DC-farming design guidelines 2021

A guideline for implementing data center and greenhouse symbiosis

TEAM DC-Farming Project Leader: Mattias Vesterlund Ph.D. in Energy Technology Project Manager Research Institutes of Sweden, RISE

DC-Farming Project Members: Suzanna Törnroth Doctoral Candidate in Industrial Design Luleå University of Technology, LTU Cristina Ramos Cáceres Doctoral Candidate in Architecture Luleå University of Technology, LTU Jonathan Naraine Architect MSA The Foodprint Lab Victoria Bengtsson Urban Planner MSA The Foodprint Lab Andreas Johansson Associate Professor in Automatic Control Luleå University of Technology, LTU Marcus Sandberg Associate Professor in Construction & Building Technology Luleå University of Technology, LTU Louise Mattsson Environmental Science Engineer Research Institute of Sweden, RISE Stanislava Borisová Sustainability Researcher, MSc Research Institutes of Sweden, RISE 1

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT? This guideline has been made to support decision makers in the process of establishing an industrial symbiosis between data centers and greenhouses, based on residual heat reuse.

Challenges, opportunities and recommendations are presented to give technical and business advice. Critical design aspects have been identified, which are key to facilitating the heat exchange between the data center and the greenhouse. We hope to challenge all relevant actors to strive towards symbiosis as a collective solution towards a sustainable climate future.

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Challenges preventing data center-greenhouse (DC-GH) symbiosis from happening

Technical, social & business opportunities

Mapping actor constellations for future innovation

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Design Inspiration

Locating Possibilities

Needs of Today

Design considerations for different types of DC-GH developments

Opportunities

Stakeholder Roles

A checklist for the future planning of DC-GH synergies

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0,2 Mton. The challenges are mostly related to the significant climate constraints in cold climate regions, where daylight hours are limited during winter.

However, there is a big potential in these regions in relation to energy sources that can ensure food self-sufficiency and move towards a sustainable and resilient food system.

PREFACE

As food security awareness has risen in recent years, the vulnerability of the agriculture sector in the Nordic regions has been made more evident. Many regions are dependent on national and international imports to provide vegetables. The Swedish import of fruits and vegetables is currently 1,7 Mton and increasing, dwarfing the export of

The farms, especially in the North have a strong tradition for pastures, targeting the meat and dairy industry. This type of agriculture is highly adapted to arctic and subarctic climates (with large variations in sunlight and heat over the year) as compared to vegetable cultivation.

Vegetable greenhouse (GH) farms in Sweden have high running costs, due to their energy intensive needs. They tend to grow mono-crops in order to optimize their production system and in turn, their profits.

However, this is a vulnerable business model as it reduces the adaptability of farms to market changes.

To adapt vegetable cultivation to the climate of the Nordic countries, relocation of farms closer to industry sources releasing excess heat, such as data centers (DC), or vice versa, should be considered. Often these industries are condensed in urban or periurban areas where services and necessities are more accessible than in the countryside, which might encourage urban farmers to settle in Northern regions.

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New form of cooperation and value chain between data centers (DCs) and farmers, through resource effective greenhouses (GHs).

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AIM

The aim of the project is to find technical, economical and social synergies between greenhouses (GHs) and data centers (DCs) that can contribute to making vegetable farming competitive and sustainable in the Nordic region, taking Sweden as a main case study. To achieve its aim, the project answers the following research questions: + How could excess heat from DCs be technically utilized to supply a GH in both an energyefficient and cost-efficient way? What suitable methods for lighting, heat storage, dehumidification, and the like, can aid this process? + What is the socio-economic potential of integrating GHs with DCs, for all parties involved? + How could sustainable farming strategies be planned and steered in connection to urbanrural contexts in order to boost social and economic activities that can increase the number of GH vegetable farms and farmers in Sweden?

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Challenges that prevent data center-greenhouse (DC-GH) symbiosis from occurring:

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NEEDS OF TODAY

+ Design and integration between a greenhouse and a data center adds extra costs. + Heat transfer solutions and control systems add extra costs. + High DC security and an upstream effect create high requirements on the physical integration + Lack of suitable business models and service level agreements (Investment/ROI/ ownership). + Lack of capital and interest for GH farmers to move to DC-site (or vice versa).

Why DC symbiosis in Northern regions?

Sweden’s self-sufficiency in food supply has decreased since the country became a member of the EU in 1995. Currently, the country produces only 9% of its demand for fresh vegetables and imports the remaining 91% from abroad. At the moment, there is no national emergency food supply.

