A wide range of practitioners is involved in decisions related to green data centers, ranging from policy makers developing digital economy strategies to engineers and technicians working every day on the floor of data centers. This e-learning takes the vantage point of public practitioners, but the principles apply to any stakeholder engaged in developing, operating, or procuring data center infrastructure.

None.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Recognise key concepts and principles for Green Data Centers.
• Recognise the opportunities and benefits of Green Data Centers and its climate resilience.
• Apply climate change mitigation strategies for data centers.
•  Summarize the approach for Greening Public Procurement of Data Centers
• Create an enabling environment for greening data centers.
• Recognize the nuances of the Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMIC) context.

The training objectives will be reached upon the completion of the e-learning, its interactive modules, and its quizzes. No extra work will be required of participants.

There will be 10 quizzes in total. A total score higher than 80% is required to obtain the ITU badge.

Module 1: Introduction 

Participants will get introduced to the e-learning and understand how to navigate and use the e-learning.

Module 2: Fundamentals

Participants will explore the key concepts of green data centers.

Module 3: Greening Data Centers – Climate Resilience

Participants explore strategies for enhancing the climate resilience of data centers, highlights the importance of climate resilience, outlines climate risks and hazards to data centers, and presents steps for increasing data center resilience to climate change.

Module 4: Sustainable design and building

Participants explore the first dimension of data center sustainable infrastructure. The data center’s location and design affect environmental risks, operational reliability, resource use, and energy efficiency. Most sustainable management of data centers focuses on the operational stage and overlooks green design and construction aspects.

Module 5: Sustainable and Circular ICT Equipment

Participants explore the second dimension of data center sustainable infrastructure. ICT equipment in data centers is resource and energy intensive to manufacture and requires power and cooling to operate. It is vital to address at sustainable and circular ICT equipment.

Module 6: Sustainable Energy

Participants explore the third dimension: energy consumption. Data centers are energy intensive, consuming 10 to 100 times as much electricity per floor space area as most commercial buildings. Data center operators thus need to prioritize low energy consumption in their strategies.

Module 7: Sustainable Cooling

Participants explore the fourth dimension of data center sustainable infrastructure. Efficient cooling is crucial for high-performance computing and server technologies, which generate substantial heat. The data center temperature must be maintained within a certain range to prevent condensation and damage to IT equipment, which causes downtime and data loss. Cooling data center IT equipment can account for more than 40 percent of total energy consumption in large data centers and even more in smaller ones.