"China data centres set to consume more power than Australia: report"
From TechXplore:
China's data centres –- the backbone of the country's fast-growing
digital economy—are on track to guzzle more electricity by 2023 than all
of Australia last year, said a Greenpeace report published Monday.
While China leads the world in renewable energy capacity, data centres in the country remain dependent on coal.
Nearly three-quarters of the electricity used by data centres was
sourced from coal in 2018, according to research by Greenpeace East Asia
and the North China Electric Power University—emitting 99 million
tonnes of carbon emissions.
By 2023, that number could jump to 163 million tonnes.
The appetite for data storage and transmission in China has skyrocketed in recent years, with 800 million online users and a booming tech industry churning out photos, videos, and online transactions.
"While China's data centre industry has made significant improvements
in terms of energy efficiency, the industry's massive carbon footprint
is proof that much more action is needed," said Ye Ruiqi, climate and
energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.
Currently, Chinese data centres lack awareness of their "responsibility to respond to climate change", she told AFP.
According to the Greenpeace report, electricity consumption from
China's data centre industry is projected to increase by 66 percent over
the next five years.
By 2023, the industry will exceed Australia's total electricity consumption in 2018, the report said.
But by boosting the intake of renewable energy from its current 23
percent to 30 percent, Chinese tech companies could save roughly the
equivalent of 10 million round-trip transatlantic flights in carbon
emissions, according to Greenpeace East Asia.
Ambitious targets
China is not alone in grappling with surging demand for instant
access to online data, and data centres expend large amounts of
electricity to keep servers running and cool.
Microsoft has a data centre submerged off northern Scotland, where the sea offers cooling for free....
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