Microsoft Debuts Mass Timber Data Centres in US Push
The data centre industry’s search for construction methods that reduce carbon emissions has taken a new turn as Microsoft, the US software and cloud computing company, has announced it is piloting its first facilities built using mass timber.
The experimental builds in northern Virginia represent a departure from traditional data centre construction methods, which rely heavily on steel and concrete – materials that account for 15% of global carbon emissions according to World Economic Forum data.
The facilities employ cross-laminated timber (CLT) - engineered wood panels created by glueing layers of timber at right angles – alongside steel and concrete in a hybrid construction method. This approach reduces embodied carbon by 35% compared to conventional steel construction and 65% versus precast concrete builds.
While mass timber construction has gained traction in European commercial buildings over the past decade, its adoption in North American data centres has been limited by concerns over fire resistance and structural integrity. Microsoft's implementation suggests these barriers may be surmountable.
Carbon reduction targets
The timber initiative forms part of Microsoft’s 2020 commitment to become carbon negative by 2030. The company aims to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits and plans to eliminate all historic emissions since its 1975 founding by 2050.
“It's an all-hands-on-deck task,” says Jim Hanna, who leads sustainability for Microsoft's data centre engineering team.
Progress has been mixed. While Microsoft achieved a 6.3% reduction in direct emissions over three years, indirect emissions rose 30.9% due to data centre growth. These Scope 3 emissions include carbon from material extraction, manufacturing and transportation.
Construction innovation
The CLT panels used in Virginia are manufactured off-site and are both lighter and more fire-resistant than traditional materials. When exposed to high temperatures, CLT forms an insulating char layer that maintains structural integrity longer than steel, which deforms more rapidly under heat.
"We're constantly trying to validate the suitability of these novel materials for use in a data centre environment," says David Swanson, a structural engineer working on Microsoft's data centre design. “We want to make sure that they're going to perform, they're going to be safe, they're going to be resilient.”
Supply chain transformation
Microsoft’s construction partners are also adapting their practices. “A lot of our suppliers are on the same journey as we are,” says Richard Hage, who leads global strategy for data centre engineering at Microsoft. Everyone is “implementing key initiatives to lower the embodied carbon of their materials and their products.”
The company is working with several construction technology firms. These include CarbonCure, which injects carbon dioxide into concrete and Prometheus Materials, which produces zero-carbon cement using microalgae. Both materials will be tested in the Virginia facilities.
Thomas Hooker, an associate at structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, which worked alongside architecture firm Gensler on the Virginia projects, notes Microsoft’s market influence: “They can almost be like a market mover and to some extent actually push some of these technologies to more widespread use just because it's a high priority for Microsoft.”
The complexity of achieving net-zero construction remains significant, according to Jim Hanna: “We have to be system thinkers across the entire value chain of these materials that go into our data centres and the equipment that supplies our data centres. That's what makes it hard, but certainly not impossible.”
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