BSRIA is alerting its members to an EU-funded research project that has launched a free online tool to help design energy efficient and renewable data centres.

The RenewIT tool is designed to help operators, designers and stakeholders maximise the sustainability of new data centre sites by comparing more than 60 European locations by electricity costs, access to renewable power and other factors.

Financial services company ING has been involved with RenewIT from the start of the project. Using the tool, RenewIT demonstrated how ING could improve the efficiency of one of its zero carbon data centres by adding a biogas fuel cell and raising the operating temperature of the facility.

Sustainable construction group manager at BSRIA, Jo Harris (pictured), said: “The tool will be extremely useful for industry and our members.

It allows data centre operators to replicate the advantages and expenses of on-site and grid renewables, predicts productivity gains from technologies such as free cooling and the finer aspects of workload management can also be calculated.”

The tool covers the EU and there is potential for it to be extended to North America and Asia in the future.

To find out more visit renewit-tool.eu