IT and CO₂ Emissions: The Challenge for Data Centers
The impact of high-performance computing on CO2 emissions in Germany is an increasingly important topic. These systems, which consume enormous amounts of energy, play a central role in modern IT infrastructure, from scientific research to complex industrial applications. However, the continuous power supply required for operation and cooling leads to significant CO2 emissions. In order to reduce the ecological footprint of the IT infrastructure and thus make a positive contribution to climate protection, further investments in green technologies and sustainable energy sources are necessary.
Sustainable IT Infrastructure at RWTH Aachen University
RWTH Aachen University is focussing on sustainable innovations in the field of high-performance computing. Our focus is on maximising the ecological efficiency of our data centre through energy-efficient computing and advanced technologies such as the high-performance computer CLAIX-2023. Through projects such as ENSIMA and IT-Zauber, we continuously optimise our infrastructure and strive for an environmentally friendly and high-performance IT landscape. Our commitment to sustainability is reflected in the intelligent utilisation of resources, the use of renewable energy and the integration of state-of-the-art cooling technologies.
Holistic Approach to Reducing the Ecological Footprint
We aim to minimise the ecological footprint of our high-performance computers. In doing so, we consider the entire life cycle - from the operating infrastructure and supply technology through to manufacturing and disposal processes. An important milestone was reached in October 2023 with the commissioning of an integrated monitoring environment. This environment supplements the existing energy monitoring with detailed operating data from the supply infrastructure and computer systems. This simultaneous view enables us to identify local optimisations and drive forward the overall optimisation of the system.
Digital Twin for Intelligent Control Strategies
As part of the BMBF project IT-Zauber, we use the data obtained to model a "digital twin" that enables intelligent control strategies and automated operational optimisation in high-performance data centres. ENSIMA uses AI methods to optimise production processes and accelerate simulation processes. These innovations promise considerable energy savings - an estimated 90 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year for the NHR infrastructure, which corresponds to around 37 tonnes of CO2.
CO₂-Neutral Data Centers as a Vision for the Future
In the future, we also plan to use our findings to integrate data centres into power supply and heating networks, particularly in the new CO2-neutral data centre in the Campus West university expansion area.
CLAIX-2023: Energy-Efficient High Performance Computers with Innovative Cooling
Our new high-performance computer CLAIX-2023 combines maximum computing power with minimum energy consumption, setting new standards in sustainable IT. Large computing systems contribute significantly to global CO2 emissions, so it is essential to drive forward energy savings in this area. CLAIX-2023 has state-of-the-art hardware and an innovative passive water cooling system that works without additional energy consumption. The heated water is channelled outside in a circuit, fed onto the roof of the building, cooled and reused. This technology saves considerable amounts of CO2 every year. In addition, CLAIX-2023 is powered exclusively by renewable energy, which further reduces its ecological footprint. The CLAIX processor has 96 cores and achieves around 14 petaflops in the field of machine learning, making it one of the most powerful research computers in Europe.
These projects show how we can make a significant contribution to reducing energy consumption and optimising high-performance data centres through innovative technologies and integrated approaches. Our aim is to shape the IT sector in a sustainable way while delivering top performance.