GF Piping Systems discusses energy-efficient and sustainable cooling solutions for data centres in tropical regions

GF Piping Systems’ president Joost Geginat and associate professor PS Lee, programme director of Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT), toured the new testbed under construction and discussed their shared passion for energy efficiencies and commitment towards finding sustainable solutions for liquid cooling in tropical environments.

Digitisation has led to a growing global demand for data centres. The housed computer servers generate a lot of heat. Hence, data centres are currently air-cooled at temperatures between 23 and 27°C, and at ambient humidity of 50-60%. Maintaining such controlled environments requires high energy consumption, particularly in tropical countries, resulting in high cost and carbon emissions.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore), together with key stakeholders in Singapore’s data centre industry, are establishing a new testbed facility to develop innovative and sustainable cooling solutions for data centres located in tropical locations.

The new STDCT — the first of its kind in the tropics — will serve as a data centre simulation for academia and industry to work together to future-proof the region’s data centre industry to test efficient suitable cooling methods. GF Piping Systems’ COOL-FIT will be used for chilled water pipework and ecoFIT for condenser water pipework.

Programme director, associate professor Lee Poh Seng, who is from the department of mechanical engineering under the NUS College of Design and Engineering, toured the testbed together with Joost Geginat, president of GF Piping Systems and the company’s CFO Thomas Hary.

“We are very proud to be a partner in this project geared to reduce energy consumption and CO2 footprint of all digital solutions. Additionally, our knowledge exchange with STDCT and the results of this testbed serves as inspiration for the next generation of innovative GF products supporting a more sustainable future” said Joost Geginat.