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There is a myth going around, claiming that data centres cause heat, and it can endanger the environment. In this episode, we dive down into how does cooling in data centres work, and does it really harm the environment?
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00:16All right, hi everyone, I'm Kabir Aziz. I'm here in a data center. It's raining. So that means
00:21it's natural cooling. So today, I'm gonna, you know, myth bust some, you know, myths about data
00:27centers where you said that it might be causing heat in the country in some certain places.
00:32Data centers are dangerous for the environment. Today, we are gonna talk with the person in charge
00:38with cooling in this Google data center. People say they are, he is the coolest person here. So we
00:43want to, you know, debunk some myths on what is cooling in data centers and does it really
00:49affect the environment. So tune in, tune in after this.
01:09All right, so you're with me, Kabir Aziz. We are now in the Google data center in El
01:14Minabu Saspak. I'm here with Mr. Brian. Maybe Mr. Brian, you can start with introducing yourself
01:19and what do you do in Google data center here in EBP? Okay, sure, Kabir. I'm Brian. My name is
01:26Brian.
01:26And I am part of the operations team here at Google's data center. First ever in Malaysia,
01:34in Elmina. And I represent the mechanical discipline for my operations team. So a lot of what we do
01:42here being part of the mechanical team is to look up for the cooling infrastructure for
01:47the data center. So the core of the business is, of course, server racks. And the server racks need
01:55a conducive environment to function optimally in. So temperature and humidity are key aspects of what
02:02mechanical team focuses on. Okay, so I've been told that you are the coolest person here in Google.
02:10So it means you deal a lot with cooling. So I think we want to make the people aware and
02:15we want
02:16to make it as layman as possible on what is actually happening in data centers. Why do people say that
02:21it's causing heat in this place over here? Okay, so to put everyone's minds at ease,
02:30I want to talk firstly about what it means to provide cooling in the first place. So let's not talk
02:36about
02:37data center. Let's talk about cooling. For example, when you're inside a shopping mall,
02:42how do you make sure the environment in the mall is comfortable enough for everyone? You need to make
02:48sure there's air conditioning, simply put. So how does the air conditioner work in the first place? It needs to
02:57remove heat from that space to make it cooler. So how do you bring down the temperature in an environment?
03:03You have two ways of doing that. You can either use refrigerant. So refrigerant is something that
03:11we use in our, for example, at home, we have refrigerant inside your air conditioning unit.
03:17And normally that is much more energy intensive compared to the other option. The other option
03:24is what we call water, water cool, water cool air conditioning. So that is what a lot of industries,
03:33not just data centers use, because of how much it saves you in terms of operational expenses for
03:40electricity. Because a lot of the time, like even shopping malls, data centers, you need to run them
03:4624-7 or almost every or working or business working hour for every day. So that does drive up your
03:56expenses. So that's why when applicable, you use water cool air conditioning. And in our case, and here
04:04in Google, we do use that. And how I can advocate for Google using it responsibly without affecting the
04:12environment is how well designed the operations are here. So what I mean by that is we don't
04:22utilize the chillers in this case to their fullest demand. Instead, we use that responsibly to give the
04:33server racks what they need to function properly. So the server racks don't need to be in a freezing
04:38environment. Simply put, you don't need it to be in like a cold room, for example. What temperature are
04:44we talking about? What temperature? So usually here, they're looking at ambient temperature about 22,
04:5021 degrees Celsius. It's not that cold. Yeah, that's almost like the air that you're sitting in without
04:55air conditioning. Yeah. So, and that's Malaysia's daily weather here also.
05:01It's debatable. It's quite hot at high temperature. The highest, I think you have maybe 34,
05:0735 degrees Celsius. Yeah, yeah. And then at night, it is usually the time where
05:13you can save a bit on your electricity. Also at home, you switch off the aircon because
05:17the ambient air can go down to 25, 26 degrees Celsius. So, bearing in mind what that difference
05:23is to our environment we're trying to create here, it's not a very big difference. So,
05:30while during the day, we do use more of the chillers' load to compensate for the ambient temperature
05:37differences. We are also complying with the discharge standards for the cooling towers. What does that
05:48mean? So, cooling towers here, as we all know, they always have to have evaporation going on. And when
05:55you have evaporation going on, the cooling towers will tend to build up like solids in your system. So,
06:02you know, your water you get from Ayis Lengor, that has solids inside. And yes, it doesn't matter
06:07where you are. You always have, like for example, you can't drink Ayis Lengor water straight away.
06:13You need it to go through filtration. So, without that filtration, you're just drinking solids
06:19from the ground that Ayis Lengor might be, that it's providing you. It's still within the limits, but
06:25it does build up. You imagine water inside the system, we evaporate, evaporate, evaporate, it becomes concentrated.
