simulations and a global database of data center locations. This allowed them to evaluate how often environmental conditions exceeded recommended operating limits for direct air free cooling, both historically and in future climate scenarios. By analyzing global datasets, they were able to identify large-scale patterns and trends that would not be seen from studies focused on individual facilities.
The researchers found that over the past 45 years, the number of hours characterized by high temperature and humidity conditions that limit direct air cooling has increased significantly, particularly across the tropics and the southeastern U.S. A site- and market-level analysis further showed that the share of data centers exposed to conditions that limit air free cooling availability for at least one quarter of the year is rising. Projections through mid-century indicate continued expansion of these constraints with sustained warming and increasing humidity.
One of their key findings is that in several regions, worst-day conditions are increasing more rapidly than average conditions, indicating that environmental stress is becoming more concentrated in relatively rare but consequential events. “This suggests that infrastructure planning may need to account not only for average environmental conditions but also for how the most stressful days are changing over time,” Karamperidou said.