Most data centers are built in unsuitable climates – and it’s seriously impacting efficiency

Nearly 80% of data centers around the world are located in unsuitable climates, with 10% in regions that are too hot – putting pressure on cooling systems and raising safety risks.

In 21 countries, all data centers are located in climates that are hotter than the 18-27 Celsius range recommended by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Non-profits RestOfWorld and Climate Central plotted temperature data from the Copernicus Climate Data Store – a project organized as part of the European Union’s efforts to open-source climate data – against locations from Data Center Map, a widely referenced resource and marketplace for data center-related services.

Crucially, researchers found that of the 8,808 operational data centers worldwide, nearly 7,000 are located in areas outside the optimal range. While the vast majority are in regions with average temperatures that are colder than the range, 600 are located in areas where average annual temperatures are above 27 C.

In 21 countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, all data centers are located in areas with average annual temperatures of above 27 C, along with nearly all data centers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Nearly half of Indonesia’s 170 data centers are in places that are too hot, while the figure for India – a key market for big tech and social media companies – is around 30%.

"Extreme heat not only places a heavier burden on cooling systems, it also reduces the efficiency of power transmission, raising the risk of outages," the researchers said.

Cooling technologies are getting better

Cooling technologies are improving, and big tech firms are touting their efforts to reduce energy use. Google, for example, has claimed that its data centers use about 84% less overhead energy for every unit of IT equipment energy, partly through the use of its DeepMind AI to optimize cooling.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is now using a new data center design it claims optimizes AI workloads and consumes zero water for cooling.

Microfluidics bring liquid coolant directly inside the silicon, removing heat more efficiently. The company’s lab-scale tests, it said, have shown that microfluidics performed up to three times better than cold plates at removing heat, depending on workloads and configurations involved.

Microsoft also reduced the maximum temperature rise of the silicon inside a GPU by 65%.

Elsewhere, this summer AWS said that it had shifted from air to liquid cooling. Its direct-to-chip approach puts a cold plate directly on top of the chip, with the liquid running in tubes through the sealed plate, absorbing the heat and carrying it out of the server rack. The liquid is then cooled and recirculated.

The RestOfWorld researchers point out that possible solutions in hotter countries could include building data centers underwater or underground, or using nuclear energy and hydrogen fuel cells.

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