Confronting Sustainability Challenges with AI Data Centres

As data centres seek to address ongoing sustainability challenges, one of the most significant hurdles to overcome is the power and energy needs of AI. The technology has been guzzling power from data centres as it becomes more popular for businesses, causing overall emissions of tech giants like Google to rapidly increase.

However, while it is clearly a hindrance, AI has been touted as a clear solution to help data centres scale to meet growing demands, whilst also preventing energy waste.

On this subject, we speak exclusively with Mark Fenton, Product Engineering Director at leading technology company Cadence, about how AI-focused data centres could be the solution.

“Organisations across the globe are rushing to be the biggest and best AI innovator, a goal driven by the transformative power of this technology,” Mark explains. “However, this innovation doesn’t come without costs.”

Continued AI challenges

The significant rise in data investments driven by the global AI boom is having significant environmental consequences. Such a sharp uptake could double carbon dioxide (CO2) output from data centres and is already driving up emissions from the in-house data centres of numerous high-profile technology giants.

In fact, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple’s overall emissions may be 662% higher than official figures, as reported in September 2024.

With AI prompting the construction of more facilities to meet demand, Mark explains this is inevitability creating “huge competition over water and energy resources.”

He adds. “Rather than trying to build their way out of the issue, facility leaders must ask themselves whether they are getting the most out of their current infrastructure.

“The extreme power densities and power demands of AI have caused a cataclysmic shift in how data centres must power and cool the technology behind the AI revolution. To put this into perspective, a single ChatGPT query needs nearly 10 times as much electricity to process compared to a Google search.

“Elsewhere, some reports have suggested that the average data centre uses 300,000 gallons of water a day, which is equal to the water consumption of 100,000 homes. 

“At a time when many organisations are embarking on sustainability projects to meet incoming legislation, balancing environmental responsibilities with being a progressive AI champion is proving to be a difficult challenge.” 

Prioritising data centre sustainability

Ensuring that data centres are developed safely and sustainably is critical for both companies seeking to keep costs and energy consumption down, but also to protect the local communities in which they operate.

If used in an effective way, AI can help data centres in this task by optimising its services to improve energy efficiency, reducing cooling costs and bolstering resource management. 

Mark suggests: “As data centre industry leaders face the daunting task of weighing AI’s capabilities against its environmental toll, the challenge becomes not just technological but ethical.

“The good news is that there are ways to develop AI sustainably, such as through digital twin technology.”

Digital twin technology refers to a virtual replica of a physical data centre and is designed to help facility managers to reduce the carbon footprint of AI. Mark explains this helps operators to address both current and future stranded capacity. 

“It also allows data centres to improve power management and assess the effectiveness of heat rejection,” he says. “The benefits continue as they can even be used to identify the least amount of energy needed to cool a facility without impacting its operational effectiveness. 

“What’s more, all of this is done in a risk-free environment, as changes can be tested in the digital world before being implemented in the real one.”

He also says: “By prioritising data centre efficiency through digital twins, AI's growth doesn't need to burden the environment. Rather than trying to build their way out of the issue, facility leaders must ask themselves whether they are getting the most out of their current infrastructure as considering the option of utilising digital twins will foster responsible innovation for the future.”

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