{"id":22015,"date":"2025-10-02T12:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=22015"},"modified":"2025-10-02T12:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:21:22","slug":"infomaniak-d4-sustainable-data-center-heating-with-waste-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/infomaniak-d4-sustainable-data-center-heating-with-waste-heat_22015\/","title":{"rendered":"This CEO is giving out data centers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data centers are satis\u00adfying our ever-increasing hunger for data, but in doing so they are exac\u00ader\u00adbating the climate crisis. They produce heat that dissi\u00adpates, divert millions of litres of water away from commu\u00adni\u00adties and agri\u00adcul\u00adture, use fossil fuels or even nuclear energy and degrade the natural envi\u00adron\u00adment through soil sealing. It\u2019s a depressing view of a vital industry. But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way. Info\u00adma\u00adniak, a leading Swiss cloud provider, has not only discov\u00adered a glimmer of hope but has built it in the form of D4, Europe\u2019s most sustain\u00adable data center. And Info\u00adma\u00adniak is making it easy for other data center oper\u00ada\u00adtors: All they have to do is type \u201cd4project.org<\/a>\u201d into their browser, take a look at the project\u2019s open source docu\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion\u200a \u2013 \u200aand repli\u00adcate the whole thing.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Green park above, green data center below: D4 is located in the middle of La Bisto\u00adquette, a resi\u00adden\u00adtial neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood in Geneva. (Image | Jordi Ruiz Cirera\/Fotogloria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Although it is invis\u00adible, it supplies heat to around 6,000 house\u00adholds. (Image | Info\u00adma\u00adniak)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

D4 is replic\u00adable. And we are openly sharing this knowl\u00adedge with the entire industry free of charge so that the neces\u00adsary changes can finally be made,\u201d says Boris Siegen\u00adthaler, co-founder and strategic thinker at the inde\u00adpen\u00addent Swiss cloud provider. \u201cAs a company that is not listed on the stock exchange but instead owned by its employees, we have always done what we believe to be right. Our vision is an ethical cloud that gives Europe greater tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical inde\u00adpen\u00addence and makes no compro\u00admises when it comes to protecting data and the envi\u00adron\u00adment.\u201d Since 2015, Info\u00adma\u00adniak has rein\u00advested all its profits to this end, constructing its own data centers exclu\u00adsively in Switzer\u00adland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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of the energy consumed is reused outside the data center.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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house\u00adholds can be heated all year round with the waste heat from D4.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Invis\u00adible and inaudible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

D4 is not situ\u00adated in an indus\u00adtrial area in the middle of nowhere. It is hidden under a park in \u00adGeneva\u2019s eco-friendly resi\u00adden\u00adtial La Bisto\u00adquette neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood, avoiding the need to seal any addi\u00adtional surface area. When plan\u00adning the neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood, the local coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtive decided to limit the number of cars and parking spaces for envi\u00adron\u00admental reasons. This freed up space under\u00adground, where a parking garage had orig\u00adi\u00adnally been planned. Because Info\u00adma\u00adniak was looking for a data center loca\u00adtion where the waste heat could be reused at exactly the same time\u200a \u2013 \u200ait was a win-win situ\u00ada\u00adtion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A data center that reuses its waste heat: For Boris Siegen\u00adthaler, this is the way forward for everyone. And this is why Info\u00adma\u00adniak is making its knowl\u00adedge publicly avail\u00adable, free of charge.<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Image | Jordi Ruiz Cirera\/Fotogloria)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In-house cooling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

D4 took four and a half years to build, more than twice as long as normal. \u201cWe had to rethink a lot of things as we went along,\u201d explains Boris Siegen\u00adthaler. \u201cThe biggest chal\u00adlenge was how to increase capacity by 25 percent while keeping the floor space the same.\u201d This was neces\u00adsary to meet the increased heat demand during oper\u00ada\u00adtion. This chal\u00adlenge was mainly tackled by S\u200a+T Service & Tech\u00adnique SA (S\u200a+T), a Swiss specialist in air condi\u00adtioning, venti\u00adlation and heating. The company had already worked with Info\u00adma\u00adniak in 2013 on its first data center, which had no air condi\u00adtioners and was cooled solely using outside air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Chris\u00adtian Logean and his team already had a rough idea of what to expect with D4: \u201cIn prin\u00adciple, all the tech\u00adnology we use in D4 is avail\u00adable today. It\u2019s the clever way it\u2019s all put together that makes it so special.\u201d  D4 uses the energy it consumes as effi\u00adciently as possible. And it uses the waste heat gener\u00adated to return the energy consumed. To achieve this, all the air heated by the servers and other elec\u00adtrical equip\u00adment must be reli\u00adably returned to the heat pumps, and cold air for cooling must be returned to the servers just as reli\u00adably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 70 size 800 Radi\u00adPacs had to be lifted into the under\u00adground D4 facility using a crane. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The three FanGrids ensure optimal air circu\u00adla\u00adtion. (Image | Info\u00adma\u00adniak)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

