The new TÜViT criteria catalogue TSE.STANDARD offers market players a systematic approach to identifying and implementing efficiency and sustainability measures in data centres.

Data centers form the backbone of digitization, but at the same time they also require a lot of energy. While the energy demand of EU-wide data centres was 76.8 TWh in 2018, studies forecast a 28% increase in demand to 98.5 TWh in 2030. This makes it clear that energy efficiency and sustainability are also becoming increasingly important for data centers.

The new TSE.STANDARD (Trusted Site Energy Efficiency) criteria catalogue from TÜViT supports operators, planners and builders of data centres in implementing and objectively verifying the most sustainable and energy-efficient operation of their data centres possible. The basis is the gradual introduction – and subsequently continuous improvement – of a data center-specific energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001:2018.

For this purpose, TÜViT is now providing market players with the TSE.STANDARD, a new criteria catalogue that contains comprehensive requirements as well as recommendations in the form of best practices from the data centre industry, such as the EU Code of Conduct and TR 50600-99-1. Basically, the catalogue represents a maturity model for the energy efficiency and sustainability aspects of a data centre. It consists of three thematically separated assessment areas: Management (MGM), Information and Communication Systems (ICT) and Infrastructure (INF) and differentiates between four different levels of maturity (Level 1-4). These are aimed at gradually improving the energy requirements within the data centre.

“The awareness of energy efficiency and sustainability has also – and especially – increased significantly in the data center sector in recent years. We are therefore pleased that with the new TSE.STANDARD we can play our part in making data centers more environmentally friendly in the future,” says Joachim Faulhaber, Head of Data Center at TÜViT.

Data center industry players can determine and continuously improve the maturity of their energy management system with appropriate testing and certification to TSE.STANDARD. In addition, they demonstrate through an independent third party that they have embedded the issues of energy efficiency and sustainability in their data center and are responsible and conscientious in their use of valuable resources.