In recent years, global economies have shifted from being driven by physical assets to being powered by digital technologies. As a result, we’ve landed in an era dominated by data – the lifeblood that’s fueling economic growth and prosperity. However, with this increased digitization, safeguarding the environment becomes mission critical.

Increasing data demands from every corner of society, coupled with groundbreaking advancements in data-driven technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), has led to unprecedented growth in data generation and, consequently, increased demand on data processing infrastructure. Naturally, this places enormous emphasis on the need to ensure that this processing and storage infrastructure is managed sustainably.

Whether you’re viewing it from a business, research, or consumer perspective, our reliance on technology is undeniable. Similar to how we monitor utility bills at home, the power usage effectiveness (PUE) of our data centers is critical to achieving optimal performance, cost-efficiency, and minimizing the environmental footprint.

So how do we power the demand and where do we go from there?

The IT industry, and the operation of data centers, have vast climate impact potential, so it’s never been more urgent to consider our data-habits and their respective ecological impact. The Stockholm Data Park initiative, a collaboration between the City of Stockholm, Stockholm Exergi, Ellevio and Stokab, incentivizes the data center industry to repurpose excess heat, striving to make the city fossil fuel-free by 2040. The participation of businesses and data center operators like us is pivotal in redefining green computing by enabling heat recovery using the existing infrastructure beneath Stockholm.

Simply put, the data center industry is increasingly becoming akin to a utility provider.

Stockholm is ahead of the curve with its integrated district heating and cooling network, currently partnering with more than 30+ data centers. Originally built in the 1950s to utilize excess heat from industrial factories, the Stockholm Open District Heating Network has evolved into a sustainable energy powerhouse, and Digital Realty has played a significant role in this transformation.

At Digital Realty in Sweden, we embrace the concept of the circular economy. Since 2015, our Stockholm data center campus has been connected to the Open District Heating Network (Öppen fjärrvärme), helping to heat tens of thousands of nearby homes by repurposing excess heat generated by our server halls.

The warmer the water we deliver to the network, the better the returned output. To enhance this process, we’ve made significant investments in heat pumps at our STO6 data center, which further improves the yield of this heat reuse initiative. The pumps heat the residual hot water on site so it’s in a fit state to be distributed directly into the network, eliminating the need for subsequent temperature augmentation.

While the cold Nordic climate provides ideal operating conditions for data centers, it necessitates heating for homes, offices, and government buildings. By recycling residual heat that would otherwise be wasted, we address not only climate change but also support the crucial heating needs of the Swedish population.

The Nordic region is already leading in low-cost, low-emission energy. Since 2012, Digital Realty has matched the energy it uses to power its data centers in the Nordics with renewable energy. We design our data centers according to the latest industry standards and use free cooling where possible. As participants of the EU Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers, we exceed the set expectations in both design and sustainability, helping to shape the industry and achieve a greener future.

With the rise of high-density workloads and AI innovation, it is crucial for businesses to operate within an ecosystem that supports not only growth but also environmental sustainability. By leveraging the Nordic climate for cooling solutions such as free cooling, closed cooling loops, and open district heating, we not only help heat thousands of nearby homes each year but also significantly reduce our carbon footprint and energy costs.

Choosing a Digital Realty data center in Stockholm means opting for a stable, secure, and scalable data center solution that meets future data demands and enhances your company’s sustainability initiatives.

We are committed to continuously innovating and reshaping the city’s energy landscape, heating one home at a time.

Data center heat-reuse: securing a greener future for the Nordics, heating one home at a time.