Data Centers

Note from the Editor

In today’s digital economy, data centers serve as the backbone of our connected world, processing and storing the vast amounts of information that power everything from streaming services to financial transactions. Yet, these digital powerhouses come with a significant energy footprint—collectively consuming about 1% to 2% of global electricity and growing rapidly as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital services expand. This energy demand presents both challenges and opportunities for businesses, utilities, and environmental stakeholders alike.

The relationship between data centers and power infrastructure has evolved into a complex dance of reliability requirements and efficiency innovations. Modern facilities must maintain the gold standard of “five nines” (99.999%) uptime while simultaneously addressing mounting pressure to reduce carbon emissions and energy costs. This delicate balance has spurred remarkable advancements in cooling technologies, power distribution architectures, and renewable energy integration that are transforming how these critical facilities operate.

As digital transformation accelerates across industries, optimizing the power-data nexus has become not only an operational concern, but also a strategic imperative. Organizations that effectively manage this relationship gain competitive advantages through reduced operational expenses, enhanced sustainability credentials, and improved service reliability. The decisions made today about data center power management will shape not only individual business outcomes, but also the environmental impact of our digital infrastructure for decades to come.