Introduction to green software and green ops. Looking at the environmental impact of CommonCrawl and cloud computing in general

Companies with datacenters are procuring significant amounts of renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprint. There is increasing interest in achieving 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) matching in electricity usage, aiming to eliminate all carbon footprints associated with electricity consumption on an hourly basis. However, the variability of renewable energy resources poses significant challenges for achieving this goal. We explore the impact of shifting computing jobs and associated power loads both in time and between datacenter locations. We develop an optimization model to simulate a network of geographically distributed datacenters managed by a company leveraging spatio-temporal load flexibility to achieve 24/7 CFE matching. We isolate three signals relevant for informed use of load flexiblity: varying average quality of renewable energy resources, low correlation between wind power generation over long distances due to different weather conditions, and lags in solar radiation peak due to Earth’s rotation. We illustrate that the location of datacenters and the time of year affect which signal drives an effective load-shaping strategy. The energy procurement and load-shifting decisions based on informed use of these signals facilitate the resource-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of clean computing—the costs of 24/7 CFE are reduced by 1.29±0.07 EUR/MWh for every additional percentage of flexible load. We provide practical guidelines on how companies with datacenters can leverage spatio-temporal load flexibility for truly clean computing. Our results and the open-source optimization model can also be useful for a broader variety of companies with flexible loads and an interest in eliminating their carbon footprint. The simulations were carried out with PyPSA — an open-source software framework for simulating and optimising modern energy system: https://pypsa.org/ All code, input data and results are published under an open license. The code to reproduce the experiments is available at GitHub: https://github.com/Irieo/space-time-optimization

Les bonnes pratiques d'hébergement sont désormais encadrées par un texte : le Régime Général d'Eco-conception des Services. Approndissons ensemble le sujet, en commençant par le premier critère évoqué : l'adhésion au Code de Conduite Européen sur les Centres de Données.

More information available at the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres webpage. CompanyN. Data CentresData CentresYear RegisteredAddressA1 Telekom Austria AG1Wien 1Wien 22012Lassallestrasse 9A1020 -

Choisir un hébergeur web écologique, c’est à minima, un hébergeur qui assure la réduction de ses besoins en électricité, en espace et en climatisation. Mais ce n’est pas tout. Découvrez les clés pour choisir votre hébergeur web.

As the world becomes increasingly digitalised, data centres and data transmission networks are emerging as an important source of energy demand.

Details of the publication

Learn about optimizing your Azure carbon emissions.

De plus en plus nombreux, les centres de données, piliers du numérique, sont gourmands en électricité et en foncier, mais aussi en eau. Une consommation amenée à exploser avec le développement de l’intelligence artificielle. Philippe de Fruyt et Jean-Luc Touly ne décolèrent pas. En cette glaciale matinée de janvier, emmitouflés dans leur parka, ils égrènent les chiffres du projet d’extension du data center d’Amazon, installé dans leur commune de Wissous, 7 000 habitants, dans l’Essonne. « À terme, on va (...)

In this post I will look at an possible alternative approach to calculating the emissions of the server (data center/hosting) segment in website carbon calculations using the methodology outlined by Cloud Carbon Footprint.

Big Tech is marketing its use of carbon-aware computing as way to cut emissions. without mentioning its limits or its dangers. A deep dive, and a way forward.

Regular readers of Uptime Institute’s annual data center survey, the longest running of its kind, already know that the industry average power usage effectiveness (PUE, a ratio of total site power and IT power) has trended sideways in recent years. Since 2020, it has been stuck in the 1.55 to 1.59 band. Even going back […]