Data Center Sustainability & Decommissioning -- The Ugly Truth

Author: Joel Chakkalakal, CEO, Critical Risk Solution (Moderator); James Emerson, Director of Data Centers, Americas; Allison, Liquid Cooling Expert Collection: 2025 OCP Global Summit - Data Center Facility

Summary

This panel session argues that data center sustainability is overwhelmingly treated as a marketing term rather than an operational discipline. Moderated by Joel Chakkalakal of Critical Risk Solution, the session features James Emerson (Director of Data Centers at Americas) and a liquid cooling specialist identified as Allison, whom Chakkalakal calls "the godmother of liquid cooling." The central thesis is that sustainability must begin at the product-development stage -- not at end-of-life decommissioning -- and that the industry is dangerously unprepared for the wave of liquid-cooling decommissioning events that will arrive within 18 months as Nvidia pushes new GPU generations on roughly 12-month cycles.

The panelists advocate three concrete strategies: modular component design (particularly for backup battery units) to enable second and third lives; proactive fluid lifecycle management for liquid cooling systems (PG25 and similar) to double or triple coolant service life; and reusable packaging and green logistics to eliminate single-use materials from the supply chain. James Emerson detailed how BBU structures, DC-to-DC converters, and enclosures can last over a decade while only the core battery pack degrades to 60-70% capacity at years 5-7, making modular core-pack replacement viable. Allison emphasized that some cooling fluids already have 10-20 year lifespans if properly maintained, and that the OCP Fluid Lifecycle work stream (active for over a year) is the key forum for developing management standards.

An audience member, Ryan Zonstacker of Power Rocks, challenged the panel to move beyond end-of-life thinking to design-for-sustainability from raw material selection, advocating that embodied energy is the universal currency for lifecycle analysis and that "actual zero" -- not net-zero through offset trading -- should be the target. The panel endorsed this view and pointed to Americas' reusable rack packaging systems (usable thousands of times) as a tangible step already underway.