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<\/p>\nOVHcloud Global Environmental Director Gr\u00e9gory Lebourg explains how frugality and sustainability are in the DNA of OVHcloud<\/p>\n
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OVHcloud Global Environmental Director Gr\u00e9gory Lebourg reveals how a vertically integrated operating model, advanced water-cooling technology, and circular economy practices deliver a cloud that doesn\u2019t cost the earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n Computing recently published its annual cloud sustainability research<\/a>. A key finding was that OVHcloud, operator of more than 40 datacentres globally, outperformed peers of similar scale and the hyperscale \u201cbig three,\u201d to earn first place in the cloud sustainability top 10.<\/p>\n The company excelled across multiple categories including indirect environmental impact, emissions, water usage, renewable energy adoption, waste management, circular economy practices, and transparency. Scores can be seen below.<\/p>\n At the helm of OVHcloud\u2019s environmental strategy is Gr\u00e9gory Lebourg, Global Environmental Director. Lebourg\u2019s prior role as Director of Global Infrastructure meant deep involvement in the planning, design, and deployment of OVHcloud\u2019s datacentres and he is thus uniquely positioned to articulate how frugality and sustainability are embedded in the company\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n Circular economy in action<\/p>\n \u201cWe rely on two principles,\u201d Lebourg says.\u201d The first is the vertical integrated model, the fact that we assemble our own servers. We don’t build the data centre from scratch; we renew existing buildings. The fact that we control the whole value chain is a very powerful lever.<\/p>\n Image<\/p>\n Description<\/p>\n Gr\u00e9gory Lebourg, OVHcloud<\/p>\n \u201cWe have also extended the lifespan of the of the hardware platforms for more than nine to 10 years on average. And then at the end of this phase, we send them back to the factory where they were produced in the first place -a factory that we own and operate ourselves. We disassemble everything and test all the components for future reuse.\u201d<\/p>\n Lebourg estimates that after refurbishment and testing. approximately 30% of the components coming out of OVHCloud\u2019s datacentres are redeployed by OVHCloud. A further 50% are sold onto the resale market and the remaining 20% which are either unrepairable or obsolete are recycled.<\/p>\n Partnering with companies like Terra Nova, OVHcloud recycles significant quantities of electronic waste. In 2024 alone, nearly 9 tons of motherboards were processed, recovering over 25% by mass in valuable materials such as copper (about 2 tons), iron (500 kg), gold (1 kg), and smaller amounts of nickel, cobalt, and platinum.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s zero waste to landfill or incineration goal is grounded in this closed-loop approach, enabled by their control over manufacturing and refurbishment processes\u2014setting OVHcloud apart from competitors who all seem to share similar targets, but are not achieving the kind of reductions in waste-to-landfill required to reach them.<\/p>\n Water cooling for efficiency<\/p>\n Datacentres are notoriously thirsty<\/a>, with water consumption<\/a>, often measured in millions of gallons or megalitres. Some cloud providers including AWS and IBM provide limited data, arguing that absolute quantities are not a meaningful metric. Alternative metrics such as Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE)<\/a> are provided instead. But absolute quantities matter, particularly if datacentres are in areas of high-water stress, which many are.<\/p>\n In FY2022, OVHcloud used 125.7 megalitres of water\u2014significantly less than Salesforce (153 million gallons) and Oracle (545.5 ML). Lebourg attributes this to OVHcloud\u2019s advanced server-level water cooling technology, now in its fifth generation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are really leading the pack in terms of mastering water-cooling technology at the server level,\u201d he says. \u201cWater cooling technology relies on two principles. The first one is the direct liquid to chip, which is a closed circuit with a water block installed on the CPU or GPU to capture the heat at the source. This is, globally, 70% of heat generated by the server.\u201d<\/p>\n The remaining 30% is managed via airflow captured by rear door heat exchangers, transferring heat to a second closed water circuit.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\".\/media_1f8b6ce2a882f2f7e995dc37535a4400bbd400d87.jpg?width=750&format=jpg&optimize=medium\")
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