数据中心可持续发展的趋势

最近，运输业的碳足迹已经盖过了建筑环境的环境影响——特斯拉，说的就是你。而随着电信行业越来越关注绿色环保，特别是在涉及数据中心的可持续性时，这种趋势可能正在发生变化。

Specifically, hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are leading the way in renewable energy projects to support their data center operations. More on that later.

具体而言，诸如亚马逊网络服务（AWS）和微软等超大型企业正在引领可再生能源项目，以支持旗下数据中心的运营。

**The state of data center sustAInability**

In a warming world, the good news is that data center energy consumption has remained relatively flat over the past few years, hovering at around 1% to 1.5%, and "almost flat compared to the global energy consumption," says Moises Levy, Ph.D., a senior principal analyst at Omdia. He leads data center power and cooling research and is part of the group's cloud and data center research practice.

Omdia高级首席分析师Moises Levy博士表示，“在一个变暖的世界里，好消息是，数据中心的能源消耗在过去几年里保持相对平稳，徘徊在1%到1.5%左右，与全球能源消耗相比几乎持平。”Levy是数据中心电力和冷却研究的领头人，并参与该团队的云和数据中心研究工作。

However, with more organizations reliant on cloud Applications and services, data centers are tasked with balancing workload demand with energy efficiency.

不过，越来越多的组织现在依赖云应用和服务，数据中心的任务是在工作负载需求和能源效率之间取得平衡。

"This fear of runaway data center growth is not a new fear," says Lucas Beran, principal analyst at Dell'Oro Group, who notes that the US Department of Energy released a study in the early 2000s warning about the potential environmental impact of data centers if they did not become more efficient.

Dell'Oro集团的首席分析师Lucas Beran表示，“这种对数据中心增长失控的担忧并不是一种新的担忧。”他指出，美国能源部在上世纪初发布过一项研究报告，报告警告说如果不能令数据中心更加有效率就可能对环境产生影响。

"Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building," according to the Department of Energy.

据美国能源部称，“数据中心是能源最密集的建筑类型之一，每层楼的能耗是典型商业办公楼的10至50倍。”

Liquid cooling, more efficient IT equipment, smart and connected equipment, and green building standards are some of the ways data centers are becoming more environmentally friendly, according to Levy.

Levy表示，液体冷却、更高效的IT设备、智能和联网设备以及绿色建筑标准等等是令数据中心更加环保的一些方式。

Liquid cooling is particularly important in the sustainability discussion because thermal management can consume nearly 40% of a data center's energy use, Beran says. Free cooling is also an option in colder climates – what Nordic countries lack in natural resources, they're making up for in tapping renewable energy and lower temperatures to support sustainable data centers.

Beran表示，液体冷却在可持续性讨论中特别重要，因为热管理可以消耗数据中心近40%的能源使用。在寒冷的气候条件下，自由冷却也是一种选择——北欧国家在自然资源一些方面有不足之处，他们现在利用可再生能源和较低的温度来支持可持续的数据中心，弥补不足。

Levy points to intelligent monitoring and "AI-enabled analytics" as additional ways to reduce data centers' carbon footprint.

Levy指出，智能监控和“人工智能分析”是减少数据中心碳足迹的其他方法。

Telecom's move to software and the emphasis on virtualization and containerization of data centers have largely absorbed potential energy growth, according to Beran, who analyzes data center physical infrastructure for Dell'Oro.

Beran为Dell'Oro公司分析数据中心的物理基础设施。他表示，电信现在向软件迁移，加上业界对数据中心虚拟化和容器化的重视，这在很大程度上吸收了潜在的能源增长。

**Data centers making a change**

Data center companies are also looking for ways to safely reduce their cooling temperatures and rely more on renewable energy sources to deliver on their sustainability goals. For example, last December, data center infrastructure company Equinix committed to increasing the operating temperature ranges within over 240 of its data centers, which it said would improve its energy efficiency by 10%.

数据中心公司也在寻找安全地降低其冷却温度的方法，并更多地依靠可再生能源，达到实现其可持续发展的目标。例如，去年12月，数据中心基础设施公司Equinix承诺会提高旗下二百四十多个数据中心内的工作温度范围，Equinix称这样做将使其能源效率提高10%。

"Given the volatility in the energy marketplace today, any actions we take to improve energy efficiency in the data center should help with our customers’ cost efficiencies," Equinix tells Light Reading.

Equinix告诉记者，“鉴于当今能源市场的波动性，我们为提高数据中心的能源效率而采取的任何行动都应该有助于我们客户的成本效益。”

Equinix plans to run the data centers at 27°C (80°F) versus the historical operating temperature range at around 23°C (73°F). Currently, several facilities operate closer to 25°C (77°F) without issue, according to the company.

Equinix计划在27°C（80°F）的温度下运行这些数据中心，以前的运行温度范围约为23°C（73°F）。据Equinix称，目前，有几个设施在接近25°C（77°F）的温度下运行，没有出现问题。

In addition, Startup ECL emerged from stealth mode last month with million in seed funding to support what it claims will be the first hydrogen-powered, off-grid data center.

其他消息，Startup ECL公司上个月结束隐身模式并募得700万美元的种子资金，用于支持该公司所声称的第一个氢动力、离网数据中心。