Colocation Rechenzentrum Wien

New guideline: Climate-friendly co-location data centers

The guideline for "Climate-friendly co-location data centers" was published in July 2021 following a decision in the Austrian Ecolabel Advisory Board based on the Blue Angel criteria.

UZ 80 Climate-friendly colocation data centers

The demand for data centers will continue to rise in the future due to the increased use of information technology in all areas of business and life. In private households, the provision of information technology and the use of digital technologies have become a matter of course. In the commercial and industrial sectors, the use of digital technologies has become an integral part of a sustainable economy. In addition, strong growth in data transmission and processing of real-time data is expected through mobility (autonomous vehicles) and increasing sensor technology (Internet-of-Things). Only a fraction of the processing of this digital data takes place locally, i.e., at the point of origin. As a rule, data is transmitted via the Internet and processed and stored in central data centers. Through business models that offer software and services "in the cloud", both computing power and energy consumption will be increasingly shifted to data centers in the future.

The Ecolabel for data center operations can be awarded to those data centers whose operators make special efforts,

  • operate their data centers in an energy-efficient, environmentally compatible and resource-saving manner, and
  • develop and successfully implement a long-term strategy to increase energy and resource efficiency in relation to the IT services they provide.
  • By labeling data centers, their customers as well as public or private sector procurers of data center services are provided with an information tool that enables them to consciously make use of energy- and resource-efficient data center services.

Blue Angel cooperation

Since Germany is interested in a coordinated and concerted approach, close cooperation with the Blue Angel is envisaged within the framework of "Green IT". At the same time, preliminary talks and discussions have already been held with relevant stakeholders - such as the Ministry for Climate Protection (BMK), the Platform for Sustainable Procurement (BBG) or IT service providers as future licensees. Further discussions are planned with a wide range of stakeholders, from the Federal Computing Center to the City of Vienna, in order to incorporate their expertise into the work on the guidelines. A comparison of the various existing catalogs of requirements is also already in progress.

Pilot certifications

The VKI would like to carry out concrete pilot projects with providers of data centers, server rooms and cloud services on the basis of the Blue Angel criteria for "climate-friendly colocation data centers". The aim of these pilot projects is to quickly implement existing criteria, identify Ecolabel test centers for this already existing standard and clarify questions regarding verification. To this end, the next step will be to research providers who could be considered for these pilot projects.

If you feel addressed and are interested in such a pilot project with your company, please contact us at info@umweltzeichen.at.

After the revision of the Blue Angel award criteria takes place in 2022, possible difficulties in implementation as well as optimization potentials identified in the Ecolabel pilot phase will be directly incorporated into a subsequent revision of the existing Ecolabel criteria in cooperation with the Blue Angel.