British University gets data power in Talarna

The University of York has an ambition to achieve zero net emissions. As part of that work, they have chosen to move much of their advanced data computing to the Ecodatacenter’s facility in Falun.

Such computation requires large amounts of energy and, according to Ecodatacenter, an average data center in the UK emits approximately 50 times more carbon dioxide than their own facility in Falun.

– Given the university’s strong commitment to net zero and the fact that we will be conducting advanced climate research at this facility, it is great to find a partner that is so focused on environmental sustainability and has the capacity and maturity. Richard Fuller, associate director of delivery at York University, said in a press release.

– When the University of York visited Falun and showed how we create, see the place of the data center in society and how we see the circular economy, we saw a common agenda of how we can accelerate the green transition in digitalization. The collaboration has already begun, and we are already seeing many universities showing interest in reducing emissions through data calculations, says Dan Anderson, CEO of Ecodatacenter.

As the university began work on HPC, the next version of its facility for high-performance computing, they saw the need to find a data center that would meet climate requirements. In addition to carrying out their calculations at Falun, the University of York and the Ecodatacenter will work together to advance sustainability knowledge within HPC.

– Sustainable IT for research is an important policy for York University and to achieve this we look at all aspects of the service we provide to our users. Beyond improving the performance of both hardware and software, we need to look specifically at the environmental impact of our work and see what we ourselves can do to accelerate positive change by making our supercomputers part of the green HPC movement, says Dr Emma Barnes, head of IT research at the University of York.