Green IT at Perstorp's main data center
Perstorp’s IT department, ITOC, has recently replaced the cooling system in the main data center. The new system is using geothermal cooling, a green and eco-friendly solution.
The main data center, located in the Group’s Headquarters in Perstorp, Sweden, requires a lot of energy to be cooled down.
“The previous cooling system was getting too old”, says Martin Stenhård, IT Infrastructure Manager. “We had problems with spare parts and the system wasn’t efficient and had no redundancy”.
The new cooling system was put into operation a few weeks ago, and it uses eco-friendly geothermal cooling - a green and efficient alternative to traditional cooling. It consumes only 27 000 kWh per year, compared to the old system consuming as much as 200 000 kWh per year.
“We have drilled eight holes 200 meters down the ground. The cold air from the ground is pumped into the main data center through two large fans”, Pär Rohlin, IT Infrastructure Specialist, explains.
While the environmental benefits might be the most obvious ones, there are several more advantages with the new cooling system:
“It has a long life cycle, is non-toxic and it’s operationally reliable. Geothermal cooling is a lot more efficient than traditional cooling”, says Martin Stenhård.
“We are working long-term to have effective systems that don’t consume as much energy”, says Pär Rohlin. “The new geothermal cooling system is a big step in that direction”.