3 step changes that will help deliver sustainable AI

Chris Pennington

Senior Director of Energy & Sustainability Strategy, Iron Mountain Data Centers

The publication of our latest Iron Mountain Data Centers Sustainability Overview seems a good point at which to reflect on the high-profile challenges that face our industry.

Demand for advanced data center infrastructure has never been higher, and with the current power crunch our industry has moved out of the shadows and into the limelight. According to the IEA, electricity consumption from data centers is set to double by 2030, and power use from those focused on AI is poised to triple over the same period. A lot of our power usage is concentrated around existing markets where the overall proportion of electricity consumption for data centers can become quite high. Faced with a massive multi-sector electrification challenge - the energy transition - power grids are struggling to deliver the generation, interconnection and transmission that our fast-growing industry needs. Add the term “AI” to the mix, and many people who had no clear idea what a data center was a few years ago now have strong opinions about the industry.

A great deal of the information shaping the public’s understanding of our industry is inaccurate, incomplete or out dated. This is a significant challenge for us as public support is increasingly important for the continued growth of digital services. Accurately framing the industry is made even more difficult by the exciting pace with which we continue to innovate.

With this challenge in mind, we have organized our Sustainability program into three clear areas of focus:

1. Build better buildings

The industry is poised to double capacity in the next three to five years. In a few years more than half the data centers will be less than five years old. This is a tremendous opportunity to shape future performance by designing high performance facilities today. Iron Mountain Data Centers (IMDC) is committed to constructing new sites to achieve BREEAM green building certification, or a local country equivalent. When beginning with the end in mind, we focus on a wide range of impact areas including land use & ecology, materials, waste, water and efficiency. There are ten categories in total.

It is far more than a plaque on the wall. Our energy efficiency, reported as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), has steadily improved year over year. In 2025 it was 1.41 which is significantly lower than the industry average of 1.58, according to the Uptime Institute report on 2023 performance.This progress is achieved under our Energy Management program that is aligned with the ISO 50001 standard and verified by a third party each year. It is a continuous improvement model where opportunities are identified, investments made, and results measured….continuously.

Water is an important topic and we’re driving high performance here as well. Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), the measure of water efficiency for data centers has improved from 1.6 in 2023 to 0.82 in 2025. This level of water efficiency means our data centers use less water per square foot than a similarly sized commercial office building - about half as much or even less!

2. Measure performance and report it publicly

Transparency is the currency of trust, and the industry has operated for decades in obscurity. Data Centers are critical environments which underpin our daily activities, and have avoided publicity as a tactic to support high security. Windowless buildings on secure grounds with high perimeter fencing can help protect what is inside, but this does nothing to build trust with communities. As the industry grows, public support for the increased infrastructure needed to support our daily lives is increasingly critical.

We take several actions to build transparency today, and we’re working on developing more. For example, we’ve published our global energy and water performance each year since 2021, as well as our goals and future commitments. We also host a large number of individuals each year in organized tours of our facilities. Most recently we had a group of nearly 50 people visit as a ‘day trip event’ as part of a sustainable investment conference in Virginia, and we hosted a green building organization in London. We also report our total carbon emissions from operations. Thanks to our commitment to clean energy, and thoughtful investments like biofuels (HVO) for diesel generators at a growing number of new facilities, this number is exceptionally low.

Beyond reporting numbers and opening our doors, I’m always moved by the community events and volunteering our Mountaineers support. In 2025, Iron Mountain teams spent 43,739 hours volunteering in their local communities.

Constructive engagement with communities is an area we can continue to improve on. In time, I believe data centers can be perceived as beneficial additions to the local social, economic and environmental fabric. The next few years will be critical. As our growth accelerates, space and power pressures grow, and the climate risk increases, there is much more we need to do to engage positively with our communities.

3. Support the two energy transitions

Data Centers are large energy consumers, so we naturally play an outsized role in supporting the current energy transitions. I use the term transitions in the plural, because there are two occurring simultaneously that we can help support.

The first is a transition to more decarbonized grids. This is necessary for a number of reasons, including to limit the impact of climate change, improve human health, enhance energy security and support energy affordability. As a large buyer of energy, we can send a clear demand signal in support of more clean power - and we do! Iron Mountain has been matching all its purchased energy with clean energy generation since 2017, and we support advanced decarbonization by contracting for clean power that’s produced as close as possible to where we consume it. Continuously working to decarbonize grids is more of a marathon than a sprint, and our work here will continue.

The second transition is one of accommodating massive increases in global electricity demand. Yes, in large part from data centers, and also from the electrification of transport and industry. The pace at which the grid can expand to meet more demand is not fast enough to support the growth we need to support not just AI, but EVs and electrified heating. Here, again, we can play a role by designing our facilities to draw load from the grid flexibly. Reducing power consumption from the grid when more capacity is needed to serve cooling on a hot summer day, for example. We do this with on-site energy storage. These Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) enable the data center to reduce its load on the grid when necessary, then increase its load later to recharge when capacity on the grid allows.

We’re currently building a BESS at our NJE-1 data center in Edison, New Jersey. The new 12 MW/23 MWh system will be supporting the local grid by the end of the year and can be dispatched as needed without any impact to our customers inside the data center. It can support the entire IT load for hours if needed. The fact that our New Jersey data center also has an 18,000 panel rooftop solar array makes the solution design even more efficient and sustainable. Combining on-site solar with storage amplifies the benefits of each.

The light at the end of the tunnel

There is always more we can do, but reflecting on how far we have come and anticipating the next leg of the journey are necessary steps.

Looking back to 2025, it is also worth remarking that last year was a historic one for renewables. According to Ember, in the first half of the year, renewable energy overtook coal as the world’s leading source of electricity production. Over 90% of new grid assets in the US were carbon-free, clearly demonstrating that wind, solar, and storage have moved from the margins to the mainstream, delivering overwhelming advantages in terms of both energy security and cost.

While there is no room for complacency, we should also put our industry in the broader context of the energy transition. Globally, data centers account for 2-4% of world power usage. According to the latest World Energy Outlook from the IEA, AI will account for nearly 10% of the growth in electricity demand through 2030. While 10% of global demand growth is significant, it is worth noting that this is around the same increase as for space and water heating, and less than the forecast growth in demand for space cooling (12%), vehicle electrification (14%), and appliances (17%).

The whole world is in an energy transition. If we focus our efforts and keep our standards high, we can take collective responsibility for delivering a sustainable digital future.

Read the report

To find out more about our sustainability performance, please read the latest Iron Mountain Data Centers Sustainability Overview.