SIST-TP CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021
(Main)Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 99-2: Recommended practices for environmental sustainability
Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 99-2: Recommended practices for environmental sustainability
This Technical Report provides recommended practices to implement and assess environmental sustainability in data centres, e.g. by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Informationstechnik - Einrichtungen und Infrastrukturen von Rechenzentren - Teil 99-2: Empfohlene Praktiken für die Umweltverträglichkeit
This Technical Report provides recommended practices to implement and assess environmental sustainability in data
centres, e.g. by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Technologies de l’information - Installation et infrastructures des centres de traitement de données - Partie 99-2: Pratiques recommandées en faveur de la durabilité environnementale
Informacijska tehnologija - Naprave in infrastruktura podatkovnih centrov - 99-2. del: Priporočene prakse za okoljsko trajnostnost
General Information
Relations
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST-TP CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021
01-november-2021
Nadomešča:
SIST-TP CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2019
Informacijska tehnologija - Naprave in infrastruktura podatkovnih centrov - 99-2.
del: Priporočene prakse za okoljsko trajnostnost
Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 99-2:
Recommended practices for environmental sustainability
Informationstechnik - Einrichtungen und Infrastrukturen von Rechenzentren - Teil 99-2:
Empfohlene Praktiken für die Umweltverträglichkeit
Technologies de l’information - Installation et infrastructures des centres de traitement de
données - Partie 99-2: Pratiques recommandées en faveur de la durabilité
environnementale
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021
ICS:
13.020.20 Okoljska ekonomija. Environmental economics.
Trajnostnost Sustainability
35.110 Omreževanje Networking
SIST-TP CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021 en
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
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SIST-TP CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021
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SIST-TP CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021
TECHNICAL REPORT CLC/TR 50600-99-2
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
August 2021
ICS 13.020.20; 35.020; 35.110; 35.160 Supersedes CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2019
English Version
Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures
- Part 99-2: Recommended practices for environmental
sustainability
Technologies de l'information - Installation et infrastructures Informationstechnik - Einrichtungen und Infrastrukturen von
des centres de traitement de données - Partie 99-2: Rechenzentren - Teil 99-2: Empfohlene Praktiken für die
Pratiques recommandées en faveur de la durabilité Umweltverträglichkeit
environnementale
This Technical Report was approved by CENELEC on 2021-07-26.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and the United Kingdom.
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2021 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021 E
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Contents Page
European foreword .3
Introduction .4
1 Scope .8
2 Normative references .8
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations .8
3.1 Terms and definitions .8
3.2 Abbreviations .9
4 Environmental sustainability . 10
4.1 General . 10
4.2 Life cycle assessment . 10
4.3 Data centre boundaries . 11
5 Recommended practices for processes . 12
6 Recommended practices for source energy mix and water . 14
6.1 General . 14
6.2 New facilities . 14
6.3 Existing facilities . 15
7 Recommended practices for embodied impact of ICT equipment . 16
8 Recommended practices for embodied impact of mechanical and electrical systems . 18
8.1 New facilities . 18
8.2 Existing facilities . 19
Annex A (informative) Examples of simplified LCA metrics . 20
A.1 Direct Material Input of a Data Centre (DC-DMI) . 20
A.2 Data Centre Cumulative Energy Demand (DC-CED) . 20
A.3 Data Centre Carbon Footprint (DC-CF) . 21
A.4 Support, data and further information . 21
Bibliography . 22
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European foreword
This document (CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021) was prepared by CLC/TC 215, "Electrotechnical aspects of
telecommunication equipment".
This document supersedes CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2019.
CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2021 includes the following significant technical changes with respect to
CLC/TR 50600-99-2:2019:
a) addition of the following new practices: 5.8, 7.10 and 8.1.4;
b) update of practices 6.2.1 and 6.3.2;
c) inclusion of practices CLC/TR 50600-99-1:2020, 7.2.1.2 as practice 5.9 and
CLC/TR 50600-99-1:2020, 7.1.4 as 6.2.3 (with existing practices renumbered).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document has been prepared under a Standardization Request given to CENELEC by the
European Commission and the European Free Trade Association.
Regarding the structure of the EN 50600 series, see the Introduction.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.
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Introduction
The unrestricted access to internet-based information demanded by the information society has led to
an exponential growth of both internet traffic and the volume of stored/retrieved data. Data centres are
housing and supporting the information technology and network telecommunications equipment for data
processing, data storage and data transport. They are required both by network operators (delivering
those services to customer premises) and by enterprises within those customer premises.
Data centres usually provide modular, scalable and flexible facilities and infrastructures to easily
accommodate the rapidly changing requirements of the market. In addition, energy consumption of data
centres has become critical both from an environmental point of view (reduction of environmental
footprint) and with respect to economical considerations (cost of energy) for the data centre operator.
