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Disclosure: I used to work on GCE. "Renewable" is a broad set of terms. Importantly from your first link on GCP it says: > Google is carbon neutral for our op

by boulos 3y ago

Disclosure: I used to work on GCE. "Renewable" is a broad set of terms. Importantly from your first link on GCP it says: > Google is carbon neutral for our operations today, but aiming higher: our goal is to run on carbon-free energy, 24/7, at all of our data centers by 2030. Carbon-free, 24x7, is a stronger commitment than carbon-neutral which would include using renewable power offsets. Amazon's methodology is at https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/renewable-energy-methodology.pdf https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/renewable-energy-meth... which makes this clear as well.

toomuchtodo 3y ago
My understanding is that Google is also shifting workloads based on carbon intensity using ElectricityMap's data feed. https://www.electricitymaps.com/blog/announcing-our-partnership-with-google https://www.electricitymaps.com/blog/announcing-our-partners... https://blog.google/inside-google/infrastructure/data-centers-work-harder-sun-shines-wind-blows/ https://blog.google/inside-google/infrastructure/data-center... https://app.electricitymaps.com/map https://app.electricitymaps.com/map
- foota 3y ago
  That's interesting, who needs massive high voltage lines when your demand is fungible.
- bushbaba 3y ago
  Not for gcp though but for google internal workloads. Energy is one of the biggest dc expenses so makes sense they’d optimize to lower costs
RetroHippyNimby 3y ago
This is important context. There's a big difference between "we bought solar elsewhere but still burn fossil fuels for our datacenters" and "we never use fossil fuels to power our data centers".
looofooo 3y ago
How does this work? Will it be forbidden to drive there for work or delivery by gasoline cars?
11235813213455 3y ago
I don't really like terms like "carbon-free" when most components, transports and many indirect pollution used by those infrastructure use oil-derived products It's like when I see the sign "0% pollution" on EVs, it's so far from the reality, it's the same order of magnitude of (direct and indirect) pollution than a fossil fuel vehicle, and a few order of magnitude larger than a bicycle (which is not exactly 0 too, it contains plastics, and a little bit of maintainance)

by boulos 3y ago

toomuchtodo 3y ago

My understanding is that Google is also shifting workloads based on carbon intensity using ElectricityMap's data feed. https://www.electricitymaps.com/blog/announcing-our-partnership-with-google https://www.electricitymaps.com/blog/announcing-our-partners... https://blog.google/inside-google/infrastructure/data-centers-work-harder-sun-shines-wind-blows/ https://blog.google/inside-google/infrastructure/data-center... https://app.electricitymaps.com/map https://app.electricitymaps.com/map

foota 3y ago
That's interesting, who needs massive high voltage lines when your demand is fungible.
bushbaba 3y ago
Not for gcp though but for google internal workloads. Energy is one of the biggest dc expenses so makes sense they’d optimize to lower costs

RetroHippyNimby 3y ago

This is important context. There's a big difference between "we bought solar elsewhere but still burn fossil fuels for our datacenters" and "we never use fossil fuels to power our data centers".

looofooo 3y ago

How does this work? Will it be forbidden to drive there for work or delivery by gasoline cars?

11235813213455 3y ago

I don't really like terms like "carbon-free" when most components, transports and many indirect pollution used by those infrastructure use oil-derived products It's like when I see the sign "0% pollution" on EVs, it's so far from the reality, it's the same order of magnitude of (direct and indirect) pollution than a fossil fuel vehicle, and a few order of magnitude larger than a bicycle (which is not exactly 0 too, it contains plastics, and a little bit of maintainance)