A ‘System’ Integration for Energy Recovery within Data Centres Using Combined Cooling and Power Technology

Data Centres (DCs) are emerging as a large industrial sector, consuming about three percent of the global electricity supply, contributing for about two percent of total greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of energy used by DCs is doubling every four years. Despite the innovations in energy management system in DC that incorporate renewable energy solutions to reduce energy consumption and cap their carbon footprint, as much as half of electricity is used for cooling purposes and is ultimately wasted as heat. An innovative system is presented here which integrates a DC cooling process with a zero-emissions power and cooling utilising a novel cryogenic engine technology. The integration enables DCs to take advantage of opportunities for thermal management, rather than electrical power, to control peak temperature environments and electricity price mitigation through cryogenic energy storage. Substantial improvement in DC energy efficiency together with reduction in greenhouse gas emission has been discussed.