Last spring, London Data Exchange (LDeX), a UK data centre service provider, built their brand-new 22,000 ft.² facility with the goal of reaching 100% renewable energy usage within three years. The company proudly announced last week a deal with New Energy Supplier UK, which fulfils their goal after only a year in business. New Energy Supplier, UK will provide the company with 100% renewable energy for its LDeX1 facility in Northwest London. LDeX CEO Robin Garbutt says the energy deal highlights the company's commitment to environmental responsibility and renewable energy. The Northwest London data centre provides collocation and other services to both commercial and non-commercial organizations throughout the UK. The power and cooling needs of such a facility are significant enough that going with 100% renewable energy makes a big statement. In official remarks, Garbutt cited the increasing cost of energy and rising international pressure for green technologies as being answered directly by the New Energy Supplier contract. LDeX is not alone in its pursuit of operating facilities in an environmentally responsible way. Among the data centre news coming out this past December (2012) was a story about a €10 million investment being made by Tieto, a large European IT company. The money will be used for a new data centre project in Espoo, Finland that will eventually see the heat produced by the facility going to the city's heating district. Likewise, Google recently built a new data centre in Dublin to take advantage of the cooler and wetter climate there. Company officials recently stated the weather in Ireland makes it much more cost-effective to cool their centre because temperatures do not get extremely warm even during the summer months. Facilities from other companies have been located in Dublin for similar reasons.

Green the Way to Go

Whether or not you agree with the whole climate change thing, there is no arguing that green is the way to go for new data centres all over Europe. LDeX is correct in their assertion of mounting international pressure pushing technology companies in this direction. In the UK, the government's energy reduction goals are both well known and ambitious; the goals of the EU are no less so. Finding ways to power our technology while using fewer fossil fuels is a concept that is here to stay. Companies like LDeX that find ways to do it the soonest will have a leg up in terms of marketing their products and services. More than one analyst believes the fact that they reached their energy goals in less than a year will be a strong selling point for new customers. All that is left for LDeX to do now is to prove to customers they have the collocation and other IT services that make them a worthy business partner. Competition within the greater London area is stiff, so one hopes they are up to the challenge. If so, it entirely possible we will see them open the additional facilities included in the company's three-year plan.