The revision of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive must prioritize transparency, mandatory heat recovery, and the inclusion of existing server rooms. IDED outlines how these three measures can transform Europe's digital infrastructure into a sustainability asset.
The revision of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive must prioritize transparency, mandatory heat recovery, and the integration of existing server rooms — three measures that can transform Europe's digital infrastructure from an energy burden into a sustainability factor.
IDED (formerly known as SDIA) submitted this statement on the EED revision, advocating for measures that go beyond mere energy efficiency metrics to create real environmental impact.
Key Recommendations:
Transparency as a Starting Point: Sustainability scorecards and indicators enable informed customer decisions and allow all supply chain participants to determine the overall environmental impact of the value chain.
Mandatory Heat Pricing and Use: The costs of heat generation must be transparent to enable cross-sector coupling between digital infrastructure and heating networks.
Integration of Existing Infrastructure: Europe's digital infrastructure extends far beyond large data centers. Existing server rooms should be redesigned into micro data centers that contribute to the heating of office and residential buildings.
The full commentary is available for download.