Data Center 101: What to Look for in Planning?

What is important when planning a Data Center? The individual planning steps of the HOAI or common procedures such as the quality triangle should not be part of this article. We focus on the essential future topics! 

Every Data Center is individual and so the planning must also be individual. With today's requirements, it is not advisable for serious planning to simply duplicate finished planning services from previous projects.

We therefore recommend making sure that your individual requirements and framework parameters are all met and sufficiently considered during planning. 

Data Centers must be climate-neutral by 2030. This is what the EU stipulates in its Green Deal. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, this aspect must already be taken into account during the planning phase. When planning a Data Center, make sure that at least the following points are fulfilled. 1:

1. Is the planning a sustainable and energy-efficient approach? A PUE of at least 1.3 must be met and is the benchmark for modern Data Center planning. This value is anchored in the European Green Deal and is mandatory from 2025.
   
   
2. Are renewable energies considered? By 2025, Data Centers in the EU must obtain at least 75% of their energy from renewable sources. By 2030 even 100%. Professional Data Center planning already takes this into account in concept and design.
   
   
3. Wasser ist für Rechenzentren eine wichtige Ressource. Zunehmend erfahren wir, das Wasser auch in urbanen wie ländlichen Gebieten immer schwerer in ausreichenden Mengen verfügbar ist. In vielen Klimakonzepten ist die adiabatische Kühlung ein fester Bestandteil, gilt diese doch als sehr energieeffizient. Hierfür werden große Mengen Wasser verdunstet, um somit einen Kühleffekt zu erzielen. Eine zukunftsorientierte Rechenzentrumsplanung berücksichtigt den Aspekt der Wasserknappheit und stellt die Vor- und Nachteile unterschiedlicher Klimakonzepte heraus.
   
   
4. Consideration of IT hardware (server structure). Often Data Center planners consider a Data Center as a black box. The question of IT connectivity is raised in every kick-off meeting, but very rarely questioned. Holistic planning looks not only at the pure infrastructure, but also at the components that need to be supplied. Often, by simply replacing the server hardware, IT performance can be reduced and thus systems can be dimensioned smaller and more efficiently. In most cases, the discarded server hardware can be repaired or reconditioned. The hardware recycled in this way thus undergoes ecological reuse (Second Life).
   
   
5. Every Data Center converts the supplied electrical energy 1:1 into thermal energy. When planning the Data Center, ensure that the rate of reuse of this heat energy is as high as possible. Releasing this waste heat unused into the atmosphere is neither a particularly progressive nor sustainable planning approach. When choosing a location, make sure that the heat can be fed into a district heating network, for example, or use other options to use the waste heat ecologically.
   
   
6. Scalable and modular infrastructure. A Data Center can only be operated efficiently if all system components are optimally utilized. Already during the planning phase, attention must be paid to a sensible selection of components and their dimensioning.