Internet & Environment
The ecological balance of the federal IT systems has hardly improved
LEDs in a server cabinet in a data center: Data center operators are obliged to cover 50 percent of their electricity consumption with electricity from renewable energies from January 1, 2024. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Data centers in Germany should be operated in an ecological and climate-friendly manner – this is what the traffic light coalition agreement says. However, the federal government’s own IT systems are still modest.
When it comes to environmental protection and sustainability, the federal data centers are lagging behind the goals they have set themselves Traffic light coalition behind. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a parliamentary question from the Left, which was published. The environmental statistics for the data centers are also based on a shaky database. Neither electricity consumption nor the proportion of green electricity is known for every fourth federal system.
The left-wing MP Anke Domscheit-Berg complained about a lack of transparency: “As long as the traffic light continues to have this blatant structural information deficit, it will not be able to achieve any of its sustainability goals for its IT.” She is tired of always reading about announcements about better reporting. “You can’t control well without sensible data.”
74 of a total of 118 data centers use renewable energy
Compared to a similar request from 2022, there is at least a slight improvement. 74 of a total of 118 data centers now use renewable energy. A year ago there were only 52 systems. However, an improvement in the proportion of renewable energy can only be seen in four systems.
In the paper, the federal government points out that data center operators have been obliged to cover 50 percent of their electricity consumption with electricity from renewable energies from January 1, 2024. By 2027, the systems will be powered 100 percent by electricity from renewable energies.
In the federal government’s responses to the sustainability of federal IT, it is noticeable, as was the case a year ago, that the federal environmental label “Blue Angel” hardly plays any role. The seal has been promoted by the federal government for over 40 years to recognize environmentally friendly products and services. The traffic light coalition’s coalition agreement states: “Certifications such as the Blue Angel will become standard for federal IT procurement.”
Deterioration compared to last year
A year ago, not a single federal data center met all eight “Blue Angel” criteria. Two data centers now have the certificate, but only according to an evaluation method that is now outdated. For the current version of the “Blue Angel” 21 instead of 8 criteria must be met – no federal system currently achieves this. Only five percent said they fulfilled at least half. At the top is a data center that meets 17 of 21 criteria.
When it comes to using the waste heat that inevitably arises in data centers when operating servers and other IT components, the Left faction even sees a deterioration compared to the previous year. Only 11 of 118 systems used the waste heat in some form; in 2022 there were still 14.