ESG与数据中心：标准化和透明度如何为行业赋能
ESG and data centres：How standardisation and transparency can empower the industry
BY MARK GARNER, VP, SECURE POWER DIVISION, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC UK & IRELAND
译 者 说
为促进数据中心行业可持续化发展落地，施耐德电气提出了一套环境可持续化指标框架。此框架帮助行业将可持续发展从一个定性的概念量化成了一个个细项指标，方便运营者以及行业全面、定量、标准化地判断不同组织的可持续化进程，也有利于数据中心运营商对自身可持续化举措效果进行量化评估，进而不断调整数据中心的运营策略。
气候变化的关注度日益增加，这给数据中心和数字基础设施部门带来了很大的压力。驱动数据中心走向可持续发展的力量包括：一系列政府法规，客户和投资者的需求，以及越来越多的人认识到，引领可持续化发展，与企业的增长期望紧密关联。例如，2021年施耐德电气与451 Research调研了全球800余家主机托管公司，发现97%的受调研组织的客户要求在商务合作中做出可持续发展的承诺。
GROWING CONCERN about the effects of climate change has placed much pressure on the data centre and digital infrastructure sectors. Forces influencing the move toward sustainable data centres include a combination of government regulations, the demands of customers and investors, as well as a growing understanding that by leading on sustainability it is interlinked by our desire to grow. For example, in 2021, Schneider Electric and 451 Research surveyed over 800 global colocation organisations and found that 97% of providers’ customers were asking for contractual sustainability commitments.
最近的研究调查发现，虽然大多数公司和组织提高了对环境、社会及管治(ESG)报告的重视程度，但实践情况却是相对滞后的，同时Uptime Institute的近期调研发现，大多数组织并未密切关注自身的生态足迹。为了支持数据中心运营者的努力，赋能行业去控制他们的可持续发展目标，施耐德电气创建了首个“用于衡量数据中心环境可持续性的指标框架”。
While sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting have grown in importance, practices are lagging and recent research from the Uptime Institute found most organisations, still, are not closely tracking their environmental footprint. To support the efforts of operators, Schneider Electric has created a first of-its-kind ‘Environmental Sustainability Metric Framework’, empowering the sector to take control of its sustainability goals.
此框架包含23个关键指标，对于初级，进阶及行业领先阶段的数据中心运营者而言，这些指标可以帮助行业以一种标准化的方式去衡量和上报数据中心运营对环境的影响。框架还提出了五个关键类别，包括：能源消耗，温室气体的排放，水资源的使用，废弃物的产生和土地利用以及生物多样性。
The framework includes 23 key metrics for operators who are in the Beginning, Advanced and Leading stages of their sustainability journey, which helps the industry to standardise the way it measures and reports its environmental impact. It also proposes five key categories, which include energy use, GHG emissions, water, waste and land use and biodiversity.
关键指标
Key metrics
能源作为数据中心运营成本中占比最大的一项，是需要被监控测量的首要类别。并且，化石燃料、可再生能源产出受地缘政治影响，价格波动较大。因此最大限度地提升能源使用效率在商业和长期环境保护角度上均有重要意义。
Energy is the first category to monitor and measure. As the single most expensive operating cost associated with a data centre, and one that is subject to major price fluctuations due to the geopolitical nature of fossil fuels and renewable energy production, maximising energy efficiency makes both commercial and long-term environmental sense.
其次，温室气体排放
Second, are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
由CO2(二氧化碳)、CH4(甲烷) 、PFC（全氟化物）和 HFC（氢氟碳化物）引起的碳排放是气候变化的主要因素，所有业务领域均应该做出行动和努力来减少此类气体的排放。
Carbon emissions resulting from the generation of gases such as CO2 (carbon dioxide), CH4 (methane), PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) and HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) are a major contributor to climate change and efforts to minimise such gases are ongoing across all areas of business.
例如，SF6是一种广泛存在于中压开关设备中的温室气体，其带来的温室效应为等量CO2的23000倍。因此，施耐德电气等运营者们研发了不含SF6的技术，直接解决了上述问题。
SF6, for example, is a greenhouse gas over 23,000 times stronger than CO2 and is found in most existing medium-voltage switchgear, so operators such as Schneider Electric have developed SF6-free technologies to directly address this.