However, strengthening the local food systems can also enable reaching national environmental goals. DC-GH industrial symbiosis can bridge the generational gap between the farmers of the past and the farmers of tomorrow.

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OPPORTUNITIES

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2.1. Technical opportunities The data centers, which are located in Northern Regions, can make good use of the outside cold air to cool down the servers. However, when drawing in cold air into the data centers, a stream of hot air is released, which in most cases remains unused.

Nevertheless, the hot air can be put into good use as an input for greenhouses. Especially in arctic and subarctic regions, where warmth and daylight hours are limited, this type of industrial symbiosis could lower the running costs of greenhouse farming.

Calculation model assumptions: Traditional greenhouse design with 32 mm corrugated plastic roof and wall panels with insulated floor. Reflux of air from the greenhouse goes back to the data center. Addition of outdoor air to keep humidity and temperature in the data center. If 35 °C DC air is fed into the GH it pushes out the humid 25 °C GH air. In this way, 1 MW DC power can heat approximately 1500 m2 GH area. But if we let some of the humid GH air go back into the DC to be heated again, this number increases to more than 4000 m2 GH area.

Moreover, more of the humidity is retained in the system which is beneficial for both the plants and the servers in the dry conditions of the subarctic winter. The assumed conditions are: Outdoor temperature > −30 °C Greenhouse indoor temperature > 19 °C Greenhouse indoor air humidity < 70 %

Results: The greenhouse surface that can be covered is 4000 m2 per MW of heat from the data center.

Greenhouses and data centers have much more in common than one thinks; they both run at 25 °C and need quite high air moisture.

A hyperscale data center of 120 MW, like Facebook in Luleå, can heat a greenhouse of 480 000 m2. This surface would increase the total surface of greenhouse vegetable farms in Norrbotten region, 17 113 m2 (Jordbruksverket, 2017), by approx. 28 times.

Potential of heated greenhouse surface: 480 000 m2.

Facebook campus floorplan, with three planned server halls: LLA1, LLA2, LLA3 (under construction); having a total power capacity of 120 MW.

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Jobs created = Approx. 1-2 employees *CO₂ reduction = 38 tonCO₂ eq/year Scenario: Small scale data center Power Capacity: < 0,1 MW Type of Farming Facility: Container/ Greenhouse Full Capacity of Farming Surface: < 400 m2 Vision picture DC-GH: Container at RISE

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Jobs created = Approx. 10-24 employees *CO₂ emission reduction= 343 tonCO₂ eq/year Scenario: Medium scale data center Power Capacity: 1 MW Type of Farming Facility: Modular frame greenhouse structure Full Capacity of Farming Surface: 1 500-4 000 m2 Vision picture DC-GH: BTDC

Jobs created = Approx. 100-240 employees *CO₂ emission reduction= 2024 tonCO₂ eq/year Scenario: Large scale data center Power Capacity: > 10 MW Type of Farming Facility: Large greenhouse Full Capacity of Farming Surface: > 40 000 m2 Vision picture DC-GH: Genesis Mining

* “CO₂ emissions reduction” refers only to the energy comsumption related to

Data center (DC) operations and Greenhouse (GH) space heating. Embodied energy in construction of the DC and the GH are not included. The reduction refers to the diference between two Scenarios A & B; Scenario A: Data Center and Greenhouse disconnected from each other. Scenario B: Data Center and Greenhouse connected to each other in Symbiosis.

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DC-GHs can have a relevant role in the transition towards a sustainable horticulture sector in the North. Currently, greenhouses in Norrbotten are commonly heated up using non-renewable resources.

Peat, is the most used, accounting for 33,6% percent of energy sources used for heating GH. At the moment, greenhouses are located in rural areas around the region, far from existing urban heat sources, like data centers or district heating networks.

Rethinking the location of greenhouses within or close to urban areas can bridge the existing generational gap of farmers. Urban greenhouse farms in Northern regions can attract younger generations into the horticulture industry.

We modelled three different scenarios showcasing positive social and environmental impacts of using the excess heat from data centers, rather than peat for farming. For example, a 400 m2 greenhouse connected to a small scale data center can reduce CO₂ emissions in a year; equal to flying from Luleå to Stockholm 700 times.

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2.2. Social & environmental opportunities

Greenhouse production, % of energy use by energy source in Norrbotten. Reference: Jordbruksverket, 2017

Luleå municipality’s greenhouse in Björsbyn, using peat as heat source.

