Aligned Data Centers | Making data centers greener

Andrew Schaap
CEO
Aligned Data Centers

When you're trying to make a data center more sustainable, you have to deal with the thing you can't see. And the thing you can't see is the heat.

Data centers are pivotal to society. The digitization of essentially everything we do is driving massive demand.

Aligned was founded in 2013. We currently operate north of 50 data centers, from Canada all the way down to Chile and we're adding several new campuses every quarter.

Chips operate anywhere between 80 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to 200 degrees.

A traditional data center uses air conditioners to cool the chip. It really just floods the room with air. A very small percentage of that air actually goes in the server and pulls the heat off of the chip. So it's a fairly inefficient design.

A traditional air conditioner evaporates potable water into the atmosphere. A typical large-scale data center uses upwards of 5 million gallons of water every day. That's equivalent to the water a 50,000-person town would use every day.

Our Delta Cube technology, protected by more than 50 patents, essentially focuses the cooled air on the chip. So we're not cooling the entire room like a traditional data center. 

It does not evaporate any water and it uses significantly less energy. 

Donovan Campbell
Managing Director
Wells Fargo Corporate and Investment Banking

Wells Fargo's relationship with Aligned goes back five years. We're a tier-one lender, a strategic partner, as well as helping them access the capital markets through securitizations. 

In 2020, Aligned was the first company to finance a US data center with a sustainability-linked bond. And Wells Fargo was proud to be a joint lead on that transaction.

Back to Andrew

Wells Fargo provides us, in addition to the capital, great thoughtful leadership around what's happening in the industry. They really bring expertise to the table.

At Aligned, we're continuing to drive innovation. It is conceivable that you could see a data center like this one run entirely on renewable energy. We’re driving that sustainability into the future.

Forging What's Next
Sponsored by Wells Fargo
bloomberg.com/forgingwhatsnext

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