Sustainable Design, Renewable Integration, and AI Innovation

Sylvester Kourie, the Technical Director for Buildings at Aurecon, a large Australian design, engineering, and advisory company headquartered in Melbourne’s Docklands, discusses strategies to meet the power demands of data centres in the context of AI growth. Sylvester highlights Aurecon’s holistic approach to facility design, optimising efficiencies from the rack level to the grid connection and leveraging their internal energy team to assess facilities from generation points to rack supply points. He underscores the importance of understanding load types to improve overall efficiency and sustainability, as well as addressing water limitations, which are becoming increasingly critical alongside energy concerns.

As the world shifts towards renewable energy sources, Sylvester outlines the challenges and opportunities in aligning computing power demands with net zero emissions goals. He stresses the dynamic nature of the energy mix, balancing renewable sources with grid stability and the potential for data centres to contribute to grid stabilisation. Sylvester…