The critical factors related to the responsibility and environmental sustainability of data center operations are particularly linked to energy efficiency and the reduction of environmental impacts, carbon footprint, reliability, and security throughout the entire life cycle. Success in these areas is also connected to the societal and local acceptance of data center operators.
Data center operations are energy-intensive, and the demand for energy required especially for artificial intelligence workloads is growing rapidly. The objective of this project is to promote the responsibility and environmental sustainability of data centers, particularly through solutions related to improving energy efficiency and utilizing excess heat. The project makes use of the results obtained in the “Utilizing Data Center Waste Heat” project and is part of the Kajaani data center ecosystem.
The CEMIS-DCR project is implemented by Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, CSC – IT Center for Science, and the Environmental and Chemical Engineering Research Unit (ECE) of the University of Oulu.
The project tasks are divided into the following main areas:
- solutions for utilizing excess heat beyond district heating production, including opportunities for electricity generation in the Kajaani data center cluster and operating models for excess heat utilization,
- regional holistic optimization of energy use and excess heat utilization using a digital twin,
- establishment of a research group to strengthen data center research, and
- communication, networking, and stakeholder collaboration.
The project also includes analyses of the regional economic impacts of data centers on the Kajaani region.
The project supports the objectives of the Kajaani region’s innovation ecosystem agreement and is part of the implementation of the Kainuu pilot within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Data Economy Growth Programme.
Photo: Mikael Kanerva CSC
