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Photo credit: Microsoft

Datacentres are fundamental to digital infrastructure, which has seen these sites grow over twentyfold since 2005. Faster internet, cloud, and AI, and the fact that datacentres act as caching points so that some content is quicker to access, are the primary factors driving the construction of additional datacentres to meet global demand, which could potentially triple by 2030, predicts McKinsey.

Datacentres are also expensive to build and operate due to power and cooling demands. These challenges encourage datacentre developers to become more creative and develop innovative concepts. Cooling them with Arctic air, supplying heating to surrounding communities, or putting them underwater, here are eight datacentres with innovative solutions that make them more efficient and sustainable.