水资源利用同样是一个重点，一个15MW的数据中心每天都要消耗多达36万加仑的水，(1363吨)。冷却塔和其他蒸发冷却技术因其高效和强大的冷却能力在散热领域很受欢迎。但是相应的，蒸发散热同样需要消耗大量的水资源。通常来讲，一个使用传统蒸发散热方式的1MW的数据中心每年会消耗2500万升水。
Water use is another key to address with a 15-megawatt data centre typically consuming up to 360,000 gallons of water a day. Cooling towers and other evaporative cooling techniques are popular methods of heat rejection because of their high efficiency and large cooling capacity. However, the evaporation requires the consumption of significant amounts of water. Typically, a 1-megawatt data centre with traditional cooling methods can use about 25m litres of water a year.
数据中心在建设和运营阶段不可避免地会产生废弃物，其通常包含必须被妥善处置的危险物。循环经济设计方法论、绿色生态标签(Green Premium™)技术和更好的流程可以帮助改善数据中心的可持续化表现性，包括不间断电源（UPS）电池的报废产品回收也是如此。数据中心建设阶段对土地和生物多样性的潜在伤害也必须保持在最低限度。尤其应对项目和开发商提出额外的要求，可持续性不仅关乎数据中心设施本身，同样包含其配套的可再生能源基础设施，例如太阳能发电板和风力发电机。
Inevitably, data centres generate waste, both during their construction and operation, which often includes hazardous materials that must be disposed of properly. Circular economy design methodologies, Green Premium™ technologies and better processes can support sustainable improvements - as can recycling of end-of-life products including uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries. The potentially harmful effects of data centre construction on land and biodiversity must also be kept to a minimum. This is especially true when extra demands on real estate are made, not just by the facility itself but by the associated renewable energy infrastructure such as wind turbines and solar panels.
当选择上面的任何一个指标时，其驱动可持续性显著改善的成果应是可落实的，同时可能的话，应尽量适用于所有的地区。
When selecting metrics for each of the above categories, it is essential that they should lead to actionable outcomes that can drive significant improvements in sustainability, and, where possible, be applicable across all geographies.
基于能源的指标
Energy-based metrics
举例来说，处理能源相关事项的前提是数据中心运营商计量其设施的总能耗，PUE以及可再生能源的使用占比。可再生能源可以通过本地获取、从能源公司购买可再生能源指标或签订长期电力购买协议(PPAs)的方式获得。
For example, dealing with energy-related issues requires data centre operators to first measure the total energy consumption of their facilities, calculate the PUE and measure the amount of energy utilised from renewable sources. Renewables could be located on site, bought from energy companies by purchasing renewable energy credits or through longer-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
根据这些计量结果，可以计算出REF可再生能源因数指标，其体现了一个地点的所有能源消耗中可再生能源的占比。REF为1意味着整个数据中心使用的能源均为可再生能源。另一项关键指标为能源再利用系数(ERF)，标准ISO/IEC 30134-6定义了其计算方法.
From those measurements a renewable energy factor (REF) metric can be calculated as the ratio of renewable energy to total energy consumed at a site. An REF of 1 indicates that all the data centres power is renewable. Another key metric is energy reuse factor (ERF), the calculation of which is defined under the standard ISO/IEC 30134-6.
这些指标结合在一起可以激励数据中心运营商改善他们总体的能源效率，增加可再生能源的使用，同时推动循环经济的发展，例如余热回收利用。
Together these metrics can encourage operators to improve their overall energy efficiency, increase use of renewable sources and promote circular economy initiatives such as heat re-use.
温室气体指标
GHG metrics
控制碳排放具有重要的全球地缘政治意义。因此，许多国际公认的协议中含有很多复杂的计算，包括多种源头的碳排放，从而构成了计算碳强度和碳使用效率(CUE)等其他指标。
The control of carbon emissions is of major global geo-political importance. As such, there are numerous internationally recognised protocols. Many of these are complex calculations encompassing emissions from multiple sources, but they form the basis for the calculation of other metrics such as carbon intensity and carbon usage effectiveness (CUE).
CUE与IT负载相关，它可以使数据中心或其他行业通过这种方式进行碳排放的比较。它能够在选址，规划设计和运营阶段发挥作用，以衡量持续改善的效果。
CUE is related to the IT load and allows comparisons of carbon emissions across data centres and other industries. It can be used in the site selection, planning and design phase as well as during operations to measure the effectiveness of continuous improvement programs.
碳抵消和碳额度通过为企业购买方式抵消产生的碳排放，鼓励企业从更多维度范实现碳排放。此外，每小时供应和消耗的匹配性将会作为衡量运营者可再生能源的发电与消耗的标准。
Carbon offsetting and carbon credits, provide a means of encouraging businesses which have more scope to reduce carbon operations to do so, by paying them and deducting the amount of carbon saved from one’s own carbon emissions. Lastly, hour by hour supply and consumption matching will measure the extent to which renewable energy generation matches the energy consumption by an operator.
