🔆 Key Takeaways 📍 Environmental Impact of Data Centres: ✅ Data centres consume nearly as much energy for cooling as for computing. ✅ To curb climate change, the ICT industry needs to cut emissions by 42% by 2030 (from its 2015 levels). ✅ Data centres need greener designs that use less energy and water, and have lower greenhouse gas emissions to help meet global climate goals and keep warming below 1.5°C. Urgent upgrades to energy, efficiency, and cooling are critical. 📍 Innovative Cooling Techniques: ✅ Cold-plate and immersion cooling are emerging as energy-efficient alternatives to traditional air cooling. ✅ In a cold-plate system, the liquid-to-air heat transfer ratio ranges from 50% to 80%, sometimes more. ✅ In Cold-plate cooling, small coolant-filled channels absorb heat into tiny channels filled with coolant. ✅ Immersion cooling submerges equipment in a non-conductive fluid, drastically improving heat dissipation. ✅ These techs cut corrosion, boost reliability, and slash carbon footprint — all while running silent without fans. ✅ Pioneers like Microsoft and Alibaba are already deploying these systems at scale. 📍 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Findings: ✅ The report from researchers from Microsoft and WSP Global demonstrate that advanced cooling methods like cold plates and immersion cooling can cut data centre emissions by 15-21%, energy use by 15-20%, and water consumption by 31-52% compared to traditional air cooling. ✅ Life cycle assessment has shown that reducing data centre energy use through advanced liquid-cooling technologies will lead to marked reductions in data centre environmental impacts. ✅ The assessment revealed that with grid electricity, cold plates and immersion cooling cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15%, energy use by more than 15%, and water consumption by more than 31%. ✅ Switching to renewables slashes emissions by 85-90%, energy use by 6-7%, and water demand by 55–85%, regardless of cooling tech. 📍 Policy and Technology Implications: ✅ As electronic heat removal is key to sustainability, innovations in cooling can help the ICT sector meet climate goals and net-zero targets. ✅ These technologies also enhance equipment lifespan, improve performance, and reduce risk of failure. 📍 Challenges and Cautions: ✅ Coolant fluids involve different regulations, and complex designs delay deployment. Using them is like swapping plastic straws for paper: they are greener, but not without trade-offs. ✅ Cooling gains can backfire if pollution is merely shifted elsewhere. #s/t #env