Microsoft trials building ‘wooden’ datacentres in pursuit of 2030 carbon-negative goal

Microsoft is experimenting with ways to cut the amount of steel and concrete it uses to build its datacentres, by developing two facilities in Northern Virginia that will feature cross-laminated timber as part of their design.

The software giant said wood-based material is “ultra-lightweight” and will allow it to cut the carbon emissions created as a by-product of more typical datacentre builds.

The company also claims to be the first hyperscale cloud provider to be trialling the use of the material, which it described as a “staple of low-carbon building” across Europe.

“The hybrid mass timber, steel and concrete construction model is estimated to significantly reduce the embodied carbon footprint of the two datacentres by 35% compared to conventional steel construction, and 65% compared to typical precast concrete,” said Microsoft in a blog post.

“The sustainably harvested [cross-laminated timber] Microsoft is using will displace a portion of the thick concrete typically used for flooring and ceilings [in datacentres]. The result will be a much lighter building requiring far less steel, another factor reducing the embodied carbon of the building.”

As acknowledged in the blog post, the use of the material does come at a cost, as it “still commands a premium” and – because it’s not as widely used in the United States – few construction firms have extensive experience with using it in large-scale projects.

“On average, [cross-laminated timber] can increase material costs by five-to-10% compared to traditional timber used to build a single-family home, though that can vary based on local market conditions,” the blog post continued.

“But for large projects, like a headquarters or a datacentre, it can be cost-effective due to reduced construction time, less need for skilled labour and economies of scale.”  

The trial is part of Microsoft’s ongoing push to become a carbon-negative entity by 2030, which involves embarking on sustainability-focused endeavours that mean its operations take more carbon out of the atmosphere than they emit.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, progress towards achieving its goal has slowed, with Microsoft confirming in its May 2024 annual sustainability report that its greenhouse gas emissions for 2023 were nearly 30% higher than its 2020 baseline.

This is not the first time Microsoft has sought out alternative ways to build datacentres in the pursuit of sustainability gains, having pioneered the idea in 2016 of building underwater server farms.

That project concluded four years later, with the company releasing research findings in 2020 that concluded that underwater datacentres were a reliable, practical and energy-efficient alternative to operating traditional land-based facilities.

However, in an interview with Datacenter Dynamics in June 2024, Microsoft confirmed that it has no plans to take its underwater datacentre experiments any further, but that it does intend to apply its learnings from the experience to other use cases.