Computer centers are already consuming around 20% of the total local electricity in Frankfurt, in particular for cooling – and that figure is set to increase: projections show that by 2030 a total of 13% of worldwide power consumption will be caused by computer centers. At the Goethe University in Frankfurt and the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, a technology has now been developed by means of which big computer centers and commercial IT systems use up to 50% less primary energy than conventional computer centers.

As a result of the European patent for the overall concept, worldwide marketing of the green technology by the Munich-based company NDC Data Centers GmbH can now commence. “IT-based society needs new energy concepts for large computers that will cut their energy consumption dramatically to cope with the enormous hunger for data. Volker Lindenstruth from the Goethe University has developed just such a solution. The patent is a big step in the direction of dissemination and economic exploitation of this truly smart technology,” says Prof. Birgitta Wolff, President of the Goethe University.