Trial / Demo
Across the globe, there’s a sustained push for greater efficiency in every sector. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) indicates the ICT sector must deliver a 42% reduction in emissions by 2030 (against a 2015 baseline) to achieve net-zero and limit global warming to 1.5°C. To achieve this, data centre operators must look beyond traditional efficiency measures towards more advanced strategies, exploring creative design, retrofit and operational solutions that can deliver meaningful reductions in environmental impact.
New standards in innovation
The current data centre market is characterised by lack of standards, which creates uncertainty but also room for innovation. While regulatory frameworks, such as the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements are mandating sustainability efforts in some regions, some countries have been faster to implement these than others. In Germany, for example, data centres must now source 50% of their energy from renewable energy sources (rising to 100% from 2027), while demonstrating a PUE of 1.2 or less for new facilities commissioned from July 2026 onwards, and 1.3 or less for all existing facilities by 2030. Even in the US, despite the absence of an overarching regulatory driver, many key industry players, such as Digital Realty and Equinix, have committed to powering their data centres with 100% renewable energy, with others including Amazon and GE Vernova announcing their intent to electrify their facilities and reduce carbon emissions.
Effectiveness right across the board
While Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) – which calculates the total energy consumed by a facility vs. energy used by its IT equipment – has traditionally been the most widely used measurement of data centre efficiency, growing emphasis is now being placed on other metrics such as Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), and Total Usage Effectiveness (TUE) too.
Traditionally, these metrics have been derived from static, spreadsheet driven calculations, but these do not capture the dynamic behaviour of modern data centres. By contrast, dynamic simulation brings these considerations together in a single, coherent framework, enabling data centre teams to evaluate performance under real world conditions and future climate scenarios. By capturing the interplay between IT load, cooling, energy and water use, and environmental factors over an entire year, it provides a far more reliable basis for investment across new design and retrofit projects. This holistic insight ensures that operators can better anticipate potential risks and confidently implement strategies that deliver long term efficiency, power resilience, maximise uptime and sustainability compliance across their facilities.
To learn more about dynamic simulation and how it addresses the key challenges facing modern data centres, download the full IES whitepaper: De-risking High-Performance Data Centres with Dynamic Simulation.
Discover how whole-facility modelling is transforming data centre planning, design, retrofit, and operation in an era of AI-driven infrastructure demands.