06:32So, how do you make sure you treat that? You need to have blowdown. Blowdown means discharging the
06:39accumulation. So, how do you make sure that that discharge is also complying? We need to have
06:45treatment. So, we're using a DOE approved chemicals here on site to make sure that is regulated. And we,
06:54how we do that is we also have sampling done routinely to comply with DOE, Department of Environment,
07:00discharge standards. So, we are aware of what standard we have to comply to. Standard B being
07:05where we are right now. And that is one aspect of what I want to assure the public to know
07:11that
07:13Google does operate its data center responsibly. So, cooling towers need to discharge water. We make sure
07:21that discharge water is complying with the environment standards. We are not affecting any wildlife in the
07:28marine sense. We are not affecting the water that will go downstream eventually to Ayis Lengor and back to
07:34the customers. And then, at the same time, water usage, tying back to my point earlier about temperature
07:42being a very important aspect. We are not running the cooling, the chillers in the maximum demand
07:51setting. Operating it close to ambient temperature in Malaysia. So, that already drives down not only the
07:57electricity, but also the water usage. So, in terms of its impact to surrounding Ayis communities like
08:04here, the impact is very minimal. Very, very minimal. Because people, I think people are concerned about
08:11you know, the environmental effects of, you know, using too much water or maybe even the data. People
08:17thought that there would be gamma rays in the water. So, maybe you have a real shift with people that,
08:23you know, you are using the water responsibly and then, you are attending to the climate rules. So,
08:29you don't affect the environment. Maybe, in general, to give them more reassurance that
08:35how the data centers operate in general. Maybe, how would you say that this way of, you know,
08:42sustaining the heat is a sustainable way of operating a data center, especially as big as Google is?
08:48Yeah. So, first of all, I noticed you mentioned like how there might be what radiation. Yeah,
08:57radiation. Okay. So, that one, I can immediately tell you it's not the case. First of all,
09:02we don't do any sort of like disinfection using, I think, in other companies or maybe even Singapore,
09:10I noticed they use chlorine or they use ultraviolet UV. They use UV to disinfect. We don't do
09:18any of that here. We don't use gamma rays or UV rays to disinfect our water before discharge.
09:26So, we use DOE-approved chemicals to still comply within the DOE effluent discharge standards. So,
09:34there's no adverse impact at all to downstream water supply or the rivers that we are discharging into.
09:41And then, another aspect I want to touch on is the cooling loop itself. From the chillers and cooling towers
09:48to
09:48the server hall, we have separate loops for that. So, whatever heat the servers are generating is
09:55captured in one loop. We call it the chill water loop. Okay. So, that goes to your chillers in our
10:01campus and
10:02that has a heat exchange. Heat exchange means going from a hotter medium to a colder medium. That is the
10:10concept of heat transfer. Okay. And what happens here is the hotter, the hotter part which comes back
10:16from the server hall, it releases its heat in the chiller to another loop. Another loop called the
10:22cooling tower loop. So, that heated up water is circulating to your cooling towers and evaporating.
10:31So, that is how the heat gets dissipated. And this has no, again, no adverse impact on the environment. It's
10:38not
10:38it's not going to cause you like spikes in your ambient temperature. Yeah. Because it is strictly through
10:46evaporation. Evaporation doesn't cause any like adverse impact on your ambient air. It is what you call
10:56heat cooling. Is it a natural process as well? Or would you say? It's a natural process. Because imagine the
11:04when you talk about it, you know, land breeze, sea breeze effect. That also involves like
11:09evaporation. And that happens naturally. Yeah. You can see at the beach. Yeah. You can see how does the
11:15land become cooler. Yeah. It goes by evaporation also. Yeah. Same thing. Same thing. It just says it's in a
11:21cooling tower now. Oh, okay. That kind of concept. So, maybe the heat thing where people are concerned
11:27where data centers are making places hotter. Maybe the world or even the country hotter. That's a myth.
11:32Would you say that? It's a myth. Because how do you think it evaporates the soil? We're not
11:37adding heater or water. No. You're using the air. Yeah. You're using the air to evaporate. And the water from
11:42the
11:42world itself. Right. Correct. Whatever the environment is giving you, that's what is helping evaporate. And you're
11:49using the air to evaporate. Okay. I think that clears up a lot of things for the viewers, maybe.
11:54And remember, everything that you are concerned about, they are doing it in a controlled environment
11:59and in a sustainable way. And they are attending to any rules and regulations that won't affect
12:04our environment. So, everything that you hear, maybe the hoaxes in the media, those are myths.
12:09Please read and, you know, ask people who know better. Don't just make assumptions on what
12:15data centers might affect in our world. So, I think that's all for me. Thank you so much, Ryan,
12:20for having this interview. And I'm Kabel Aziz. We'll meet you soon later. Bye.