2026 Event Schedule
There's No Such Thing as a Free Ride: The Real Costs of Free Cooling
Free cooling has moved from experiment to default; air-side, water-side, and indirect-evaporative economization now routinely displace compressor hours as IT hardware supports wider inlet temperature/humidity ranges. As a result, more sites can operate for longer in economizer modes and realize substantial energy and carbon savings. However, the shift to lead-free electronics in the mid-2000s increased hardware sensitivity to airborne contaminants. To safeguard uptime and asset life, economization must be paired with contamination risk management.
Equipment reliability cannot be an afterthought. Even when climate models show ample free-cooling hours, operators must now evaluate local and regional air quality. Modern programs pair energy optimization with current guidance (e.g., ASHRAE TC 9.9, ISA-71.04 classes) on contamination assessment, control, and monitoring. In mixed environments, where economization coexists with liquid cooling or high-density zones, these safeguards are essential to protect uptime and extend hardware life.
This presentation will provide:
• A practical overview of free cooling framed by equipment reliability requirements.
• Updates on environmental risk factors and how they influence free-cooling strategies.
• A summary of current air-quality and corrosion-control guidance used in data centers.
• Case studies comparing free cooling with vs. without integrated contamination assessment, control, and continuous monitoring.