Reducing our carbon footprint

We use wood because it is good. It grows all year round, captures carbon when growing and stores it when used in construction, and it is a natural material for people to build with.

We have decided to use as much wood as possible in our data centers.

In some ways, it can be a bit tricky since it takes more time to assemble the building. On the other hand, it is easy to adapt wooden elements compared to concrete or steel. This makes us more flexible in meeting the particular needs of any customer.

When we use low-carbon materials like wood, we see a real difference in the carbon footprint.

In our two recent projects, Data Center 1C and 1A, the footprint is around 60% lower per m2 compared to other data centers.

The lower footprint is due to many factors, but generally, wood consumes less energy to grow than the energy required to produce a similar amount of concrete or steel for a building. And wood is lighter than those materials, meaning the energy use for transportation and construction is reduced significantly.

The value of wood construction can also be expressed in embodied carbon. This entails emissions from activities such as extracting, transporting and manufacturing the materials, but does not cover the installed data center equipment. 

This entails emissions from activities such as extracting, transporting and manufacturing the materials, but does not cover the installed data center equipment.

Here, our own design, used in Data Center 1A and 1C, proves highly efficient. The embodied carbon in 1A and 1C is around 0,2 tons CO₂e per m². Most data centers are built in steel and concrete, with a corresponding number of around 0,5 tons.

As a thought experiment, for a standard 5000 m² data center this difference translates into 1600 tons less of CO₂e emissions. That’s why we choose wood. Because it is good.