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Community model

Sharing model

Independent model

Middle hand model

Establishment: 100% Publicly funded

Establishment: 100% DC/ Property owner

Establishment: 100% Farmer

Establishment: 100% Middle hand

Maintenance & Operation: 100% Publicly funded

Maintenance & Operation: 20% owner + 80% Farmer

Maintenance & Operation: 100% Farmer

Maintenance & Operation: 50% Middle hand + 50% Farmer

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2.3. Business opportunities When it comes to business and funding models of DC-farms and greenhouses, we have identified four main types of models with varying actors that take on the main investments.

These are but four examples of different constellations of actors and their consequent responsibilities that could be formed.

The community model is when a municipality, region or public fund is driving the investment, motivated by the added value in terms of social, ecological and economical sustainability for the region. This model is exemplified in the cities of Gothenburg and Oslo, each having employed an urban farmer at the municipality to grow food, train new urban farmers and maintain public urban farming meeting places.

Fresh and healthy food can be delivered to public schools and elderly homes. The act of farming in itself can also have social and health benefits to create attractive and lively urban areas to contribute to public health, social integration and mental or emotional rehabilitation services.

The sharing model is when a property owner and/or a data center is investing in establishing the farm where the farmers are taking the main costs involved in running and maintaining it. The model is inspired by examples of funding an urban farmer, as opposed to hiring a gardener, in order to create added value and potentially cut costs of maintenance long term. The land-sharing platform, Grow Here, has tested the model by building upon partnerships between land owners (e.g. public and private real estate companies) and urban farmers. The aim is to transform unused urban areas into thriving, green and lively social gathering places that contribute to increased biodiversity, climate adaptation and urban well-being. This has shown to indirectly increase the value of the property long term, to the benefit of the land owner. Similar models can be used in partnership with data centers, as the farm will also add value (e.g. in marketing and CSR).

In the independent model, the farmer pays most of the investments including establishment, which has proven to be a extremely vulnerable model as urban and rural farms today are rarely very profitable and a high investment cost might pose as a barrier: both to financial sustainability of the model, and to the inclusion of a new wave of potential and emerging farmers. Thus, we believe that the most interesting model thus far is some type of partnership between farmers and other actors.

The fourth model - the middle hand model is looking at how a third actor may potentially be involved in taking on investments around both establishments (DC or/and GH), as well as some maintenance cost, in order to lower the short term risks of all involved. Examples of such a model in Boston, USA, have shown that this model is lucrative for the middle hand who can provide these services.

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Business model example and possibilities for scaling, based on a conceptual idea for a greenhouse lease, “Växthuslånet”. Inspired by the existing Sollånet.

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2.4. Business opportunities at the intersection of the UN sustainability goals: Agenda 2030 The research team works with a variety of stakeholders: from data mining businesses, to local farmers, as well as local and regional planning authorities. Here, the possibility to affect change in reality is large, and can be done through proper communication, motivation, and education with the variety of companies and organisations we work with. The United Nations published a Sustainable Development Goal Compass framework (United Nations, 2015) that positions companies as key stakeholders in meeting the SDG goals, and they are enticed to do so through capitalising from: 1. Future business opportunities, 2. Enhanced value of corporate sustainability, 3. Strong stakeholder relations 4. Stable societies and markets and, 5. A common, shared goal.

If companies can dynamically realign their business models to become relevant to the sustainable development goals, then natural fiscal sense would pervade and keep companies on track to contributing to the goals. The SDGs can be met upon joint, tangible effort, and it is thus important for companies to see the relevance their practices have to the SDGs. Furthermore, innovating alongside the SDGs can contribute to a sense of ownership over a bright and clean future, as companies craft individual business plans that both consider

the company’s needs, as well as the SDGs. Striving for a socially responsible business model in technology development can pave the way for competition to follow in suite.

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STAKEHOLDER ROLES

Transdisciplinary stakeholder involvement and innovation Our role in the DC-Farming project is to align stakeholders of all organisational sizes and expertise to meet, form alliances and co-produce knowledge. This follows an intention to provide a robust foundation for future industry innovation, holistically supported by all forms of knowledge.

Collaboration and engagement among actors within the food network are essentially the coming-together of smaller and more flexible organisations, with larger and more well-defined organisations. For examples of typologies of actors that have been engaged in the project throughout the years, refer to the figure on the next page.

Like keys and locks, these organisations of different sizes each play an important role in facilitating the continuation of a symbiosis within the industry. Through a complex actor constellation, these organisations have the ability to fulfill each other’s needs.

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Through the sharing of goals and interests, it is understood that different authorities of different knowledge can come together and work in mutual and respectful symbiosis.

The understanding is based on an evolving and emergent relationship that develops

over time through iterative engagement processes, consistent feedback and open communication. The project has strived for dynamic and sustainable ways of solving industry challenges, and future vibrant actor constellations are welcomed.

