Newsroom - Count on Cooling

EPEE’s interactive webinar ‘The Natural Resource of the Future – how our data needs are shaping energy and cooling innovation’ on 20 May 2021 taught us everything we need to know when it comes to sustainable data centres!

As part of its Count on Cooling webinar series, the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) which represents the heating and cooling industry in Europe organised an interactive webinar to highlight the role of sustainable cooling in data centres.

The webinar not only explored how sustainable cooling is enabling our data-rich future, but also how data centre operators and the EU are enabling sustainable data centres.

Joining the webinar was a diverse mix of speakers. EPEE’s Director-General, Andrea Voigt, kick started the discussion and highlighted the need for sustainable cooling in data centres.

The efficiency of the cooling process depends on many different factors that go far beyond the cooling equipment itself. A very important aspect is the use of waste heat which offers a huge potential to reduce energy demand for heating in a cost-efficient way.

‘As we move to net zero emissions by 2050, energy efficiency, renewables and electrification will have to play a crucial role. In this context, datacentres are a great example for energy system integration. Indeed, datacentres consume electricity, which is transformed into heat that needs to be removed. For this we need cooling’ said Andrea.

From the EU perspective, Paolo Bertoldi, Senior Expert on Energy Efficiency with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre discussed the EU Data Centre Code of Conduct which aims to raise awareness of energy efficiency and cost-effective energy saving opportunities for data centres.

Jonathan Evans from Total Data Centre Solutions educated the audience on reusing waste server heat which can help data centre operators achieve climate neutrality.  Reusing waste heat from servers is now becoming part of planning approvals in some regions including Amsterdam which Jonathan believes should be a practice copied across all markets.

Presenting the business side of things was Max Schulze, Executive Chairman of the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance who highlighted the sustainability potential of transforming data centre power and cooling infrastructure into as-a-service which echoed EPEE’s ‘Cooling as a service’ factsheet. 

EPEE’s Count on Cooling webinar series is only getting started. The webinar series plans to provide more examples of sustainable cooling solutions in the future.

Stay tuned for more updates on upcoming webinars that will explore the food cold chain and innovation in buildings!

Delivering tangible emission savings year after year since its entry into force – the highest of all non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions – the EU F-Gas Regulation is an effective gold standard for regulating F-Gases, positioning the EU as a global leader. The ongoing review must therefore be used to fine-tune the regime building on existing requirements in an intelligent, forward looking way, without falling in the trap of dogmatic decisions.

F-Gases are mainly used in heating and cooling which is of utmost importance for the EU to fulfil its Green Deal contract with future generations. Heating and cooling represent half of the total final energy consumption in Europe, and most of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions are stemming from energy. Therefore, the sector must decarbonise rapidly – particularly heating which is still largely based on fossil fuels. Electrical heat pumps will drive the decarbonisation of heating, providing demand side flexibility, thermal storage and reducing energy demand, all of which will facilitate the transition to renewable energies. To make it happen and further speed up the process, F-Gases are needed to accommodate for all types of applications, safety and energy efficiency requirements.

EPEE therefore re-iterates its strong support for the HFC phase-down as the Regulation’s strongest and most successful instrument, achieving highest total greenhouse gas emissions. It provides the flexibility and predictability needed for industry to deliver the most energy efficient, safe and affordable solutions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition, EPEE strongly recommends to strengthen key provisions such as the introduction of electronic logbooks, the extension of recovery, recycling and reclamation (RRR) as well as certification requirements to all types of refrigerants, and further improvements in implementation and enforcement.

Download the press release here

What will be the role of energy efficiency in the #Fitfor55 package? How to ensure the delivery of higher 2030 targets? Join the Coalition for Energy Savings on 25 May at 4PM to know more!

Ahead of the release of the Fit for 55 package, which will include, among others, a proposal to revise the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Coalition for Energy Savings is organising an online conference to discuss the role of energy efficiency in the upcoming package given the benefits of energy efficiency improvements to reach Europe’s climate goals and to trigger a just and clean economic recovery.

A keynote speech from Ms. Paula Pinho, Director at DG Energy, will be followed by a panel discussion of distinguished guests. A detailed agenda will be made available shortly.

Save the date and register here

As a member of the green recovery alliance led by MEP Pascal Canfin, EPEE signed a call to action for the United States to fulfil its ambitions by adopting a climate goal of reducing by at least 50% GHG emissions by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels). 

“….The US and the EU will face different challenges in the transition towards carbon neutrality. While the EU relies on energy imports to meet half of its energy needs, the US, on the other hand, has started exporting more energy products than it imports. Beyond these differences, we have a common agenda and we need to embark on common reforms. We also share the same concern: the transition has to be just and fair to avoid penalising our citizens, workers and industries. This is why we have to strengthen our cooperation and work together to clean our energy systems, take additional steps to green our financial systems, deploy zero-emission vehicles and accelerate the renovation of buildings.

This decade will be the crucial one to fight against climate change!  The climate crisis has no political colour, no borders, and no vaccine will prevent us from its impact. We, European political decision makers, CEOs, business organisations, trade unions and think tanks, call the United States to fulfil its ambitions by adopting a climate goal of reducing by at least 50% GHG emissions by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels)...”

Read the call to action here

Together with 9 fellow associations, EPEE signed an open letter asking Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius and Commissioner for the Internal MarketThierry Breton for an open dialogue on constructively addressing sustainable products policy, in the context of the recently published open public consultation on the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI).

“Our associations recognise the imperative of complementing the decarbonisation objectives under the European Green Deal (EGD) with efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of products. The Commission has indicated that it has been politically decided that the scope of the Ecodesign Directive is to be widened to include non-ErP, in addition to the ErP currently within the scope of the Directive. Should the Ecodesign methodology be applied to non-ErP products, we believe that the legislation should be sensitive to the differences between ErP and non-ErP products.”

Read the letter here