Welcome to our 2024 sustainability digest, where we’ve compiled 10 good reads exploring the intersection of data centers, surging power demand, and carbon reduction activities.
Throughout 2024, a major theme has emerged. Rapid advancements in AI are significantly impacting the need for more data processing power, driving the urgent demand for more efficient and sustainable data center operations. From the strain on power grids to renewable energy integration, these insightful articles highlight the crucial steps the industry is taking to balance the explosive growth in data workloads with environmental responsibility.
Read on to discover how AI is reshaping the digital infrastructure landscape and what it means for the future of sustainable technology.
1. Technology | The Big Take: AI Is Already Wreaking Havoc on Global Power Systems
This insightful read from Bloomberg unpacks AI’s impact on global energy systems, taking an in-depth look at how growing demands for computing power are reshaping data center operations and energy use. In fact, many of today’s data centers are using more electricity than most countries. With the surge in demand for bigger data centers with greater capacity, the digital infrastructure landscape is changing rapidly, putting pressure on energy grids to keep pace.
“We need terawatts and terawatts more of traditional green energy, whether it’s wind or solar, and that’s across the globe,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global head of data center energy.
Read the full article by Josh Saul, Leonardo Nicoletti, Saritha RaiDina, BassIan King, and Jennifer Duggan here.
2. Data Centers Could Use 9% of US Electricity by 2030, Research Institute Says
This recent article by Reuters highlights the enormous impact of AI on the data center industry and the critical need for sustainable solutions. According to the Electric Power Research Institute, data centers could use up to 9% of total electricity generated in the U.S. by the end of this decade, more than doubling their current consumption.
The article notes that while ChatGPT searches use roughly 10 times the electricity of a standard Google search, as the various uses of generative AI expand and more AI-driven tools emerge, the power requirements are likely to rise significantly.
“With 5.3 billion global Internet users, widespread adoption of these tools could potentially lead to a step change in power requirements,” according to the institute, which recommends better data center energy efficiency and more grid investment.
To learn more, read the full article here.
3. Why the AI Industry’s Thirst for New Data Centers Can’t Be Satisfied
Tom Dotan and Asa Fitch of the Wall Street Journal deliver an insightful overview of the data center industry’s attempts to keep up with burgeoning AI demands, given supply bottlenecks, power shortages, and real estate woes.
According to real estate firm CBRE, data center space in the U.S. expanded by 26% last year, with a record amount currently under construction. As a result, prices for available space are climbing fast, and vacancy rates are minimal, indicating that supply is struggling to meet demand. The demand for space, combined with supply chain challenges and the increasing need for power, is driving data centers to explore innovative solutions, including alternative energy sources like geothermal power.
Dive into the article here to learn more.
4. Top 10: Data Centre Innovations
In this recent piece from Data Centre Magazine, Amber Jackson highlights some of the most popular recent innovations in data centers and how they are helping the industry become more sustainable and efficient.
Among the topics discussed are the growing use of sustainability-focused innovations like immersion cooling, heat reuse technology, and modular building design, which helps organizations quickly upgrade existing data center infrastructure to achieve greater energy efficiency.
The article also discusses growth in hyperscale data center capacity, which is expected to keep doubling every four years, according to Synergy Research, noting that tech giants such as IBM, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are expected to continue dominating the market.
To learn more about industry innovations, read the article here.
5. Google Falling Short of Important Climate Target, Cites Electricity Needs of AI
In an article from the Associated Press, reporter Alexa St. John discusses a July 2024 report from Google acknowledging that it has fallen behind in its ambitious goal to achieve “net zero” by 2030. Rather than declining, its emissions grew 13% in 2023 over the previous year. Google cited AI and the demand it puts on data centers, which require massive amounts of electricity, as the reasons for last year’s emissions growth.
Google has been an industry leader in its carbon reduction goals, according to the article, announcing one of the most significant climate commitments just three years ago. A Google executive said the company recognizes that achieving its climate goals “is not going to be easy” and that the team’s approach will need to continue to evolve, including navigating the uncertainty around the future of AI’s environmental impacts.
