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Bitcoin and Data centers are two major global warming behemoths no one talks about. It's about time it became an issue.

Hamuko 5y ago
At least data centers aren't designed to burn as much electricity as possible. Amazon is even giving me like a 20% discount to switch my services to run on the more energy-efficient ARM machines.
tsywke44 5y ago
? data centers are a net negative for carbon emissions. 1. no need to drive to a bank/govt office/business when it has been digitized 2. watching a video on youtube, netflix or tiktok is basically carbon emission free compared to other forms of enterntainment that would be consumed if the internet wasn’t available 3. emails instead of paper snail mail, billions of trees saved since the 90s The list goes on and on
shagie 5y ago
People are working at making data centers more energy efficient rather than less. https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/energy-efficiency-data-centers https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/energy-efficiency-data-cent... https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/opinions/green-data-centers-the-key-to-energy-efficiency-in-a-digital-world/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/opinions/green-data-ce... From the later article: > What we do know is this: if the latest efficiency improvements in data center hardware and infrastructure continues apace, it should be possible to accommodate a 60 percent increase in demand for both traditional and hyperscale data center services over the next 12 months, without an accompanying increase in the energy they consume. But in order to achieve this feat, it is imperative that data center operators follow energy-efficient design principles. https://www.comsoc.org/publications/tcn/2019-nov/energy-efficiency-data-centers https://www.comsoc.org/publications/tcn/2019-nov/energy-effi... > The report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has an encouraging conclusion. It states that improved energy is almost canceling out growing capacity. In 2014, data centers in the United States consumed 70 billion kilowatt hours. If energy efficiency levels remained as they were in 2010, the energy consumption by data centers today would be 160 billion kilowatt hours. The surprising reality is that the estimate for 2020 is only 73 billion kilowatt hours. --- Data center power consumption is a big topic, and a lot of people are talking about it and working on improving its energy efficiency.

At least data centers aren't designed to burn as much electricity as possible. Amazon is even giving me like a 20% discount to switch my services to run on the more energy-efficient ARM machines.

tsywke44 5y ago

? data centers are a net negative for carbon emissions. 1. no need to drive to a bank/govt office/business when it has been digitized 2. watching a video on youtube, netflix or tiktok is basically carbon emission free compared to other forms of enterntainment that would be consumed if the internet wasn’t available 3. emails instead of paper snail mail, billions of trees saved since the 90s The list goes on and on

shagie 5y ago

People are working at making data centers more energy efficient rather than less. https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/energy-efficiency-data-centers https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/energy-efficiency-data-cent... https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/opinions/green-data-centers-the-key-to-energy-efficiency-in-a-digital-world/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/opinions/green-data-ce... From the later article: > What we do know is this: if the latest efficiency improvements in data center hardware and infrastructure continues apace, it should be possible to accommodate a 60 percent increase in demand for both traditional and hyperscale data center services over the next 12 months, without an accompanying increase in the energy they consume. But in order to achieve this feat, it is imperative that data center operators follow energy-efficient design principles. https://www.comsoc.org/publications/tcn/2019-nov/energy-efficiency-data-centers https://www.comsoc.org/publications/tcn/2019-nov/energy-effi... > The report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has an encouraging conclusion. It states that improved energy is almost canceling out growing capacity. In 2014, data centers in the United States consumed 70 billion kilowatt hours. If energy efficiency levels remained as they were in 2010, the energy consumption by data centers today would be 160 billion kilowatt hours. The surprising reality is that the estimate for 2020 is only 73 billion kilowatt hours. --- Data center power consumption is a big topic, and a lot of people are talking about it and working on improving its energy efficiency.