Data centres are a core element of the IT infrastructure supporting digital transformation. They contribute to a sustainable economy by improving the efficiency along the value creation chain. Nevertheless, data centres consume a significant amount of energy and other resources and are, as a result, also at risk in terms of their environmental sustainability. Due to emerging technologies and applications such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the resource consumption of data centres is constantly increasing.
Data centre operators have already done a lot to save energy and reduce their environmental footprint. However, the question remains: “Have I considered every aspect, or are there missed opportunities for improvement?”.
To assist data centre managers in answering this question and in identifying areas for improvement, CLC/TC 215 ‘Electrotechnical aspects of telecommunication equipment’ recently published the second edition of its data centre maturity model for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, CLC/TS 50600-5-1. The specification defines five levels of maturity and provides a relevant set of requirements and practices for all major elements of a data centre’s infrastructure and IT equipment. All levels build upon each other. This means that all relevant requirements have to be fulfilled for a certain level before the next level can be achieved.
The second edition has been restructured to improve the use of the specification. It comes with requirements that have been refined from a technical point of view and consolidates the previous CLC/TR 50600-99-1 and CLC/TR 50600-99-2 (which are now withdrawn) into a single document. Consequently, the specification is also intended to replace the current reference to CLC/TR 50600-99-1 in the EU Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852.
CLC/TC 215 will continue to improve the TS and upgrade it into a European Standard. Experts interested in contributing to this topic (and EN 50600 in general) are invited to contact their National Committee to be registered as experts in TC 215/WG 3.