The implementation of data centres varies in terms of:
a) purpose (enterprise, co-location, co-hosting or network operator facilities);
b) security level;
c) physical size;
d) accommodation (mobile, temporary and permanent constructions).
The needs of data centres also vary in terms of availability of service, the provision of security and the
objectives for energy efficiency. These needs and objectives influence the design of data centres in
terms of building construction, power distribution, environmental control, telecommunications cabling
and physical security as well as the operation of the data centre. Effective management and operational
information is important in order to monitor achievement of the defined needs and objectives.
Recognizing the substantial resource consumption, particularly of energy, of larger data centres, it is
also important to provide tools for the assessment of that consumption both in terms of overall value
and of source mix and to provide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate trends and drive
performance improvements.
At the time of publication of this document, the EN 50600 series is designed as a framework of
standards, technical specifications and technical reports covering the design, the operation and
management, the key performance indicators for energy efficient operation of the data centre as well as
a data centre maturity model.
The EN 50600-2 series defines the requirements for the data centre design.
The EN 50600-3 series defines the requirements for the operation and the management of the data
centre.
The EN 50600-4 series defines the key performance indicators for the data centre.
The CLC/TS 50600-5 series defines the data centre maturity model requirements and
recommendations.
The CLC/TR 50600-99-X Technical Reports cover recommended practices and guidance for specific
topics around data centre operation and design.
This series of documents specifies requirements and recommendations to support the various parties
involved in the design, planning, procurement, integration, installation, operation and maintenance of
facilities and infrastructures within data centres. These parties include:
1) owners, operators, facility managers, ICT managers, project managers, main contractors;
2) consulting engineers, architects, building designers and builders, system and installation designers,
auditors, test and commissioning agents;
3) facility and infrastructure integrators, suppliers of equipment;
4) installers, maintainers.
At the time of publication of this document, the EN 50600 series will comprise the following standards
and documents:
EN 50600-1, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 1: General
concepts;
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EN 50600-2-1, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 2-1: Building
construction
EN 50600-2-2, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 2-2: Power
supply and distribution
EN 50600-2-3, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 2-3:
Environmental control
EN 50600-2-4, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 2-4:
Telecommunications cabling infrastructure
EN 50600-2-5, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 2-5: Security
systems
EN 50600-3-1, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 3-1:
Management and operational information
EN 50600-4-1, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 4-1: Overview
of and general requirements for key performance indicators
EN 50600-4-2, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 4-2: Power
Usage Effectiveness
EN 50600-4-3, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 4-3:
Renewable Energy Factor
EN 50600-4-6, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 4-6: Energy
Reuse Factor
EN 50600-4-7, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 4-7: Cooling
Efficiency Ratio
CLC/TS 50600-2-10: Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 2-10:
Earthquake risk and impact analysis
CLC/TR 50600-99-1, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 99-1:
Recommended practices for energy management
CLC/TR 50600-99-2, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 99-2:
Recommended practices for environmental sustainability
CLC/TR 50600-99-3, Information technology — Data centre facilities and infrastructures — Part 99-3:
Guidance to the application of EN 50600 series
The inter-relationship of the documents within the EN 50600 series is shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1 — Schematic relationship between the EN 50600 series of documents
EN 50600-2-X documents specify requirements and recommendations for particular facilities and
infrastructures to support the relevant classification for “availability”, “physical security” and “energy
efficiency enablement” selected from EN 50600-1.
EN 50600-3-X documents specify requirements and recommendations for data centre operations,
processes and management.
EN 50600-4-X documents specify requirements and recommendations for key performance indicators
(KPIs) used to assess and improve the resource usage efficiency and effectiveness, respectively, of a
data centre.
This document is a compilation of recommended practices for improving the environmental sustainability
of data centres.
This document considers that environmental sustainability of a data centre comprises three key areas:
— energy use;
— embodied impact of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment and mechanical
and electrical systems;
— source energy mix of the above (i.e. amount of renewable content).
The recommended practices for improving the environmental sustainability of data centres relating to
operational energy use of a data centre (i.e. reductions of energy consumption and/or improvements of
energy efficiency, re-use of energy and use of renewable energy) are detailed in CLC/TR 50600-99-1.
However, any recommendations of CLC/TR 50600-99-1 that have applicability beyond energy
management and concern environmental sustainability will be included in this document. The long-term
objective is to avoid unintentional duplication of recommended practices in the two documents.
This document provides recommended practices to:
— assess and implement improvements to the environmental sustainability in data centres, by means
of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA);
— assist the industry in taking steps towards more sustainable behaviour.
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Customers or suppliers of information and communication technology (ICT) services possibly find it
useful to request or provide a list of the practices of this Technical Report that are implemented in a data
centre to assist in the procurement of services that meet their environmental or sustainability standards.
