​KT partners with state gas company to develop carbon-free cooling system for data centers

By Park Sae-jin Posted : November 22, 2021, 15:59 Updated : November 22, 2021, 15:59

[Gettyimages Bank]

SEOUL -- South Korea's top telecom company KT has partnered with a state gas company to develop a carbon-free cooling system that uses the cold energy from liquefied natural gas to cool internet data centers. The solution will help reduce operational costs as well as carbon emissions.
 
An internet data center (IDC) filled with server computers needs a huge cooling system, with its room temperature kept at about 19 degrees Celsius (66.2 degrees Fahrenheit) using air conditioners. An ordinary IDC uses about 30 percent of consumed electricity for cooling.
 
Cooling systems that utilize cold energy go through regasification processes that convert liquefied natural gas (LNG) at -162 degrees Celsius back to natural gas at atmospheric temperature. During regasification, heat is drawn from nearby objects to accelerate the process. 
 
KT said in a statement on November 22 that when the LNG-based cooling system is developed, it will help a mid-sized data center to save 12 megawatt-hours of electricity every month, which is enough to power 30,000 ordinary households. Because the cold energy system uses almost zero electricity for cooling, it can be established in remote areas where the supply of electricity is limited.
 
"We hope this technology becomes the foundation for the next-generation carbon-free IDC technologies," KT's enterprise division director Shin Soo-jeong was quoted as saying.