Abstract
Data centers are important infrastructure of information and communication technology (ICT). Reducing electric-power consumption and the CO2 emissions at the centers are urgent issues from the viewpoint of global environmental concerns. Improvement of efficiency within a single data center, however, cannot assure significant reduction of CO2 emissions. Hence we propose the concept of “strategic system design”, which optimizes system design by combining different stake-holders not only from the viewpoint of the “physical system” but also from that of the “value system”. As an example, a system in which greenhouse cultivation farms reuse emitted heat at data centers was considered from both the physical side and the value side. The complex system designed by such a strategic system design idea was found to be effective in reducing CO2 emissions compared with a single isolated system, and was clarified to be an excellent value system.