This Technical Report also acts as an education and reference document to assist data centre operators
in identifying and implementing measures to improve the energy management of their data centres.
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1 Scope
This document is a compilation of recommended practices for improving the environmental sustainability
of both new and existing data centres. Environmental impacts consider not just those associated with
electricity but also water usage and other pollutants.
It is recognized that the practices included are not universally applicable to all scales and business
models of data centres or be undertaken by all parties involved in data centre operation, ownership or
use.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 50600 series, Information technology — Data centres facilities and infrastructures
EN 50600-3-1, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 3-1:
Management and operational information
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.elctropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1
embodied impact
environmental impact caused pre- and post-use, including during manufacture and disposal
3.1.2
energy efficiency
measure of the work done (as a result of design and/or operational procedures) for a given amount of
energy consumed
[SOURCE: CLC/TR 50600-99-1:2021, 3.1.11]
3.1.3
energy management
combination of reduced energy consumption and increased energy efficiency, re-use of energy and use
of renewable energy
Note 1 to entry: See also EN 50600-3-1 for another definition of energy management.
[SOURCE: CLC/TR 50600-99-1:2021, 3.1.12]
3.1.4
information and communication technology (ICT) equipment
information technology (IT) and network telecommunications (NT) equipment providing data storage,
processing and transport services
Note 1 to entry: Representing the “critical load” of the data centre
[SOURCE: CLC/TR 50600-99-1:2021, 3.1.16]
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3.1.5
system boundary
defines which processes are included in the LCA, chosen during goal and scope definition and govern
what is included in the flow model constructed in the subsequent inventory analysis
3.1.6
virtualisation
creation of a virtual version of physical ICT equipment or resource to offer a more efficient use of ICT
hardware
[SOURCE: CLC/TR 50600-99-1:2021, 3.1.23]
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of this document the abbreviations of the EN 50600 series and the following ones
apply.
ADP Abiotic Depletion Potential
ASHRAE Formerly “American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air conditioning Engineers”
BREEAM Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology
DC-CED Data Centre - Cumulative Energy Demand
DC-CF Data Centre Carbon Footprint
DC-DMI Data Centre - Direct Material Input
DG JRC Directorate-General Joint Research Council of the European Commission
EC European Commission
ERE Energy Reuse Effectiveness
ERF Energy Reuse Factor
ICT Information and communications technology
IT Information technology
KPI Key Performance Indicator
LCA Life cycle assessment
LCI Life cycle inventory
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
M&E Mechanical and electrical
NT Network Telecommunications
OCP Open Compute Project
PUE Power Usage Effectiveness
REF Renewable Energy Factor
SLA Service level agreement
UV Ultraviolet
WD Water Discharged
WEEE Waste electrical and electronic equipment
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WUE Water Usage Effectiveness
4 Environmental sustainability
4.1 General
Sustainable development can be defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The three pillars of sustainable development are recognized as:
a) economic development;
b) social development;
c) environmental protection.
This document recommends practices to reduce environmental impact using a scientific approach, life
cycle assessment (LCA), which considers the impact on:
1) human health (including climate change);
2) ecosystem quality (impacts on the natural environment from an environmental mechanism,
measured by the percentage of vascular species that could potentially be lost as a result);
3) resources (measured by the surplus energy required to extract the same mass of a resource due
to a reduction in quality of the remaining mineral and fossil resources).
Environmental sustainability should be considered at the earliest possible stage of the design process
in order to achieve the greatest influence. Some recommendations for new facilities can also be
applicable for existing facilities, although the practices applied can be associated with increased costs
and disruption.
4.2 Life cycle assessment
Users of this document are not required to undertake an LCA. This subclause provides a background
to the method, and guidance based on the findings of previous LCA studies. However, users who wish
to undertake an LCA to gain a more detailed understanding of the areas of impact of a specific facility
are referred to in EN 15643-1, EN ISO 14040, ITU-T L.1410 and the ILCD Handbook.
LCA takes a holistic approach to identify key environmental impacts throughout a product, process or
service life cycle, from the point of material extraction to end-of-life, and allows the full environmental
impact of decisions to be understood.
An LCA has four stages:
a) goal and scope (including system boundaries);
b) life cycle inventory (LCI), flows entering and leaving system (across the system boundary), e.g.
emissions to air, discharges to water/ soil, use of mineral resources etc.;
c) impact assessment (inventory results are translated into environmental impacts/phenomena), e.g.
global warming, ozone depletion, toxicity, acidification;
d) interpretation (the consequences of the environmental impacts): damage models can be used to
calculate the relative impact on different types or on different areas of protection (often grouped as
climate change, ecosystem quality, human health and resource depletion).
This approach identifies whether improvements made in one area create an overall reduction in impact,
and can identify and help avoid the shifting of environmental burden between life cycle stages or
individual processes. By focussing just on energy efficiency for example, a recommendation can be to
replace old, inefficient plant with new, more efficient equipment in order to reduce energy consumption.
