DCF Show: The Growing Urgency of Data Center Action on Climate Change

Nov. 15, 2022
The data center industry has a key role in the global response to climate change. On the DCF Show, we speak with Pankaj Sharma of Schneider Electric, who is on the front lines of the effort to make data centers more sustainable.

This week's COP27 meeting underscores the urgent nature of the climate crisis for our world. As a large energy user, the data center industry has a key role to play in the global response. Pankaj Sharma of Schneider Electric is on the front lines of this effort, working with data center operators and suppliers on  a holistic approach to making digital infrastructure more sustainable. 

On this week’s Data Center Frontier Show, we sit down with Sharma, the EVP for Secure Power and Data Center Business at Schneider, for a wide-ranging discussion about the growing sense of urgency for climate action, the Schneider sustainability framework for data centers, and how the metaverse may impact how we power and cool our critical infrastructure.   

Listen to today’s show:

Here’s a timeline of topics Pankaj and Rich discuss on the podcast:

  • 1:00 – Pankaj's role at Schneider Electric and his Data Center Journey. 
  • 3:20 – Why sustainability is so important for data centers and IT applications
  • 5:30 – How the Schneider Electric Sustainability Framework can help data center operators respond.  
  • 10:00 – How the industry experience with PUE provides insights on sustainability responses.
  • 12:45 – .The growing sense of urgency for climate action, in the data center industry and beyond.
  • 14:15 – Pankaj offers his take on the recent Schneider Electric Innovation Summit and key takeaways. 
  • 20:15 – The Metaverse and what it means for data centers and mission-critical infrastructure.
  • 23:15 - The future of cooling, and how metaverse compute tech may impact cooling.
  • 25:10 - The data center supply chain is "a huge challenge" but is getting better.

Here are some links with more about the topics we discuss:

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This episode of the Data Center Frontier Show is supported by Schneider Electric.

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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