Bennie Vorster of BMW discusses renewable energy in data centres

BMW is two-thirds of the way through a three year green IT programme to improve the efficiency of its data centres. In Munich BMW’s data data centres are taking ground water from the city council to cool the data centre using a heat exchanger. BMW pumps the water from its Munich data centre back into the water system at a more manageable temperature, which warms up the mains water coming out of household taps in winter. BMW is also using gas from a waste dump, to generate electricity for its data centre in South Carolina. In this interview Cliff Saran speaks to Bennie Vorster, vice president, IT solutions & technology standards at BMW Group about the programme, which is using renewable energy resources to lower cooling costs in its data centres.