Schneider Electric & QMUL’s Sustainable AI Innovation
Data centres are being realised as a crucial industry for research, investment and innovation as the world’s energy demand increases.
Yet with increasing energy demand comes increasing sustainability challenges, particularly regarding heat in data centres.
In response, Schneider Electric and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have turned these challenges into opportunities by establishing new standards for sustainable data centres through a pioneering district heating initiative.
“The project at Queen Mary demonstrates how digital infrastructure can be a catalyst for net zero, allowing today’s organisations to benefit from the power of advanced computing,” says Mark Yeeles, Vice President, Secure Power division, Schneider Electric UK & Ireland.
“By combining innovative engineering with sustainable data centre solutions, the university has developed an enhanced infrastructure platform that will meet its research computing requirements, while supporting its sustainability strategy.”
AI-enhanced value from waste heat
Ranked among the world's top universities, Queen Mary University of London, revered for its research and sustainability, utilises its data centre for pivotal projects like the Grid for Particle Physics (GridPP), which analyses data from experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.
Despite its legacy data centre's inefficiencies in reliability and cooling, which hindered its operations, QMUL saw an opportunity for transformation.
In response, the university launched a modernisation project focused on recovering waste heat from the data centre, with this hot air now diverted to a district heating network.
This sustainable system, serving university buildings and student accommodations, lowers Scope 1 CO₂ emissions, reduces energy costs and bolsters QMUL’s sustainability objectives.
“The support we've had from APT and Schneider Electric has been unparalleled,” says Professor Jonathan Hays, Queen Mary University of London.
“Both companies came together to help us develop an exciting and innovative project which would enable us to provision for the future. The biggest impact is that we were able to deliver on what we promised while improving our sustainability.
“The new data centre is more reliable and efficient than ever and through the heat recovery, we have significantly reduced our spending on heating and hot water, while gaining enhanced reputational benefits from taking a lead on sustainability within our data centre operations.”
Collaborative AI solutions for a sustainable future
Schneider Electric, renowned for its role in energy management, teamed up with EcoXpert Partner, Advanced Power Technology (APT), to realise this transformative project.
The company’s collaboration implemented Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Row Data Centre solution, an adaptable system integrating racks, power, cooling and management, enhanced by AI capabilities.
The deployment of APC NetShelter Racks, APC NetBotz environmental monitoring, InRow cooling and EcoStruxure Data Centre Expert software ensured real-time monitoring and comprehensive operational visibility.
Through AI-driven integration, the data centre increased energy efficiency and facilitated the district heating system powered by recovered heat.
“Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Data Centre solutions were essential to help Queen Mary bring together its power, cooling, racks and management systems and support the deployment of its high-density IT equipment needed for its research,” says John Andrew, Technical Sales Manager, APT.
“This approach also created a platform to support its sustainability objectives via heat reuse, while enabling the University to act proactively and preventatively to intercept and remediate potential future issues.”
Leveraging AI for net zero in digital infrastructure
Data centres frequently come under scrutiny due to high energy consumption and carbon emissions.
However, examples like the QMUL project prove that, through AI-powered engineering and strategic partnerships, these centres can be agents of sustainability.
By repurposing waste heat, institutions can decrease emissions, cut energy expenses and make significant contributions to environmental goals.
Schneider Electric aims to empower organisations to maximise energy and resource efficiency, balancing technological progress with sustainability.
With a vast global network, Schneider Electric delivers integrated, AI-enabled Industrial IoT solutions that span electrification, automation and digitisation.
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