Sustainable Data Centers for Smart City Development

Abstract

Data centers are an essential component for data driven societies. They are large contributors to energy and water consumption, leading to the importance of developing sustainably operating data centers. Due to the significance of sustainability, locations must meet criteria of sustainable data center site selection. Smart cities and developing smart city locations require a data center to progress with their smart city objectives of sustainable operation for the betterment of quality of life with social, economic, and environmental benefits. This study aims to analyze the progression of developing smart cities with the implementation of a sustainable data center by identifying site selection requirements for green data centers to determine its compatibility with the developing smart city location, and what benefits they produce as a result. Through a comprehensive case study, interview, and secondary analysis, qualitative data is analyzed to determine Tucson as an ideal sustainable data center location, and how a sustainable data center enhances its progress toward a smarter city through social, economic, and environmental determinants. The analysis of Tucson’s landscape contributes to the eligibility of a sustainable data center with renewable energy, water conservation, and other factors aligning with smart city objectives. Tucson would further its smart city development from implementing a sustainable data center due to the smart objectives of connecting communities with data-driven technologies to enhance the quality of life. Social, economic, and environmental elements, for example smarter healthcare, expansion into secondary markets, water conservation, renewable energy, stronger networks, and other aspects of growing smart cities are benefiting from the incorporation of a green data center, allowing Tucson to strengthen its community and smarter development. The data in this research suggests that developing smart cities should evaluate their compatibility with green centers to increase the expansion of sustainably operating data center locations; by understanding the importance of sustainable data centers roles in smart city development, cities further benefit communities while mitigating negative social, economic, and environmental impacts from unsustainable centers.