HYCOOL-IT: energy-saving project for server rooms kicks off
HYCOOL-IT EUROPEAN PROJECT COORDINATED BY THE ENERGY DEPARTMENT KICKS OFF
The electricity consumption of server rooms accounts for a significant share (4%) of the total consumption of buildings related to the service sector in the European Union, and demand is expected to grow even more in the coming years. following the trend of increasing total electricity consumption of data centres in the EU. Many companies, school districts, hospitals and universities increasingly need larger server rooms on their premises, thus contributing to the increase in electricity consumption.
The European HYCOOL-IT project, co-ordinated by the Politecnico di Milano and funded under the European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation Horizon Europe, aims to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of innovative solutions, replicable through standardisation, capable of optimising the energy efficiency of server rooms in advanced tertiary buildings through monitoring and control systems based on Digital Twin tools.
The HYCOOL-IT project has nine partners from six European countries: Italy, Belgium, Germany, Serbia and Spain. Each partner is instrumental in bringing its own methodology, know-how and expertise to the project.
As far as the Department of Energy is concerned, the project involves researchers from the RELAB (Renewable Heating and Cooling Lab) research team and is coordinated by Prof. Marcello Aprile, Professor of Engineering of solar thermal processes and Zero emission and positive energy districts at the Department, who says:
‘This project represents an interesting opportunity for energy optimisation of the IT infrastructure in our buildings. Our ambition is to reduce the energy consumption of server rooms while developing standardised and replicable solutions on a large scale. To achieve this goal, collaboration with European institutions and partners is crucial.’
A further key aspect of HYCOOL-IT is the development of a ‘rack-integrated adsorption chiller’, an adsorption refrigeration system integrated in rack cabinets that can harness the heat generated by servers to provide air cooling in a compact and efficient manner.
The RELAB research team will test and validate all the proposed solutions directly at the Bovisa campus of the Politecnico di Milano.
