Cooling infrastructure in a data center is one of the largest sources of electricity consumption which also drives up costs. To solve this problem and set an example, Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary PASM (Power and Air Condition Solution Management GmbH is running a proof of concept (POC) based on water cooling to build a clean and sustainable digital infrastructure. This is in cooperation with Cloud&Heat, a start-up that provides energy-efficient, scalable and secure tailored infrastructure solutions. They have developed a cooling system with direct hot water cooling and waste heat recovery. It works as follows: The servers are equipped with a set of water-filled heat sinks, which are located directly at the heat hotspots. When the IT components are cooled, the water in the heat sink is heated to up to 60°C, the heat is transported away in an energy-efficient manner and reused for heating in buildings. This leads to significant savings potential in three areas: 1) the onboard fans, which account for up to 25% of server performance, can be disassembled or operated at lower speeds, 2) hot water direct cooling is more energy-efficient than air cooling, which accounts for 40 % to 60 % of data center power consumption, 3) the waste heat generated does not have to be released unused to the environment. but can be reused, e.g. to heat buildings.