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However, this would also increase the embodied impact. Without taking a holistic view, it is not possible
to assess whether the reduction in energy consumption offsets the increase in embodied impact.
The impact from manufacturing the mechanical and electrical systems and IT equipment dominate the
embodied environmental impact of data centres – being two to three orders of magnitude greater than
the construction phase. As a result, environmental assessment methods for buildings (such as BREEAM
and LEED), which consider the embodied impact of only the construction materials, are of limited use,
even though they have data centre specific schemes, because these components are omitted from
consideration.
The recommendations in this document are based on research findings using best available data to
highlight hotspots, however, large variations are possible in facility performance. For example, a facility
using 100 % renewable energy would have a lower total impact, but a higher embodied impact relative
to operational impact compared with a typical facility powered from a national electricity grid using a
small proportion of renewables in electricity generation and so each facility would have different priorities
to improve sustainability. Other areas can also become relatively significant.
4.3 Data centre boundaries
The system boundaries define the interface between the system under analysis and the natural
environment and the rest of the built environment, and over which materials and energy (in the form of
elementary flows) exchange with nature. In an LCA the boundaries shall be defined by the processes
and life cycle stages that belong within the analysed system (and any that are omitted). Reference shall
also be made to geographical boundaries (for example electricity production differs between countries)
and time boundaries (to ensure any data used it technologically appropriate to the studied period of
time, be that past, present or future). An LCA can consider any number of processes and life cycle
stages, so long as they are clearly noted, to ensure a study is easily replicable for comparison with a
different system.
LCAs can range in accuracy from screening (to highlight hotspots) to a full-blown detailed study. The
research work on which these recommendations are based (see Bibliography, Referenced Papers, [1]),
considered:
a) materials and energy flow at the following life cycle stages (for every component of a built data
centre):
b) extraction of raw materials and any transportation;
c) the manufacturing of data centre systems, equipment, components and sub-components;
d) the transport of components to site;
e) the operation of the facility;
f) the transporting of waste to its end disposal and the end-of-life treatment.
See the example system boundary in Figure 2 below.
NOTE The environmental impact from any electricity consumed, accounts for the source of energy; and
construction and demolition were omitted due to a lack of data.
The manufacturing phase includes the production and transport of raw materials; the fabrication,
processing and manufacturing of these materials into final components, e.g. steel pipes and batteries;
and the transport of materials to the manufacturing sites. The impact of refreshing complete components
and systems is included in this stage.
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Figure 2 — Example system boundary for data centre LCA
5 Recommended practices for processes
The recommended practices of this document can be integrated with the management procedures
addressed in EN 50600-3-1:2016, Clause 8.
Practice Topic Description
5.1 Life Cycle Implement a plan for life cycle assessment (LCA) in accordance with
Assessment emerging EU guidelines and internationally standardized
methodologies.
NOTE This Practice aims to reduce overall carbon footprint and
improve sustainability rather than energy efficiency. References to
EN ISO 14040, EN ISO 14044, and/or EN 15978 might be useful.
5.2 Review results Existing LCAs can provide insights into the highest areas of impact
from existing where the boundaries and assumptions are similar to those of a
LCAs specific facility.
In locations with a high renewable content in the grid, the embodied
impacts become more significant. However for facilities using
electricity with a high carbon intensity, actions to reduce the
emissions associated with electricity consumption in use tend to have
a higher impact.
5.3 Consider This will provide information on the weighting of one area over
undertaking an another for the specific facility and help define which areas have the
LCA highest contribution towards environmental impact and therefore
where actions should be focussed. Use the relevant standards:
EN 15643-1, EN ISO 14040 and ITU-T L.1410. The Green Grid
provide guidelines and Tozer et al. describe a simplified methodology
to quantify environmental impact.
Note that LCA requires considerable resources and so is not practical
for all cases. Sharing of results helps the industry to better
understand this area and improve.
See Annex A for some possible simplified approaches to considering
the data centre life cycle environmental impact. See also
Bibliography, Referenced Papers [2].
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Practice Topic Description
5.4 Environmental Implement a plan for environmental management in accordance with
Management emerging EU guidelines and internationally standardized
methodologies.
Consider appointing a cross functional Environmental Sustainability
Manager to take responsibility for this initiative.
NOTE EN ISO 14001 is an example of a standardized
methodology.
5.5 Monitor and Implementation of this action increases visibility of environmental
report carbon impact and allows improvements to be tracked. The EU Eco-
footprint of in-use Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is possibly also relevant.
energy
5.6 Green Include the relevant recommendations into procurement
procurement requirements. Additional information can be found in outputs from the
EURECA (www.dceureca.eu) and EC JRC Data Centre Green Public
Procurement (2018) projects.
5.7 Measurement
...
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