This article originally appeared in Light Reading.
Power effectivity is a part of the answer to cut back emissions from information facilities, nevertheless it’s not sufficient in and of itself. That was a message echoed by Hannah Brier, senior sustainable transformation technologist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), throughout the firm’s current occasion in London.
Whereas the problem of information middle vitality use has been round for years now, it’s being exacerbated by the AI increase, based on Brier.
“When you concentrate on your infrastructure and you concentrate on your information facilities, immediately, you have bought elevated energy density. So, that rack that you’ve in these information facilities, there’s extra compute energy occurring in there, which additionally means there’s going to be extra warmth generated as effectively,” she stated.
That is related for the telecommunications business, which has not eschewed the AI hype. Certainly, fairly the alternative is true, judging by current business occasions the place generative AI (GenAI) has been a outstanding subject. But, many telcos now have their very own emissions targets to consider.
AI is very emissions intensive, as a consequence of each coaching the fashions and utilizing them. For instance, Google’s 2024 environmental report confirmed its emissions have risen by a whopping 48% since 2019, due primarily to AI. Maybe much more worryingly, the corporate notes decreasing emissions shall be tough due to the vitality wanted to energy “the higher depth of AI compute, and the emissions related to the anticipated will increase in our technical infrastructure funding.”
Along with cryptocurrencies, AI is a part of the explanation why vitality use from information facilities might double by 2026, based on the Worldwide Power Company (IEA). On the identical time, some international locations have began to limit new information facilities due to issues over their influence on the grid.
Too A lot Information?
Throughout her presentation, Brier highlighted HPE’s method to information middle sustainability, which incorporates vitality effectivity however goes past it to areas like software program. Right here, she famous, tweaks could be made to decrease vitality consumption.
{Hardware} effectivity is one other issue. Usually corporations have extra tools than they want, which suggests some is unused. This not solely goes towards sustainability rules, but additionally drives up prices.
In the meantime, Brier additionally acknowledged that generally AI is not the best resolution to an issue. She stated that whereas there’s quite a lot of hype round AI in the meanwhile, it will not clear up each downside.
Some telcos have made related observations. For instance, Orange’s chief AI officer, Steve Jarrett, informed Mild Studying earlier this yr that the operator is seeking to different options the place relevant. “You do not need to use the massive language mannequin sledge hammer to hit each nail,” he stated.
Sue Preston, vice chairman, WW advisory {and professional} providers for HPE international gross sales, in the meantime added that not all AI is made equal, noting that there are predictive algorithms which have been used for years with out inflicting important vitality issues.
When corporations do prepare AI, they typically accumulate extra information “for a wet day,” with out a clear objective, Brier stated. This echoes a recent report from Omdia (a sister firm of Mild Studying), created in partnership with NTT Information and Web App, which discovered that round 60% of the information corporations retailer goes unused.
Earlier this yr, Rika Nakazawa, group vice chairman for related business and head of sustainability for Americas at NTT DATA, informed Mild Studying {that a} potential resolution is tagging information to point an expiration date.
Proper-sizing the dataset can also be essential relating to coaching AI, based on Brier. “If you’re your datasets it’s worthwhile to be sure that they’re adequately sized earlier than you prepare the mannequin,” she stated.
Making Information Facilities Cool
That’s not to say vitality effectivity doesn’t matter. The vitality used to energy computing is roughly equal to that wanted for cooling, based on the IEA. Right here, Brier stated, HPE is working to cut back the influence by utilizing liquid cooling, which is extra vitality environment friendly and was initially developed by HPE for its supercomputers.
HPE can also be taking this a step additional in its lately introduced partnership with Danfoss to reuse the warmth generated by information facilities.
The collaboration began with a modular information middle constructed by HPE for Danfoss when it grew to become a buyer of HPE’s GreenLake cloud platform, Preston stated throughout the occasion. The tools was built-in to warmth buildings within the firm’s property.
In June, each corporations introduced a collaboration pairing HPE’s modular information facilities with Danfoss’ warmth reuse expertise. They now need to work with joint prospects to deploy the answer, Preston stated, concentrating on use instances together with greenhouses, agriculture and district heating.
It is value noting that this concept is not utterly new. Firms are utilizing related approaches to warmth something from houses to swimming swimming pools, and even to farm eels.
Regardless of all these efforts, nevertheless, no predictions counsel that the carbon footprint related to information facilities and AI will go down anytime quickly.