S\u200a+T was looking for a solu\u00adtion for a total of three fan walls, known as FanGrid: \u201cOne for the recir\u00adcu\u00adlated air, one for the exhaust air and one for the outside air. The fans had to be powerful to ensure air circu\u00adla\u00adtion at all times, but ideally run at low speed. Because there are resi\u00adden\u00adtial build\u00adings all around the data center, it was impor\u00adtant that our solu\u00adtion was absolutely silent,\u201d explains Chris\u00adtian Logean. S\u200a+T compared different suppliers and opted for ebm-papst: \u201cThe company is a leader in this field, which is why we wanted to work with them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Because there are resi\u00adden\u00adtial build\u00adings all around the data center, it was impor\u00adtant that our solu\u00adtion was absolutely silent.<\/p>\nChris\u00adtian Logean, Head of Plan\u00adning Office S+T<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Oper\u00ada\u00adtion guar\u00adan\u00adteed, no matter what<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Chris\u00adtian Logean, the main advan\u00adtage of FanGrids is their redun\u00addancy\u200a \u2013 \u200aeven in the event of indi\u00advidual fail\u00adures or reduced capacity, D4\u2019s oper\u00ada\u00adtions are never jeop\u00adar\u00addized: \u201cAnd if the heat recovery system should ever fail, we can easily switch the FanGrid to outdoor air oper\u00ada\u00adtion so the servers will remain cool.\u201d S\u200a+T did the perfor\u00admance calcu\u00adla\u00adtions itself. \u201cWe used ebm-papst\u2019s FanScout to plan the systems precisely. We ordered 70 second-\u00adgen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion RadiPac in size 800\u200a \u2013 \u200ait was all very simple. The biggest chal\u00adlenge was the instal\u00adla\u00adtion, because we had to lift the huge fans into the under\u00adground D4 facility using a crane,\u201d says Chris\u00adtian Logean. S\u200a+T also supplied Info\u00adma\u00adniak with its own Digimat control system, which uses MODBUS to regu\u00adlate the fans around the clock according to demand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conven\u00adtional data centers vs. D4<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Conven\u00adtional data centers<\/strong> release the heat gener\u00adated during oper\u00ada\u00adtion into the ambient air.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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D4<\/strong> uses all the heat gener\u00adated via a closed system of air\/water heat exchangers and heat pumps, which it feeds back into the district heating network, enough to supply around 6,000 house\u00adholds throughout the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Conven\u00adtional data centers<\/strong> cool their servers using water-inten\u00adsive cooling systems or energy-inten\u00adsive air condi\u00adtioners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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D4<\/strong> does away with conven\u00adtional systems and uses the recovery mech\u00ada\u00adnism of its heat pumps to produce cool air, keeping the servers at a constant temper\u00ada\u00adture of 28 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Conven\u00adtional data centers<\/strong> use global suppliers, regard\u00adless of trans\u00adport routes or local value creation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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D4<\/strong> works with Euro\u00adpean compa\u00adnies wher\u00adever possible for an improved carbon foot\u00adprint, genuine part\u00adner\u00adships and tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical inde\u00adpen\u00addence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Driving the energy tran\u00adsi\u00adtion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

D4 has been in oper\u00ada\u00adtion since November 2024 and will grad\u00adu\u00adally be ramped up until it reaches full capacity in 2028. It will remain in service for at least 20 years, demon\u00adstrating that data centers are not just power guzzlers but key players in energy tran\u00adsi\u00adtion. To this end, Info\u00adma\u00adniak moni\u00adtors two specific indi\u00adca\u00adtors: PUE and ERF. PUE (power usage effec\u00adtive\u00adness) compares the total energy consump\u00adtion of the data center to the energy consump\u00adtion used solely for IT systems such as servers. Anything above 1 is consumed by the data center for air condi\u00adtioning and other infra\u00adstruc\u00adture. D4\u2019s PUE aver\u00adages around 1.09. This means that for every unit of elec\u00adtricity consumed by IT, D4 only needs 0.09 units (9 percent) for other infra\u00adstruc\u00adture. The global average PUE is about 1.58, meaning that conven\u00adtional data centers spend almost 60 percent of addi\u00adtional energy on things like cooling. ERF (energy reuse factor) measures how much of the total energy consumed is reused outside the data center. D4\u2019s ERF is just under 1, aver\u00adaging 0.95, which means that 95 percent is reused in the form of heat. \u201cNatu\u00adrally, our goal is to get as close to 1 as possible in both cases and set new stan\u00addards,\u201d says Siegen\u00adthaler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cA different para\u00addigm is possible. That\u2019s what D4 shows.\u201d<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Image | Jordi Ruiz Cirera\/Fotogloria)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D4 has already received several awards, including the Swiss Ethics Prize in 2023 and the Energy Tran\u00adsi\u00adtion Prize in 2025. But Info\u00adma\u00adniak won\u2019t be stop\u00adping at that. \u201cTo support our growth, we are actively looking for addi\u00adtional district heating networks. We will need another data center with at least 3.3 MW by 2028. We will source our elec\u00adtricity locally and supply our zero-carbon waste heat free of charge,\u201d says Boris Siegen\u00adthaler. Through D4, the company has demon\u00adstrated that this can work if you are willing to take action. \u201cA different para\u00addigm is possible.\u201d\u2002<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data centers are satis\u00adfying our ever-increasing hunger for data, but in doing so they are exac\u00ader\u00adbating the climate crisis. They produce heat that dissi\u00adpates, divert millions of litres of water away from commu\u00adni\u00adties and agri\u00adcul\u00adture, use fossil fuels or even nuclear energy and degrade the natural envi\u00adron\u00adment through soil sealing. It\u2019s a depressing view of [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-22015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-refrigeration-ventilation","tag-data-center"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22015"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22071,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22015\/revisions\/22071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}