Resources
The research, the reports, the references.
The underlying work behind everything Interact publishes. Peer-reviewed papers, our annual reporting, the standards and policy documents we contribute to. For journalists, analysts, academic researchers and procurement evaluators who want to read the source.
Peer-reviewed research
The methodological backbone.
These papers are open access and available via the linked archives. Together they form the methodological backbone of the Interact dataset.
IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing · 2020
Optimizing Server Refresh Cycles: The Case for Circular Economy With an Aging Moore's Law
Establishes the slowdown of Moore's Law in measured server energy efficiency across vendor generations, and the carbon arithmetic for refresh decisions involving refurbished hardware. As far as we can identify, the largest peer-reviewed study of measured server efficiency published to date.
Read on IEEE Computer Society →IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing · 2023
Is Hot IT a False Economy? An Analysis of Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency as Temperatures Rise
Tests the widely-given efficiency advice to raise inlet temperatures. Combines cross-generational server measurement with idealised data centre simulation across geographic regions. Argues for a re-ordering of design decisions: location, hardware, cooling, temperature.
Read on ResearchGate →Life Cycle Management Conference (LCM) · 2023
Limitations of linear GHG Protocol carbon reporting in achieving circular progress
Sets out why the current GHG Protocol disincentivises circular economy practice and proposes a structural fix: amortize embodied carbon over a fixed asset lifetime, transfer the residual to the second owner when sold into the secondary market.
Read on ResearchGate →Reports
Annual and periodic reporting.
Annual and periodic reporting from Interact. Available as direct downloads or by request via the press team.
Annual report · 2023
Interact Global Goals Update 2023
Annual progress report against the three UN Sustainable Development Goals and six specific targets Interact committed to in 2022. Reports progress year on year and identifies the areas to focus on next.
Download PDF (2.4 MB) →Coming Q4 2026
The State of Server IT Efficiency: First Edition
The category's first annual reference document, drawn from the largest body of measured server performance data in the industry. ITEEsv benchmarks across the most-deployed server generations, the state of vendor configurator accuracy against measured workloads, sector benchmarks across public sector, financial services, channel and AI.
Request early access →Standards & policy
Contributions to industry standards.
Standards documents and policy work that Interact has contributed to as a named author or technical contributor.
Data Centre Alliance · 2022
DCA Sustainability Best Practice Whitepaper
The Data Centre Alliance's inaugural sustainability best practice document. Interact contributed to the IT efficiency and metrics sections, including the recommendation to report against ITEEsv and ITEUsv alongside the traditional PUE.
Available via the Data Centre Alliance. Contact the press team for a direct copy.
UK Government
Greening ICT Procurement Policy
The procurement framework under which significant portions of UK public-sector IT spend are evaluated. Interact's measurement aligns with its direction on IT efficiency and circular procurement.
Available via the UK Government Greening ICT programme.
On this site
Methodology references.
Long-form pieces on Interact's methodology. For procurement evaluators or technical readers who want to verify how the dataset is constructed and how the headline figures are derived.
- How we grade: the A+ to F scale underneath every analysis
- Why SERT? A first-principles test of the dataset foundation
- ITEEsv: definition, formula and calculation
- How machine learning helps measure server energy consumption
- What's in a server, and why we report it
- Beyond cooling: the data centre water footprint nobody measures
For copies of materials not directly downloadable here, or for any other resource enquiry, contact the press team via the Press page.