A comprehensive analysis of green building rating systems for data centers

Abstract

The high energy consumption of data centers (DCs) has become a global issue that needs to be addressed, and as a result, their development of green rating systems (GBRSs) has been widely emphasized. Although GBRSs have been the subject of many studies for various building types, there has been few studies for DCs. This is the first study to comprehensively analyze GBRSs for DCs. The study established nine categories of standardized overall indicators and seven categories of standardized energy indicators, and furthermore reformatted and aligned the GBRS items accordingly. The study first compared GBRSs for DCs and other non-residential buildings to find out main concerns for a green DC, second compared different GBRSs for DCs to identify regional differences, and finally investigated GBRSs for DCs in China where digital infrastructure is booming. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) as a key indicator of DC energy efficiency was further analyzed. The results highlighted the importance of energy related criteria to DCs and discussed how to use the assessment criteria to appropriately guide and promote green DCs in future work. It also discussed the constraint for energy efficiency in DCs and the best practices that should be encouraged in the category of Innovation for green DCs. This study fills the gap in existing studies of GBRSs for DCs and contributes to the development of green buildings and the refinement of assessment criteria in DCs.