A bit about energy technology and IT

    Attempts to find an alternative source of energy do not stop, but the energy sector, unlike IT, has a specific feature: at least 20 years are required for the widespread introduction of an invention. A breakthrough requires only a little time, a little more investment and ... a miracle.

    We will talk about how and why the giants of the IT industry are united in “energy coalitions”, and whether artificial intelligence helps to save on energy. / photo Hartwig HKD CC





    Energy Coalition: Investing in Clean Energy


    20 years is not an accidental figure, Vaclav Smil, writer, researcher in the field of energy, environment, population, professor at the University of Manitoba, reinforces it in real historical examples in his book Creating Twentieth Century . For example, Rudolf Diesel committed suicide in 1913, about 20 years after the invention of the diesel engine, because he thought that his company would soon go bankrupt. But he did not know that in the 20th and 21st centuries, his invention would occupy a significant share in the automotive market.

    Investments in the energy sector can only be long-term. But far from all investors, even the state, are ready for this: for example, in the USA it is spent on the development of the energy sectorabout 5 billion dollars, which is only 10% of the amount spent on research in the defense industry. Therefore, Bill Gates decided to create an Innovative Energy Coalition , which in addition to it includes about 20 billionaires: Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Jack Ma, head of the Alibaba Group and many others.

    The goal of the coalition is to sponsor important scientific discoveries that can change the world for the better. At the same time, its participants are ready to take on possible risks. It is planned to solve the “energy problem” in two ways: through the creation of a special fund, Innovative Energy Partners, where coalition members can transfer money by investing in individual companies, and through cooperation with universities and the creation of funds to sponsor research.

    Alternative energy sources are used today. However, despite the constant cost reduction of renewable energy sources, the use of solar panels and windmills is not possible everywhere. But there is another opinion: Hermann Scheer, President of the European Association for the Development of Renewable Resources EUROSOLAR, I am sure this is the onlythe opportunity to provide energy to the whole world. Indeed, in addition to the lack of emissions, “traditional” renewable energy sources (sun and wind) have another indisputable plus - water for their cooling is not required.

    Experts offer other options for "healing the planet." For example, MIT believes that geothermal energy is perfect for this role, since its use also does not affect the environment and is not accompanied by emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. There are other pluses: geothermal energy is easily converted into electrical energy and does not require a "storage space".

    Lean technology


    Unfortunately, the energy that has already been generated is not always used efficiently, and the human factor is often to blame: indifference, ignorance, lack of funds, and the so-called “agent” problem (when, for example, the landlord does not buy an energy-saving refrigerator due to the fact that it’s not he who pays the bills). And the Council for the Protection of Natural Resources (NRDC) warns that about a quarter of all energy consumed in the house is consumed by “vampire devices” that can do this even when turned off.

    The most low-cost way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the near future is a rational energy consumption, which can be achieved only by choosing the methods of its use correctly and strictly adhering to them. World population is growing and the world will need even more energy to raise living standards in all corners of the planet. But this cannot prevent it from being spent rationally: today there are many technologies aimed at resolving the issue. For example, combined cycle gas turbine power plants, smart meters and heat pumps.

    As for the buildings as a whole, it is possible to lay the foundations for low energy consumption in the room at the stage of its construction. If you analyze energy consumption in advance and invest in the building management system, you can reduce energy costs by up to 60-80% (although, of course, not all such initial investments can pay off in the future). Today it’s even possible to build a “zero” house, which itself produces as much energy as it consumes (or even consumes less energy than it produces). This is achieved through a combination of clean energy sources and smart technologies.

    Energy and IT


    Today, many large IT companies are also taking care of the environment. For example, Google is trying to efficiently use energy by optimizing the operation of its data centers. The company managed to reduce the energy consumption for cooling servers to 12%, which means that most of the energy that the data center consumes is consumed by the machines themselves, and not by the “maintenance” equipment.

    And PUE (power usage effectiviness), a data center energy efficiency parameter, has reached 1.12 over the past 12 months, making Google data centers one of the most energy-efficient in the world. Considering that the energy consumption of the data center can be compared with the consumption of a small city or the whole district, energy efficiency and saving are one of the pressing issues of IT companies (therefore, coalitioning and joint search for new energy sources are completely random initiatives in the IT environment).

    Such indicators could not but be affected by DeepMind, the artificial intelligence that controls Google data centers. An artificial neural network regulates almost 120 parameters: power consumption of servers and various equipment, the operation of the cooling system, and can even open and close windows. Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, said that the use of artificial intelligence has reduced the energy consumption of data centers by several percent and increased the energy efficiency of data centers by 15 percent.

    Such technology can be used to improve the efficiency of power conversion in power plants, reduce water and electricity consumption in industry, and increase productivity. Google gives some tips on improving the energy efficiency of data centers, for example, use free cooling of servers, because most of the energy often goes to these needs. The company itself, for example, uses the cold waters of the Gulf of Finland to cool the data center in Finland.

    The transition to cloud technologies will help reduce energy consumption - not on the scale of a single data center, but within the framework of consumption as a whole. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory back in 2013 published a study according to which, moving all office workers in the United States in the "cloud" server allow to reduce energy consumption in the IT sector by 87%.

    Energy-efficient consumption plays a large role in the development of information technology: from a pragmatic point of view, it will make it possible to reduce the cost of servicing data centers, reduce company costs and create a new market for devices that save energy. However, to a certain extent, IT also has a “moral responsibility” for introducing energy-efficient technologies - because with the growing popularity of electronic devices and the transition to the “digital era”, our energy needs will only increase.

    PS Additional reading: Our IaaS digest - 30 materials on the applicability of cloud technologies.

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