Business
What's the cost of a half-degree? Vaisala's new Origo slashes cooling waste in data centers
Roughly 80% of the world's data centers still rely on air cooling. Fixing a 'half-degree' error there can avoid around $805 million in cooling waste every year, about $8 billion over a decade, based on moderate 10 MW sites.
About this update from Vaisala Oyj Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"HELSINKI, Feb. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Roughly 80% of the world's data centers still rely on air cooling. Fixing a 'half-degree' error there can avoid around $805 million in cooling waste every year, about $8 billion over a decade, based on moderate 10 MW sites.","length":274,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"image","alt":"Wall mounted Origo with display on datacenter wall","displaySize":"","headline":null,"caption":"Wall mounted Origo with display on datacenter wall","className":"","disableSlideshowImg":false,"size":{"original":{"width":400,"height":200,"url":"https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/fe81b9763f0290b4084ce9e1084fd9b2"},"resized":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/oociZz.XjYNhIBrD9jQi9A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM1MztjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/fe81b9763f0290b4084ce9e1084fd9b2","width":400,"height":200}},"href":"https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2876540/cefb1c9e7e1fcac23ee6c9f57dbe6e3.html","hrefExternal":true,"rel":"nofollow"},{"type":"text","content":"Vaisala, a global leader in measurement instruments and intelligence for climate action, introduces Origo, a next-generation modular measurement platform designed to transform environmental monitoring in data centers and other mission critical-buildings.","length":264,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Why half a degree matters","length":25,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"A temperature sensor off by just 0.5 °C (32.9 °F) might sound trivial, but for example in a 10 MW data center, that small error can cost more than $800,000 in wasted cooling energy over ten years. In life science cleanrooms, for example, the stakes are even higher: any critical environmental parameter such as temperature or relative humidity can compromise product integrity or research outcomes, with losses that go far beyond energy costs.","length":443,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Air cooling remains essential in a rapidly evolving data center market","length":70,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"There are an estimated 12,000 data centers worldwide, with the U.S. and Europe accounting for more than a half. While liquid and hybrid cooling are growing fast for high density AI workloads, air cooling remains the universal foundation of data center thermal management. It provides the room-level baseline cooling eve...