Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Industrial  -  November 27, 2024

AWS Utilizes Lower Carbon Steel for Swedish Data Centers

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is adding new data centers in Mälardalen, Sweden, that will use lower carbon steel and concrete.

The construction of the data centers will include lower carbon materials since the construction industry is one of the largest and toughest sectors to decarbonize. Embodied carbon — the emissions released during building materials’ life cycle from extraction to manufacturing, transport and construction to disposal — accounts for around 11% of global carbon emissions.

In the Europe (Stockholm) region, the company is currently building new data centers in three availability zones located in Eskilstuna, Katrineholm and Västerås. The main buildings are due for completion by mid-2025.

AWS strives to use steel made by recycling scrap in electric arc furnaces (EAF) globally. Roughly 30% of steel worldwide is made via this route, which doesn’t use coal or coke. Electricity is used instead, and often, a small amount of natural gas. As a result, the scrap-EAF steel route has one-quarter of the carbon emissions associated with BF-BOF steel making. 

The company worked with its supply chain to ensure that at least 70% of structural steel used at the Eskilstuna and Västerås data centers will come from the scrap-EAF route, resulting in 10,000 fewer tons of embodied carbon emissions for its business.

For the data center in Katrineholm, AWS has gone one step further. All the structural open steel sections will be produced from scrap melted in electric arc furnaces powered by 100% carbon-free electricity, with minimal if any use of natural gas. This results in one-seventh of the carbon emissions compared with BF-BOF steel making and will result in the Katerineholm data center contributing 5,900 fewer tons of carbon to AWS’s emissions footprint than it otherwise would have.

In pursuit of new sources of lower carbon primary steel, AWS has teamed up with SSAB and its subsidiary, Ruukki Construction.

Together with iron ore company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall, SSAB has developed a new technology called Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology (HYBRIT) that uses hydrogen from carbon-free electricity to make iron. This process emits water vapor instead of carbon dioxide. An Electric Arc Furnace powered by carbon-free electricity is then used to convert the iron to steel. This results in primary steel with one-tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional BF-BOF steelmaking. Steel from this innovative process will be used in AWS’s new data centre in Västerås.

“Reducing the embodied carbon associated with the construction of our data centers is a key priority for AWS as we work to achieve net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040. By partnering with innovative local companies like SSAB and Ruukki, we’re taking an important step to decarbonise the materials used in our data centres and set a new standard for sustainable infrastructure. We’re excited to be working with companies at the forefront of lower-carbon virgin steel production,” said Kellen O’Connor, Managing Director Europe North at AWS, in a statement.

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