Apr 19, 2021|
JD ESG: JD’s Data Center Carries Green DNA
by Martin Li
JD’s continued efforts to build green data centers cover design, construction and operation of low-carbon facilities, said Zhou Xiaobin, who is in charge of data center construction at JD Technology (JDT), on April 9.
“From the very beginning, we applied a low power usage effectiveness (PUE) design, and then put it into practice in construction and operations,” said Zhou. PUE is the ratio of total amount of energy used by a computer data center facility to the energy delivered to computing equipment. It’s considered higher effectiveness when this number is closer to 1.
Completed in 2016, JD’s data center in Suqian, Jiangsu province, has reached the lowest PUE – 1.28 – in east China, according to Zhou.
“With the help of technologies like machine learning and experience learning, we are able to achieve accurate monitoring of the data center’s temperature and humidity. Then based on collected data, we plan our power management strategy and have our operations and maintenance team execute it, in an effort to increase efficiency as much as possible,” said Zhou.
“Without these green efforts, the PUE of the Suqian data center would reach around 1.4,” said Zhou.
The Suqian facility is JD’s first self-built data center. The average temperature is 14.2 degrees Celsius in the area, which means equipment can be cooled purely through outdoor cooling sources almost five months of each year. This also means lower operations costs.
Currently, Zhou’s team is pushing further by applying energy recycling at the Suqian facility.
Solar photovoltaic panels are being installed at the center to power some office buildings and supporting facilities.
“We will install more panels to increase green power supply,” said Zhou.
Another two green data centers under construction are located in Langfang, Hebei province and Kunshan, Jiangsu province.
The designed PUE of the two new centers is around 1.21, according to Zhou.