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DESIGN INSPIRATION

Polar planting: DC-GH visualization by Daniel Abbott, Emil Nilzén, Phillip Johansson from the course Development Project - Construction, Luleå University of Technology, 2019.

Modularity: Using prefabricated modules which adapt to the needs of different stakeholders (e.g. surface, height, budget) is an option both for data centers and greenhouses.

Scalablility: If the data center expands its server halls, the greenhouse can grow with it, as there could be more excess heat available to utilize.

Security: The greenhouse should have an independent entrance to ensure the data center’s security.

Multi-functionality: Provide flexible indoor spaces inside the greenhouse to make use of the space during the low growing season (e.g. meeting rooms, event rooms, cafeterias) Materiality: Use of local materials and/or material reuse should be considered to lower the carbon footprint. Timber should also be considered, although measures such as impregnation to prevent mould need to be considered.

Lighting: Artificial lighting may be needed during winter to compensate for the darkness. LED lights could also provide a source of heat that needs to be considered, in calculating the total heat available on-site to heat the greenhouse.

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Placement, indoor climate and heat distribution of the greenhouse are key parameters to consider in the design of a data center-greenhouse (DC-GH) development. There can be pros and cons depending on where the GH is placed in relation to the DC:

Design considerations for DC-GH development:

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5 LOCATING POSSIBILITIES

5.1. The municipality’s and the urban planner’s role In Sweden, municipalities are in charge of the spatial planning of densely populated areas, which are commonly planned through a comprehensive plan (översiktplan) and a detailed development plan (detajlplan). The comprehensive plan, which is not legally binding, delineates the municipality’s vision for future resource use according to societal functions and services. The detailed development plan, on the other hand, displays the land-use requirements within a defined area, which are legally binding.

The possibility to create symbiosis between different activities relies on the municipality’s ability to include the question early in the planning process. If not, the possibility might be dismissed or delayed, leading to the lost of interest of important stakeholders, such as the farmers and datacenter actors. In detailed

development plans today, several barriers exist in combining several industries into one (e.g. food production with offices or living areas). Contrary to the plan for a DC-GH symbiosis, it is therefore problematic to place datacenter and farming facilities together. To enable such a symbiosis, it is important that detailed development planning reaches a level of flexibility to allow for the combination of necessary functions leading to a symbiosis. Not doing so might reflect a reality that is not environmentally conscious.

Thus, urban planners would need to raise this question early on in the planning process, as well as develop certain incentizations for the realistic implementation of DC-GH synergies (e.g. requiring datacenter heat reuse, and enabling ecosystem services and farming in new industries).

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5.1.1. Location Checklist for Future DC-GHs: Water: Identify places connected to municipal water networks, surface water beds or ground water. Reuse rainwater as much as possible.

Sun: Search for open places with a lot of access to sun (e.g. rooftops). Datacenters, on the other hand, are best placed in colder and shaded areas.

Nature: Place the structures next to natural habitats to invite pollinators.

People: Identify popular areas indicated through interest in farming. Tips! Use digital tools as GrowHere.

Natural Resources

Land to lend: Identify farmable land or private landowners who are interested to lend their land.

Tips! Use digital tools as GrowHere.

Attraction points: Place the structure where people like to spend time or visit. The farm can be combined with other interest in a school or business trip.

Food and beverage services: Close proximity to a consumer market encourages people to purchase fresh goods according to their environmental values (e.g. in restaurants or local markets).

Datacenter: Identify where datacenter are currently located in the region.

People & Meeting Places

Public transport: Place the structure close to nodes of public transport.

Recycling area: It is important to be able to reuse compost in the gardens.

Alternative heat source: Seek potential residual heat reuse. For example, a biogas plant. Converted waste in the biogasplant could also be used as biofertilizer.

Soft mobility: Place the farm within biking or possibly walking distance from the closest residential area or the city. It should not be too far from a main road to facilitate logistics.

Infrastructure & Communication

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5.2. Support in the detailed development plan Stakeholders within the project have highlighted several challenges that could impede a DC-GH symbiosis. One key reason being the economics of implementation. It is therefore important to consider the multi-functionality of the DC-GH building, in order to minimize vulnerability of the businesses. For example, holding other activities in the greenhouse apart from farming, such as education, food and beverage services, living or working spaces, in order to enable different revenue streams. For this reason, the municipality should facilitate the location of DC-GH within the urban areas to allow its multi-functionality. In

this case, the detailed development plan would need to enable the use of Service (H), residential (B), Industry (J) and education (S). However, few of these plans offer such flexibility, which poses challlenges during the application for building permits for a DC-GH. We offer recommendations for urban planning authorities to consider a level of flexibility in the implementation of a DC-GH unit. In following, the table offers examples of possible existing conflicts in Swedish planning regulation for a DC-GH, thereby giving examples of areas of improvement in order to promote flexibility in future detailed development plans.

