By Kasturi Datta |
Microsoft is expanding its biomimicry approach to more than 20 data centres across the USA and Germany using Ecosystem Intelligence, a tool built on Microsoft Azure designed to help develop healthy and resilient surrounding habitats.
Microsoft’s approach to restoring natural ecosystems – known as biomimicry – combines community input with ecological research and a local understanding of how the environments around data centres naturally work.
Ecosystem Intelligence measures the biodiversity, noise abatement and ecosystem functions of the land - such as water quality - to inform nature-based decision making.
Microsoft’s biomimicry approach was used in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, USA, to develop 230 acres of protected land that now surrounds its data centre, including eight new acres of wetlands, more than three miles of walking trails, and restored streams.
“The thing to me that is really important about the conservancy is the fact that community sentiment was reflected in the ultimate product,” said Alex Gottschalk, administrator of Mecklenburg County. “Our lakes and waterways are pretty much our signature selling point. People want to enjoy them, whether that’s locals or tourists coming in.”
Microsoft is working with the Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network on an ongoing project at its data centre in Wisconsin, USA. The aim is to reestablish open wetlands, native prairies and strips of forested land adjacent to waterways that are designed to reduce erosion, intercept pollutants and maintain ecological functions.
Similar projects will take place at Microsoft’s data centre in East Point, Georgia, USA and in Bedburg, Germany. The initiatives will include native habitat creation, wetland and storm water features, and ecological connectivity corridors.
Microsoft piloted its biomimicry approach with the design of its data centre in Middenmeer, the Netherlands in 2022. Native trees and shrubs have grown taller over the last four years since the data centre’s establishment.
“The best thing about it is that we don’t have a one-size-fits-all solution set; we actually have a menu of options that are going to be customised to each place,” said Katilin Chuzi, director of global land strategy at Microsoft. “What works really well in the Netherlands is not the same as what’s going to make sense in Phoenix or Wisconsin or Ohio. We’ve learned a lot to understand what’s important to the local communities there, and what’s important to the local ecology.”
Biomimicry is one of several environmental measures Microsoft is implementing across its data centres.
Other measures will include recirculating water using a closed-loop system for cooling data centres in Spain, upcycling steel for manufacturing a new data centre in Newport, UK, and partnering with a local energy company in Finland to convert hot air from data centre cooling systems into heat for 250,000 people and businesses.
“The most exciting future is one where technology doesn’t sit apart from nature but becomes part of how natural systems thrive,” said Chuzi.