Sean Farney: Sustainability is Now A Board-Level Imperative

April 22, 2022
Industry veteran Sean Farney has been involved in some of the most innovative projects in digital infrastructure. In our Earth Day edition of the DCF Show, Sean discusses the progress on data center sustainability, the future of backup power, and converting stores into edge data centers.

Sean Farney has been involved in some of the most innovative projects in digital infrastructure, including one of the first web-scale data centers deploying servers in containers, and an edge computing startup focused on converting retail stores into data centers. For the past two years, Farney has headed business development for the data center industry at Kohler Power Systems, a pioneer in backup generators to provide emergency power.

In our Earth Day edition the Data Center Frontier Show podcast, I talk with Sean about the data center industry’s progress on confronting climate change, and how sustainability has become a “board-level imperative” for all companies. “I’ve been very heartened in the past couple of years to see the industry really come together and start talking” about a collective approach, Farney says.

In our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the future of backup power and the essential role of generators, the potential role of microgrids, the growing challenges procuring power in major global markets, and whether vacant retail and office space will become part of the edge computing landscape.

EDITOR’S NOTE: After this podcast was recorded, Sean started a new position as Executive Director, Data Center Strategy & Innovation at JLL.

Listen to today’s show:

Here’s a timeline of topics Sean and I discuss on the podcast:

  • 7:00 – Sustainability as a “board-level imperative.”
  • 12:00 – Evolutionary steps and optimizing existing infrastructure.
  • 17:45 – How microgrids can enable better sustainability and reliability.
  • 21:30 – Site selection gets harder. Is “bring your own power” the future for hyperscale data centers?
  • 25:30 – What edge infrastructure looks like, and how it may evolve.
  • 30:00 – Can retail stores and office space be converted into digital infrastructure?

Here are some links with more about Sean and some of the topics we discussed:

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About the Author

Rich Miller

I write about the places where the Internet lives, telling the story of data centers and the people who build them. I founded Data Center Knowledge, the data center industry's leading news site. Now I'm exploring the future of cloud computing at Data Center Frontier.

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