With support from Energy Foundation China, the Green World Low-Carbon Economy and Technology Center studied how to develop energy efficiency improvement standards for data centers in China and summarized the current local practice of retrofitting data centers’ refrigeration systems. Their findings were published in this technical report in November 2021.

By reviewing the existing energy-saving policies, standards, and regulations, as well as related energy-saving retrofit cases, this report presents common retrofit options for data centers, illustrate them with various practical cases, and provide policy recommendations.

In view of the rapid development of big data, cloud computing, 5G, and other such technologies in China, data centers are built across the country, with a rapid increase of their energy consumption. Energy conservation retrofits for data centers will help enterprises reduce their costs and enhance competitivity, and even contribute to the early achievement of China’s carbon peaking and neutrality goals.