cloud computing

A giant solar project for Google

November 21, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

One of the largest solar projects in the US has recently come online in Texas. Three solar farms built side-by-side in Buckholts, Texas by SB Energy can provide 875 megawatts of electricity, nearly the size of a typical nuclear power plant. The project will supply the largest solar energy purchase ever made by Google and the electricity generated will be used to power its new operations in the area. Google will use about 85% of the project’s solar power for data centers in Ellis County and for cloud computing in the Dallas Region.

In total, Google has contracted with clean energy developers to bring more than 2,800 megawatts of new wind and solar projects to Texas. Google expects to spend $16 billion through 2040 to purchase clean energy for its global operations.

According to the International Energy Agency, data centers’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026, which is more than double the amount used in 2022. One terawatt-hour is enough energy to power 70,000 homes for a year. So, it is not surprising that large technology companies are investing heavily in energy technologies.

Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all recently announced investments in nuclear energy to power data centers. These companies all have made commitments to seek sources of carbon-free electricity to power their data centers and their increasing efforts in artificial intelligence. Because of the rise of artificial intelligence, the large companies are not meeting their commitments to reduce their carbon emissions and are needing to greatly increase their efforts to obtain clean power.

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One of the largest solar projects in the US opens in Texas, backed by Google

Photo, posted March 27, 2016, courtesy of Ben Nuttall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Saving Energy At Data Centers | Earth Wise

February 17, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A data center is a building, dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and data storage systems. Data centers are the backbone of internet services and cloud computing, which together are increasingly dominant elements of modern life.

Energy use is a central issue for data centers. Power used by them ranges from a few kilowatts for a rack of servers in a closet at a local business to several tens of megawatts for large facilities. Some data centers have power densities more than 100 times that of a typical office building and use as much electricity as several thousand homes. For such facilities, electricity costs are a dominant operating expense and account for over 10% of the total cost of ownership of a data center.These centers, with their numerous racks of computer servers, consume 90 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year in the United States, as much as all of our residences use for lighting.

A research group at Princeton University is developing a family of devices that can dramatically reduce power consumption at data centers. The team’s technology focuses on the process by which the AC power from the grid is converted to the low-voltage direct current used by computer equipment. With existing technology, this power conversion takes place in each individual computer, which ends up wasting about 40% of the original energy. The new device aggregates power conversion into a single unit, which then distributes the power to the individual computers and storage units.

As data centers get bigger and more numerous, the opportunity to save a lot of energy becomes increasingly important.

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New technology boosts energy eﬃciency in data centers

Photo, posted June 8, 2007, courtesy of Sean Ellis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bird Migration And Climate Change | Earth Wise

January 22, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A new study of bird migration shows the migration patterns are shifting as a result of climate change. Researchers at Colorado State University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, looked at the impacts of climate change on a continental scale.

The team looked at the nocturnal migratory behaviors of hundreds of species representing billions of birds using radar and other data. They found that spring migrants are likely to pass certain stops earlier now than they would have 20 years ago. Temperature and migration timing are closely aligned and the greatest changes in migration timing are occurring in regions warming most rapidly. During the fall, shifts in migration were less apparent.

Migratory birds play an important role in ecosystems. They consume insects, disperse seeds, and perform various other significant functions. Birds serve as critical metrics of the health of ecosystems.

Bird migration is a global phenomenon that can provide unique visibility into changes in the climate. The ability to look at it on a global scale has only recently become practical as a result of big data technology and cloud computing. The team was able to crunch the numbers for the study in 48 hours, a task that previously would have taken over a year of continuous computing.

The findings have implications for understanding future patterns of bird migration because birds depend on food and other resources as they travel. As the climate changes, the timing of blooming vegetation or the emergence of insects may end up out of sync with the passage of migratory birds. This could have negative consequences for the health of migratory birds.

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Bird migration timing skewed by climate, new research finds

Photo, posted November 5, 2019, courtesy of Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.