Stakeholders drawn from various walks of life that included the information technology sector, environmental specialists, academia and government have canvassed the need for the judicious use of waste in different landfill sites to generate energy to ensure a more sustainable planet.

This call was made during the Waste-to-Energy Summit sponsored by Rack Centre in partnership with NYSC Community Development Service recently.

The Chief Executive Officer, Rack Centre, Lars Johannison, said that in line with the company’s commitment to sustainability agenda, it factors energy efficiency not only through the source of energy used, but also in the design and materials for the expansion of its data centre campus.

“You cannot speak about data centre management without considering energy consumption management. You have to measure how you consume energy, and the key metric is Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), which simply tells you the amount of power that you use to be able to provide the services that you offer. And the lower your PUE is, the more efficient your power infrastructure is,” he stated.

The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Dr Tokunbo Wahab, stated that the management of solid waste has become crucial, especially with the growing impact of pollution caused by carbon emissions.

Wahab, represented by the Managing Director, Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), Dr MuyiwaGbadegesin, cited the example of Lagos, and its rapidly growing population of 20 million and daily waste generation of 30,000 tons, which necessitates the need for proper management of dump sites to mitigate environmental hazards and health risks.

Also speaking, Chief Operating Officer, Rack Centre, Ezekiel Egboye, emphasised the need for data centres to be conscious of energy usage, and the source of energy while working towards a green economy.
According to him, “When the Olusosun landfill is successfully transformed, it will create job opportunities for youths to ensure a sustainable future”.

Egboye disclosed that the company has deployed the IFC EDGE platform to ensure that its soon-to-be-completed 12MW data centre facility is built in line with sustainability metrics that have been used globally to assess the design of the data centre.

The convener of the Waste to Energy Summit, NYSC Community Development Service, Dolapo Olaoluwa, explained that the need to organise the summit arose after observation and experience working near the Olusosun landfill.

Olaoluwa noted that part of the objectives of the project was to bring together industry experts, policymakers, and community members to explore innovative waste-to-energy technologies, while raising awareness about the environmental and health impacts of landfills, with Olusosun landfill as a case study.