LCA of Energy and Material Demands in Professional Data Centers: Case Study of a Server

First published in
Sustainable Production, Life Cycle Engineering and Management  
Start Page
79
End Page
88
Citation
Springer 978-3-319-92237-9: 79-88 (2019)
Publisher DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-92237-9_9
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85062920346
Publisher
Springer
Professional Data Centers (PDC) quantity and their related energy consumption is in a continuous growing trend, with corresponding increments in the material demand. While the amount of energy during operation phase is normally measured, the amount of embedded energy and the total Cumulated Energy Demand (CED) is often overlooked. To estimate the total amount of energy and material demand, LCA is used to evaluate the CED and CMD (Cumulated Material Demand) of devices used in PDC. A server Unit typical of these facilities is analyzed using data from disassembly and elementary analysis to construct a model for LCA to estimate the CED and CMD of the device. Results indicate that most of the energy is consumed during the operation phase, which is dependent on the operating lifetime of the device. Uncertainties are present due to the quality of the databases used for the model.
Subjects
Data Center
Energy Efficiency
LCA
Material Demand