FOREWORD Algae and Hydrogen : Sustainability goes beyond power and cooling
Conversations about the environmental impact of data centres focus heavily on power , somewhat on water , and spend very little time discussing what it means to build the rest of these massive structures
“ The vision is that essentially , you can recycle , reuse , or biodegrade everything that you use ”
KARIN STRAUSS , SENIOR PRINCIPAL
RESEARCH MANAGER , MICROSOFT RESEARCH TEAM
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This year , major cloud and colocation providers added an estimated 20mn square feet of data centre white space worldwide , and the actual physical footprint of a facility extends well beyond that . Even though power and cooling ( specifically using water ) are still the biggest sources of a data centre ’ s environmental impact , physically constructing these facilities is also a significant issue .
Researchers in Microsoft ’ s “ advanced development ” team are racing to make the data centre of the future sustainable enough for the hyperscale cloud provider to hit carbon negative and water positive , while simultaneously building between 50 and a hundred new sites every year .
In addition to hydrogen fueled backup generators , circuit boards made from renewable materials , and liquid cooling , they ’ re doing some really interesting stuff using dried algae as “ a oneto-one replacement ” for traditional bricks , and fungi mycelium as a way to grow structural tubes . It ’ s exciting to see data centre environmental innovation move beyond PUE , and maybe one day into commercial and residential construction .
HARRY MENEAR harry . menear @ bizclikmedia . com © 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED datacentremagazine . com 3