ABN Amro bank in London uses CO2 for data centres

The Dutch bank ABN Amro, uses a CO₂ system to cool 15 high-performance servers at the data centre of its London branch. To provide a controlled climate for this hardware, the manufacturer, Star Refrigeration, designed and built a low-energy-consumption CO₂ refrigeration system in 2006 to generate a total output of 300 kW. The carbon dioxide is recondensed with water at 6C via an indirect chilling cycle. The cooling is handled by ventilator units on the back of the server cabinets, where the carbon dioxide evaporates at 14C and absorbs the heat siphoned off by the fans. CO₂ is reportedly well suited for IT climate control as it does not conduct electricity, helping to increase safety.