Towards Sustainable Data Centre Operations in the UK

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an exploratory review of the sustainability agendas being addressed and publicly reported by the UK's leading data centre operators. The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the characteristics of sustainability and an outline of the origins and development of data centres within the UK. The chapter draws its empirical material from the most recent information on sustainability posted on the UK's leading data centre operators' corporate web sites. The findings reveal that all the UK's leading data centre operators provide only limited information on their commitment to sustainability with the dominant focus being on its environmental dimension and with little attention being paid to social and economic issues. More critically, the authors argue that these commitments are driven more by the search for efficiency gains, that they are couched within existing business models centred on continuing growth, and that as such the UK's leading data centre operators are pursuing a ‘weak' rather than a ‘strong' model of sustainability. The chapter suggests that the leading data centre operating companies may need to extend their sustainability reporting and to introduce external assurance procedures.

The emergence of data centres as an innovative alternative property sector

“…Despite being considered as a nascent asset investment class, the increasing significance of the alternative property sectors has attracted a number of empirical investigations on their risk-adjusted performance and portfolio enhancement attributes, both in the context of broad alternative property sectors (McIntosh et al , 2017) and sector-specific coverage such as healthcare properties (Newell and Marzuki, 2018a) and student accommodation (Newell and Marzuki, 2018b). Meanwhile, previous studies on data centre properties are confined to issues pertaining to valuation applications (McAllister and Loizou, 2009), planning considerations (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2013; Jones, Hillier, Comfort and Clarke-Hill, 2013), sustainability practices (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2013; Jones, Hillier, Comfort and Clarke-Hill, 2013; Shuja et al , 2016) and energy consumption and efficiency (Abaunza et al , 2018; Depoorter et al , 2015; Flucker et al , 2018; Oro et al , 2015). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has explored the institutional investment opportunity in data centres.…”

Data centers as the backbone of smart cities: principal considerations for the study of facility costs and benefits

“…Jones et al (2013a, 2013b) classified data centers into: corporate data center; wholesale data center; retail data center; and data-carrier data center. …”

“…Jones et al (2013a) identified the characteristics of data centers and studied relevant planning issues in the UK, with the remark that demand already outstripped supply in his time. Concurrently, they also addressed some sustainability issues of UK data centers in another research publication, in particular highlighting the lack of environmental reporting then (Jones et al , 2013b). An American group called 365 Data Centers (2016) compared the cost of new-build data centers versus buying colocation services from third parties, using a time span of 5 years as an indicative framework.…”

La información: perspectivas bibliotecológicas y distinciones interdisciplinarias

“…El término sustentable probablemente se remonte al siglo XIII (Jones, Hillier, Comfort & Clarke-Hill, 2013), aunque su presencia continua, con un sentido económico, ambiental y social se aprecia en foros internacionales, investigaciones y recomendaciones internacionales, desde la década de los sesenta (Bradley, 2007); a la actualidad.…”

“…Por una parte, la sustentabilidad débil prioriza el desarrollo económico; y, por otra, la sostenibilidad fuerte que subordina las economías al medio ambiente y a la sociedad, reconociendo los límites ecológicos al crecimiento (Jones, Hillier, Comfort & Clarke-Hill, 2013). En algunas naciones como por ejemplo, Reino Unido cada vez más, se exige a las empresas cumplir con normas ambientales mínimas y se reconoce que el negocio sostenible es aquél que trabaja para minimizar el impacto ambiental y social al mismo tiempo que garantiza la estabilidad financiera (Chowdhury Gobinda , 2013).…”