Read the full article here.
6. Generational Growth — AI/Data Centers’ Global Power Surge and the Sustainability Impact
For years, data centers managed to keep power demand steady despite nearly tripling data workloads. However, with power efficiency improvements slowing and AI demand increasing, a new Goldman Sachs Research Report predicts that data center power demand will grow by 160% by the end of the decade. In addition, according to the analysis, data center power demand growth is on track to drive a more than 100% increase in data center carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 vs. 2022.
Although this power demand data may seem discouraging, if data center efficiencies can improve quickly, reductions in the growth of emissions is achievable. For more research findings and analysis around data center sustainability, access the full report here.
7. AI, Data Centers, and Energy Use: The Path to Sustainability
This article from Information Week will help you gain a better understanding of how the increasing use of AI and data centers is leading to a surge in energy consumption, posing risks for energy, tech, and data companies. Several estimates indicate that data centers make up about 2% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They also require vast amounts of power which can affect the timing and location of data center construction. This creates a less-than-ideal situation for organizations in need of securing data center processing yesterday.
Luckily, energy, data, and tech companies are playing an increasingly important role in helping to overcome these sustainability challenges. Some key ways organizations are making a difference include seeking out renewable energy sources at a fixed rate, employing strategic energy management (SEM) strategies, and even integrating circularity principles to optimize efficiencies.
Read the article by Mark Gibson and Angie Gildea here.
8. How data centers and the energy sector can sate AI’s hunger for power
This article, from market research firm McKinsey & Company, discusses how the AI, data center, and rising power needs conundrum is fueling emerging opportunities for investors in power infrastructure and adjacent sectors.
“Without ample investments in data centers and power infrastructure, the potential of AI will not be fully realized,” the authors note, adding that opportunities exist for investors to realize significant gains while helping fulfill AI’s potential. The article goes on to discuss “three clear areas in which investors may be able to make the most impact: power access and sources, power equipment, and trades and technicians.”
To learn more about this investment potential, read the article here.
9. Sustainability is Central to Hyperscalers’ Strategies
Once known for their high energy consumption, today’s hyperscalers are making sustainability a core part of their strategy. The top three cloud providers — AWS, Microsoft, and Google — dominate the global market, and their focus on sustainability is transforming the data center industry. This shift is driven by growing customer demand for eco-friendly solutions and the rising economic viability of green technologies.
“Hyperscalers are aggressively investing in sustainable cloud operations and delivery, aspiring to eventually achieve net zero emissions within the decade, or sooner,” said Ed Anderson, Distinguished Research Vice President at Gartner.
Read the Data Centre Magazine article by Marcus Law to discover the sustainability strategies of top hyperscalers here.
10. Decarbonising Data Centres Will Shape the Green Transition
Hyperscalers, known for their innovation, are investing heavily in renewable energy through long-term power purchase agreements. While adding green electricity to the grid is straightforward, ensuring constant supply for data centers is challenging due to the unpredictability and availability of renewable sources. This article emphasizes the need for hyperscalers to match energy consumption with renewable sources, but to do this, they will need to get creative.
Take a deeper look into what may be in store as data centers aim to go green amid the AI revolution in this Financial Times article.
The CleanArc Solution – True Additionality Is the Future
Looking ahead, it’s clear that AI’s rapid advancements are driving unprecedented power demands, necessitating a significant shift toward greener, more efficient solutions. The urgency to meet these demands while maintaining environmental responsibility is reshaping the digital infrastructure landscape.
At CleanArc, we address hyperscale customers’ surging consumption profiles and ambitious renewable energy goals through an innovative approach we call “True Additionality.” True Additionality goes beyond carbon offsetting and even net-zero emissions goals aimed at offsetting consumption broadly; it means actually adding clean energy onto electric grids in the area where the energy is being consumed.
To accomplish this, we’re initiating the development of wind, solar, and other renewable sources in the regions where our data centers are planned. That’s just one way we’re creating sustainable data center campuses.
To learn more about how CleanArc’s innovative solution can help hyperscalers meet both their renewable energy goals and high-performance needs, click here.
