In a lot of countries, data centers are getting a lot of criticism. They are accused of driving up consumers’ energy costs, depleting water resources, and increasing fossil fuel emissions. In many cases, it’s true. But in the Nordics, the picture is different.
Thanks to our welcoming geography and unwelcoming climate, we are able to run cleaner, greener data centers. And this is increasingly being seen as an opportunity to be the cleaner, greener ‘compute engine’ for Europe.
It’s a very hot topic
At the heart of the problem is cooling. Data centers run vast numbers of CPUs and GPUs to carry out the large-scale computation needed by AI and the Cloud. These work hard and get hot. Really hot. And this degrades their performance. Up to 30% of the total energy used in data centers is spent cooling processors so they run efficiently. As the need for compute power increases, so does the problem to solve.
It’s cold here – and wet
As anyone who has lived in the Nordics can tell you, except for a few magical months each year, the Nordics are blessed with natural ‘self-cooling’ – and that’s about as politely as we can put it. It’s cold here. Really cold. And that provides a huge advantage when it comes to cooling data centers. There are also vast quantities of ice-cold water available for providing direct cooling.
The energy is cleaner – and greener
The Nordics are among the world leaders when it comes to renewable and fossil-free energy production. 88% of Norway’s electricity is generated by hydro power – with another 10% coming from wind – to make it 98% renewable. Sweden is over 70% renewable, with most of the rest coming from nuclear. So they come in around 98% fossil free as well.
Diverting compute workloads from fossil fuel burning data centers to renewably powered ones is a net win for the environment. It’s also a net win for the business case, with energy costs in the Nordics being amongst the lowest in Europe.
“Diverting compute workloads from fossil fuel burning data centers to renewably powered ones is a net win for the environment.”
The regulatory environment is… boring
The regulatory environment in the Nordics is known for being pragmatic and predictable. Call it boring if you like, but this stability is important when it comes to making long-term infrastructure investments where predictability is required.
Playing our part
At Dark Fiber Group, we consider it our privilege and responsibility to support the transition to cleaner, greener data centers. By delivering the routing diversity and scalability needed to move more compute to fossil-free power, we’re doing our part for the Nordics and the environment. And that’s good for all of us.