废弃物、水、土地和生物多样性
Waste, water, land and biodiversity
计量整个场地的用水量是另一个需要被包含在内的关键性指标，其应该涵盖设施运行的所有水资源消耗，包括淡水和再生水。整体能源用水量计量了生产数据中心所用能源过程中的用水，其可以被用来优化与能源使用相关的水资源消耗。
Measuring total site water usage is also another key metric to include, and should cover all water consumed - fresh and reclaimed – within a facilities operation. Total source energy water usage measures the water used to produce the energy consumed by a data centre and can be used to optimise the water usage related to energy consumption.
例如，使用蒸发制冷设备造成的水消耗会增加数据中心设施的水资源消耗总量，但是会减少制冷系统的能源使用。此举不仅能减少发电厂的用水量，并提供了一个整体的视角，从而能更好地管理与运营相关的所有水资源消耗。
For example, water used by an evaporative cooling system will add to the total water usage but will reduce energy consumption in the cooling effort. This saves water usage at the power plant, and provides a holistic view, enabling better management of all water associated with the plant operations.
关于废弃物，关键性的指标包括数据中心从建设到运营过程中产生废料的总重量；送往垃圾填埋场的废料总重量；通过循环经济(包括再利用、制造和回收)从垃圾填埋场分流的废料重量；和废料转化比，即回收利用废料的重量与产生的废料总重量比值。此指标创造了一个参数，使之可以在不同数据中心之间进行比较，也可以用来衡量针对废料减少的持续改进效果。
With regards to waste, key metrics include the total weight of material waste generated at a data centre, from construction right through to operation; the weight of waste sent to landfill sites; the weight of waste diverted from landfills through circular economy efforts including re-use, manufacturing, and recycling; and waste diversion rate, which is the weight of waste recycled, divided by the weight of total waste generated. This metric creates a ratio that can be compared across data centres, so can be used to benchmark continuous improvements in waste reduction.
尽管数据中心的土地开发不应对生物多样性(包含：动物栖息地，植物甚至微生物)造成影响已经成为共识，但此指标还处于起步阶段，尚未标准化。我们希望这一点在未来会有所改变。
Although there is a general appreciation that the development of land for data centres should not adversely impact biodiversity, including animal habitats, plant life and even micro-organisms, metrics to compare efforts are in their infancy and not yet standardised. This, we hope, will change in future.
数据中心建设阶段，对土地和生物多样性的潜在伤害也必须保持在最低限度。尤其应对项目和开发商提出额外的要求，可持续性不仅关乎数据中心设施本身，同样包含其配套的可再生能源基础设施，例如太阳能发电板和风力发电机。
The potentially harmful effects of data centre construction on land and biodiversity must also be kept to a minimum. This is especially true when extra demands on real estate are made, not just by the facility itself but by the associated renewable energy infrastructure such as wind turbines and solar panels.
上述指标的应用
Application of said metrics
对于致力于收集和审核可持续发展指标的企业而言，可以通过一系列方法有效改善数据中心可持续性。
Once an organisation commits to gathering and processing sustainability metrics, they can be applied across a range of functions to deliver genuine improvements in data centre sustainability.
最显著的方式为设定目标：为改善数据中心或整个组织的可持续性表现，可以通过达成一个非常有挑战的PUE,CUE或WUE目标或减少一段特定时间内的废弃物产出量。
The most obvious is target setting: aiming to improve the performance of a data centre or the overall organisation, whether by aiming to achieve a particularly ambitious PUE, CUE or WUE target, or aiming to reduce the amount of waste generated over a set period of time.
衡量指标需要确保企业能够准确地上报，同时以一种透明、可量化的方式汇报在可持续方面的进展，从而使根据公认标准认证企业的努力成为可能。
Metrics must also enable businesses to report accurately and communicate their progress towards achieving sustainability in a transparent and measurable way, thereby offering the possibility of certifying their efforts against accepted standards.
随着对行业的需求不断增加，相应需求的弹性也不断扩大，数据运营商必须考量其业务决策会对环境造成怎样的影响，并在组织中优先采用标准化的，具备可持续性的实施方法。如欲了解更多信息，请参阅白皮书《衡量数据中心环境可持续性指标指南》。
With the demands placed on the sector accelerating, and the need for resilience becoming greater, data centre operators must consider how their business choices impact the environment and prioritise standardised, sustainability practices within their organisations. For further information, please see our latest White Paper #67, a ‘Guide to Environmental Sustainability Metrics for Data Centres’.
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翻译：
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