Vaisala’s Origo aims to slash data centre cooling waste

Vaisala has launched Origo, a modular measurement platform that targets temperature and humidity accuracy in data centres and other mission-critical buildings, where small sensor errors can translate into higher cooling energy use.

The company said many sites still run air cooling as a baseline method. It said inaccurate measurement can lead operators to set temperatures lower than necessary, which increases cooling demand.

Vaisala put a price on what it calls a "half-degree" error. It said a temperature sensor that reads 0.5°C off target can increase cooling energy consumption enough to cost a 10 MW data centre more than USD $800,000 over ten years.

Cooling economics

Vaisala said air cooling remains a major part of thermal management across the sector. It estimated there are around 12,000 data centres worldwide, with the US and Europe accounting for well over half of sites.

Liquid and hybrid cooling designs are expanding as operators deploy higher-density computing, including AI workloads. Vaisala said air cooling continues to provide room-level cooling across facilities, while liquid cooling focuses on the hottest racks. It said hybrid architectures have become common in both new builds and retrofits.

Against that backdrop, the company framed measurement precision as an operating cost issue. It said generic temperature sensors with ±0.5°C accuracy can create a tendency to overcool. It also said errors can compound across large portfolios.

"Generic sensors with ±0.5 °C accuracy drive overcooling and energy waste, costing operators tens of thousands of dollars annually. Origo's precise ±0.1°C and ±1 %RH accuracy and stable measurements reduce unnecessary cooling while ensuring the reliable environmental control that critical facilities depend on. It translates to performance that pays for itself in months and protects uptime for years to come," said Anu Kätkä, Product Line Manager for HVAC and Critical Buildings, Vaisala.

Scale assumptions

Vaisala said the "half-degree" issue has global implications because most sites still rely mainly on air cooling. It estimated that around 80% of data centres use air cooling as the primary method.

Based on that installed base, Vaisala estimated that eliminating a 0.5°C measurement error across roughly 9,600 air-cooled sites could avoid around USD $805 million in cooling energy waste each year. It put the ten-year total at about USD $8 billion.

The company set out the assumptions behind the estimate. It said a typical 10 MW air-cooled data centre may waste around 700,000 kWh of cooling energy annually when operating with a 0.5°C temperature error. At an energy price of USD $0.12 per kWh, it calculated the annual cost at USD $83,800 per site. It then applied that figure across 9,600 sites.

Vaisala said the savings calculation compares that baseline against reduced overcooling when operators use ±0.1°C temperature measurements.

Product design

Origo uses a modular design. Vaisala said the platform supports monitoring of multiple parameters through compatible probes. It listed carbon dioxide and dew point sensors among the options.

The company positioned Origo for data centres and also for other controlled environments. It cited cleanrooms, life science applications and semiconductor manufacturing. It also listed hospitals and production facilities as potential settings.

Vaisala said Origo has field-replaceable probes. It said that design allows on-site updates with minimal interruption.

The company also tied the launch to wider pressure on energy consumption. It said data centres consume about 1.5% of global energy and that demand is set to more than double by 2030.

Vaisala said it expects measurement accuracy to remain a focus for operators as they manage cooling strategies across mixed air and liquid architectures.