Top 10 Data Center Power and Cooling Stories of 2024

In our top data center power and cooling stories of the year, industry experts discuss critical questions – and innovations – related to powering and cooling the AI revolution.

Alyse Burnside, Contributor

December 16, 2024

5 Min Read
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run coal-fired power plant
Alamy

This year was all about power as concerns about whether overtaxed power grids can keep up with the tech evolution mounted for the data center industry, the utility sector, and regulatory policymakers. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. From these challenges also came hopeful collaboration efforts and innovations in cooling, rack design, and renewable energy.

Data Center Knowledge’s top 10 data center power and cooling stories of 2024 bring experts together in conversation about critical findings in energy usage, ways to leverage AI in efforts to make data center operations more sustainable, methods for building more efficient cooling systems, and how data centers and utility companies must come together to address these pressing energy concerns. Below we list our top data center power and cooling stories of the year.

1. Welcome to the Era of the Nuclear-Powered Data Center

With a simultaneous surge in demand for data centers capable of supporting AI workloads and a global energy crisis, the tech evolution has become unsustainable in its current state, Data Center Knowledge contributor Bill Kleyman writes. This has some turning to nuclear energy as an abundant and clean option for powering the data center sector. This article highlights some of the ways in which nuclear power could provide a solution to the data center industry’s growing energy crisis. Read more.

2. Power Is Key to Unlocking AI Data Center Growth

The only thing governing AI’s potential is the need for power, industry expert Ali Fenn said at this year’s Data Center World. Therefore, in order to capitalize on the AI boom, companies must find reliable power sources in places where new data centers can be built at relatively contained costs. As of now, the current power grid model will not be able to manage AI build-out. In this article, Data Center Knowledge contributor Drew Robb highlights some of Fenn’s thoughts on the future of AI-optimized data centers. Read more.

3. Is Rear Rack Cooling Right For Your Data Center Operations?

Rear rack cooling offers more energy-efficient cooling at lower costs than liquid cooling systems – but it also poses some specific challenges. For one, more air exchangers are needed than a traditional CRAC system, which takes up more data center space, and – perhaps most importantly – it does not offer backups if an exchanger fails. If you’re looking to make the change from traditional CRAC systems to rear rack cooling, this article can help you make the informed decision. Read more.

4. The Dual Influence of AI on Data Center Power and Sustainability

Most often AI is discussed as the most significant threat to sustainability, but at this year’s Data Center World, keynote speaker Ali Fenn spoke about how AI could be a positive agent for change when it comes to reducing carbon emissions and enhancing energy usage and cooling operations. This article expands on AI’s potential to transform data center energy consumption. Read more.

5. How Data Centers Work with Utilities to Improve Power Availability

The power grid is a complex machine, and in the past few years it’s only become more complicated as the utilities universe undergoes substantial changes brought about by AI, extreme weather, electrification, and regulatory pressures. The data center industry, with its immense need for power, has put massive pressure on the utility industry in recent years, but now data center developers and grid operators are beginning to collaborate. Writer Drew Robb explains why this strategic partnership is needed now more than ever. Read more.

6. DOE Report Exposes Critical Impact of AI on Data Center Power Consumption

In July, the Department of Energy published a report detailing exorbitant power demands from data centers, with a particular focus on those supporting AI workloads. The DOE collaborated with industry stakeholders to present a set of recommendations regarding ways the data center industry can shift from energy consumption to grid management. In this article you’ll find the DOE’s recommendations outlined and explained, as well as a focus on some key issues that were not addressed in the report. Read more.

DOE-Energy-Report-Main.jpg

7. Data Center Rack Density Has Doubled. And It's Still Not Enough

In a future where every data center is an AI data center, rack density will need to grow considerably in order to meet increased capacity requirements. Rack density has already doubled since 2008, but it’s not enough to support the high-density architecture AI requires. Data Center Knowledge contributor Bill Kleyman looks at how liquid cooling and rear-door heat exchangers might increase capacity and help the industry keep pace with the demands of AI workloads. Read more.

8. How Utilities and Hyperscalers Are Working to Tackle ‘Extreme’ Data Center Power Demands

Both utilities and hyperscalers are urgently trying to expand energy capacity through infrastructure upgrades, renewables, and improving energy efficiency in order to meet the energy demands of AI workloads. This article expands on the collaborative efforts being made by data center companies and utilities as well as the challenges posed by regulatory restrictions that make upgrading an already overtaxed power grid all the more difficult. Read more.

9. Soaring AI Power Demand Poses Unanswered Questions for Data Centers: Webinar Coverage

Writer Henry Chapman reports on a Data Center Knowledge webinar focused on the challenges AI infrastructures and applications present to power distribution. Central to this discussion are concerns around limitations to the heating and supply chain, an urgency for sustainable cooling solutions and innovative designs for new data centers, and the role of regulation to the future of power grid infrastructure and energy distribution. Read more.

10. Hydrogen-Powered Data Centers: A Sustainable Solution?

Hydrogen-powered data centers could be the clean energy source the data center industry has been dreaming of. But is widespread adoption likely anytime soon? Hydrogen fuel-cells offer a steady energy source that is not climate dependent, produces very few emissions, and is relatively inexpensive. In this article, Data Center Knowledge contributor Christopher Tozzi expands on how hydrogen fuel cells produce energy, how this energy could be harnessed, and the challenges and solutions it could bring to the data center industry. Read more.

About the Author

Alyse Burnside

Contributor, ITPro Today

Alyse Burnside is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. She is working on a collection of personal essays about queerness, visibility, and the hyperreal. She's especially interested in writing about cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, VR, AR, and ER. 

alyseburnside.com

Subscribe to the Data Center Knowledge Newsletter
Get analysis and expert insight on the latest in data center business and technology delivered to your inbox daily.

You May Also Like