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5.2.1. Examples of possible existing conflicts in planning permissions:

DC

GH

Legend

Provision

Comments

Colour

B

Residential

All types of permanent housing

Yellow

C

Urban centers

Public gathering spaces

Brown

D

Healthcare

Public health services and criminal care

Red

E

Technical facilities

Energy, internet, water networks

Blue-green

F

Flight traffic

Flight paths and services

Gray

G

Automobile services

Maintanence, fuelling

Gray

H

Retail

Retail

Brown

J

Industry

Manufacturing, processing, extraction

Blue-green

K

Offices

Including conference locale

Brown

L

Agriculture

Allotment farms, agriculture, dog kennels, all typologies of farming and animal husbandry

Light green

M

Cemetery

Crematorium, memorials, cemetries

Purple

N

Outdoor activities and camping

Camping, outdoor activities

Dark green

P

Parking

Parking garages

Gray

R

Culture and recreation

Museums, amusement parks, sport facilities, hotels

Pink

S

School

Preschool, elementary schools, middle and high schools, universities

Red

T

Traffic

Railways, bus routes, taxis

Gray

U

Storage

Wholesale warehouses

Blue-green

V

Harbour

Shipyards, commercial harbours, recreational harbours, canals

Gray

PARK

Landscaped park

NATUR

Nature

P-PLATS

Parking

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5.2.2. Considerations towards DC-GH symbiosis in a detailed development plan: Avoid the requirement of highly angled roof. An angled roof makes it difficult to utilise roof space for any future greenhouse establishment.

Demand that at least 50 % of the ground surface needs to be vegetation.

Gröna tak Demand a green roof.

Odling

Include areas for farming in residential areas, industries and nature.

Add the possibility to extend the permitted area for building greenhouses on residential areas through general regulations (Letter1) or property regulation. Today, it is only allowed to build 15 m2 of greenhouse in a residential area without a building permit, which is too small for the purpose.

Both commercial datacenters and greenhouses can be included in the category light industry, if they do not disturb the environment.

Växthus

Allow an area of at least 300 m2 within residential areas for a community greenhouse, in order to facilitate self-sufficiency in fresh produce.

Allow an area within the planning for industry (J), or technical infrastructure (E), for a datacenter.

Allow for longer time of the temporary use of spaces through general regulation.

The degree of exploitation should exclude the area for building a greenhouse on the property.

Add a general regulation that farming facilities are allowed within the industry area.

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GENERAL SUMMARY:

Well wishes from the project team

ENGLISH

SWEDISH

These design guidelines offer a practical way forward in implementing a DC-GH symbiosis, dealing with the topic in a holistic and transdisciplinary way. The empirical data collected over the two-year long duration of the project, both qualitative and quantitative in fashion, form the basis of future possibilities in this arena – and we help you pave a way to get there. Aiming to serve as inspiration, this booklet offers social, technical, economic, political and geographical perspectives towards a DC-GH symbiosis, as pillars on which your organisation may take inspiration from to build your own DCGH symbiosis. If you may have any questions regarding the project and its details, please feel free to contact any one of us in the project team.

This journey has been a fruitful and enlightening one for us, and we hope that these insights prove useful to you. We look forward to communicating with many of you on building an energy future that is not only based on resource effectiveness and a circular economy, but also rooted in healthy and attractive cities for people and the wider society.

Dessa riktlinjer beskriver på ett praktisk och övergripande sätt, vägen framåt för att möjliggöra en symbios mellan datacenter (DC) och växthus (VH). De möjligheter för symbios som presenteras bygger på kvalitativ och kvantitativ data som samlats in under projektets två år. Med syfte att inspirera erbjuder det här häftet sociala, ekonomiska, politiska, geografiska och tekniska perspektiv på en DC-VH-symbios, som din organisation kan inspireras av för att skapa er egen DCVH-symbios. Om du har frågor angående projektet och dess detaljer är du välkommen att kontakta någon av oss i projektteamet.

Denna resa har varit mycket givande och lärorik för oss, och vi hoppas att dessa insikter är användbara för dig. Vi ser fram emot att kommunicera med många av er om att bygga en energiframtid som inte bara är baserad på resurseffektivitet och en cirkulär ekonomi utan också är förankrad i mänskligt välbefinnande och attraktiva städer för samhället i stort.

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