Rich Kenny, Interact's Managing Director, chairs an IEEE working group developing a standard for water use in data centres. He holds the role personally, in the same way as his peer-reviewed research and the government guidance he has written.
A role held as an individual
Rich chairs the group in a personal capacity, not on behalf of Interact. It sits alongside the rest of his independent work in the field: peer-reviewed papers published through IEEE, Elsevier and the International Life Cycle Management conference, and the UK Government guidance he authored on water use in data centres and AI. Each of these is his own contribution, made on its own merit.
What the group is working on
Data centres use large volumes of water, mostly for cooling. There is still no agreed, consistent way to measure and report it, so figures are hard to compare between sites, and the growth of AI workloads is putting the question under closer scrutiny.
The working group's remit is to close that gap: to define a common method for measuring and reporting water use in data centres, so the number means the same thing wherever it is quoted, can be disclosed with confidence, and can be reduced against a fixed baseline.
Why the chair matters
A standard only carries weight if it is built openly and independently. The chair's job is to steer that process: to bring operators, researchers and industry to a shared position, keep the work neutral, and shepherd the standard through to publication. The standard belongs to the group; the chair keeps it moving and keeps it honest.
How it connects to Interact's work
Interact measures what IT hardware actually does: its performance, energy and carbon, against the real configuration on site. Water is the other half of a data centre's environmental footprint, and it deserves the same rigour. Both start from the same principle: measure it properly, so the number can be trusted and improved.
The standards work is developed independently of Interact's commercial work. The two are connected by that shared principle, and by nothing more.
In short
Chairing this group is one of several roles Rich holds in a personal capacity, alongside his peer-reviewed research and the government guidance he has authored, that place him among the independent voices shaping how the sector measures its environmental impact.