Healthy Spaces Podcast - Season 6 Episode 4: Data centers are being built at unprecedented speed and scale, but the bar for sustainability and reliability must keep pace with that rapid growth.
Watch Season 6 Episode 4 - Speed to Scale: Building Data Centers That Evolve
How can the data center industry scale at unprecedented speed while improving energy efficiency, reliability and sustainability? It begins with rethinking how teams design, manufacture, test and deploy infrastructure as technology continues to evolve throughout the life of a project. In this episode, we examine why flexibility, strong partnerships and systems thinking are critical to building data centers that can meet advanced compute demands while advancing sustainability and reliability.
Mike Welch, Chief Technology Officer at Aligned Data Centers, joins Mauro Atalla, Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at Trane Technologies, to discuss how the industry is responding to accelerating demand for new capacity. Together, they examine how hybrid cooling and waterless heat rejection are reshaping data center design, why higher-temperature cooling and waste heat recovery may unlock new efficiencies, and how greater participation in grid support could help data centers create broader value. Their conversation also highlights the importance of workforce development, community engagement and infrastructure strategies that allow performance, sustainability and business value to advance together.
Key moments
- 00:57 The growing scale of data center demand
- 02:14 Why data center development is like chess
- 07:58 How hybrid cooling is changing data centers
- 12:22 The next generation of data centers
Featured in this Episode:
Hosts:
Dominique Silva, Marketing Leader EMEA, Trane Technologies
Scott Tew, Vice President Sustainability and Managing Director, Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability, Trane Technologies
Guests:
Mauro J. Atalla, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Trane Technologies
Mike Welch, Chief Technology Officer, Aligned Data Centers
Episode Resources
- Trane Technologies 2025 Sustainability Report
- The New Rules of Data Center Design
- Partnerships & Data Center Sustainability
- Closed Loop Data Center Cooling: How It Works
- What Is a Data Center? A Simple Guide
About Healthy Spaces
Healthy Spaces, a podcast by Trane Technologies, brings together engineers, innovators and industry leaders for bold conversations at the frontier of sustainable technology.
In Season 6, we zero in on the moment when innovation becomes infrastructure - when breakthroughs move beyond the lab and start transforming industries.
From pioneering AI research and next-generation data center cooling to climate-resilient cities and pathways to decarbonization, each episode explores the innovations at the cutting-edge of sustainable technology.
Designed for leaders, builders and anyone with a stake in the future of sustainable technology, the series offers a front-row seat to the ideas and innovations shaping what comes next.
The challenges are real. The solutions are being built now.
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