Data centres globally face enormous sustainability challenges. To help address these the industry has established an innovation hub named the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers (NZIH) backed by Google, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, APL, Danfoss, Data4 and Vertiv.
Irish carbon capture company, NEG8 Carbon is proud to announce that it has been selected to join the NZIH Net Zero Start-Up Hub programme. This programme will allow NEG8 Carbon to showcase the revolutionary NEG8 Carbon technology which addresses the sustainability challenges of data centres.
Ray Naughton, Founder and Managing Director of NEG8 Carbon, said: “The programme gives the company a pathway to engage with hyperscale data centre designers and operators to pilot and deploy the NEG8 Carbon technology at their sites.”
NEG8 Carbon’s Direct Air Capture technology reuses low temperature heat from data centres to power the DAC process, which captures carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by drawing in air and passing it over a specialised material (sorbent) which attracts the CO2 molecules. The majority of data centre power consumed is emitted as waste heat and is a major environmental issue.
NEG8 Carbon can use this heat to capture CO₂ and provide a heat reuse option beyond district heating, particularly for sites where connection to a district heating network is not practical. NEG8 Carbon also addresses the water consumption issue associated with data centres as every tonne of CO₂ captured generate two tonnes of pure water. A third advantage is that the NEG8 Carbon system also provides data centre cooling as a by-product.
Once captured, atmospheric CO₂ offers additional commercial opportunities for data centre operators. It can be permanently stored as part of carbon removal projects for carbon credits or sold as a feedstock for applications including eFuels and other CO₂-based products.
This aligns with the Draghi Report’s focus on combining competitiveness and decarbonisation to deliver sustainable economic growth across Europe. Since 2010, the data centre sector has contributed around €22 billion in direct and indirect investment in Ireland, and NEG8 Carbon can help protect Ireland’s position as a source for sustainable data centre locations.
Alberto Ravagni, CEO of the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers, said: “There is no shortage of good ideas - there's a shortage of pathways to scale them. That's the gap the Net Zero Hub was built to close. By bringing innovators, hyperscalers, operators, integrators, and investors together in one program, we de-risk, accelerate, and guide startups and scale-ups every step of the way - from incubation to gigawatt-scale deployment. This is how we turn promising technology into delivered growth and sustainability.”
Niels Martin Andersen, Senior Public Affairs Manager at Google, said: "We created the Net Zero Innovation Hub to accelerate the decarbonisation of the data centre industry - and the companies involved in the Net Zero Start-Up Hub represent that next frontier in data centre innovation. This is exactly the kind of collaboration Google is proud to support, in Fredericia and beyond."
About the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers
Based in Denmark, the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers unites leaders across the data centre industry in Europe to accelerate the deployment of advanced net zero solutions. The Hub works to identify, test, and de-risk new technologies for the industry, removing the technical, commercial, regulatory and financial barriers that slow their path to deployment. The Net Zero Start-Up Hub is one track within this broader effort, and it sits alongside the Hub’s other ways of working with industry and technology partners.
