April 20, 2023 — EcoDataCenter today announced that it is building a new sustainable data center, EcoDataCenter 2, in Östersund, Sweden. Optimized for HPC, the campus will be focused on circularity as well as enabling food production in symbiosis with the data center.
“We believe that sustainability is so much more than efficiency,” commented EcoDataCenter CEO Dan Andersson. “What materials we use and reuse, how the workers are treated, and what energy is consumed are all important aspects.”
EcoDataCenter 1 is the company’s first project and the only data center in the world constructed entirely out of wood. It is built by a local workforce and reuses heat generated from the data center to produce wooden pellets. With EcoDataCenter 2, the company wants to take the next step.
EcoDataCenter 2 is located in the municipality of Östersund, Sweden, a location where the energy grid carries only renewable energy at a very low cost powered by the local power company Jämtkraft. The design will create 800 to 1,000 jobs and use renewable energy to increase food self-sufficiency in a region where the cold climate makes food production difficult.
An important partner in the project is Wa3rm, a company whose idea is built around creating circular business and who are the ones responsible for food production.
“Together with EcoDataCenter we are designing and building a circular concept from the very start, not adding it on afterwards, which is unique,” said Jaques Ejlerskov, CEO at WA3RM.
In light of the latest IPCC reports that the global community is not doing enough to reach the climate target of 1.5 degrees, digitalization and the need for more compute will help solve the green transition, according to World Economic Forum.
“Everyone in the industry needs to take responsibility. Since the greater part of HPC loads is not latency dependent, the actual location of the compute should be in an environment with high sustainability standards,” said Dan Andersson.
About EcoDataCenter
EcoDataCenter designs, builds and operates data centers with world-leading technology and aims to be the Nordic region’s leading provider of sustainable and secure data center solutions. EcoDataCenter is owned by Swedish fund manager Areim.
Source: EcoDataCenter