Little 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 is required for the widespread introduction of any invention. For a breakthrough, only a little time is needed, a little more investment and ... a miracle.
We will talk about how and why the giants of the IT industry unite in “energy coalitions”, and whether artificial intelligence helps save energy.
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/ photo Hartwig HKD CC
20 years - not a random figure, Vaclav Smil, writer, researcher in the field of energy, environment, population, professor at the University of Manitobas, in his book, Creating Twentieth Century , reinforces with real historical examples. 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 become bankrupt. But he did not know that in the XX and XXI centuries his invention would occupy a significant share in the automotive market.
Investments in the energy sector can only be long-term. But not all investors, even the state, are ready for this: for example, in the USA about 5 billion dollars are spent on the development of the energy sector, which is only 10% of the amount spent on research in the field of the defense industry. Therefore, Bill Gates decided to create an Innovative Energy Coalition , which in addition to him includes about 20 billionaires: Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn founder Reed Hoffman, head of Alibaba Group Jack Ma and many others.
The goal of the coalition is to sponsor important scientific discoveries that can change the world for the better. Moreover, its participants are ready to take on possible risks. The solution to the “energy problem” is planned to be carried out in two ways: through the creation of a special fund “Innovative Energy Partners” where members of the coalition will be able to transfer money by investing in individual companies, and through cooperation with universities and creating funds to sponsor research.
Alternative energy sources are used today. However, despite the constant reduction in the cost of renewable energy, 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 only way to provide energy to the whole world. Indeed, in addition to the absence of emissions from the "traditional" renewable energy sources (sun and wind) there is another indisputable plus - water for their cooling is not required.
Experts offer other options for "healing the planet." For example, at MIT, geothermal energy is perfectly suitable 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 advantages: geothermal energy is rather easily converted into electrical energy and does not require a “storage space”.
Unfortunately, not always the energy produced is 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 because he does not pay the bills). And the Council for the Protection of Natural Resources (NRDC) warns that about a quarter of the total energy consumed in a house is consumed by “vampire devices” that can do this even when it is off.
The least costly way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the near future is rational energy consumption, which can be achieved only by choosing the right methods for using it and strictly adhering to them. The world's population is growing and, in order to raise the standard of living in all parts of the world, the world will need even more energy. But this can not prevent to spend it rationally: today there are many technologies aimed at solving the issue. For example, gas turbine combined cycle power plants, smart meters and heat pumps.
As for buildings in general, the foundations for low energy consumption in a building can be laid even at the stage of its construction. If you make an analysis of electricity consumption in advance and invest in a building management system, then you can reduce energy costs by up to 60-80% (although, of course, not all of these initial investments will pay off in the future). Today, in fact, even the construction of a "zero" house, which itself produces as much energy as it consumes (or even consumes less energy than it produces). This is achieved by combining clean energy sources and smart technologies.
Many large IT companies are engaged in caring for the environment today. For example, Google is trying to efficiently use energy, optimizing the work of its data centers. The company managed to reduce energy consumption for cooling servers to 12%, which means that most of the energy consumed by the data center is consumed by the machines themselves, and not by the “service” equipment.
And PUE (power usage effectiviness), the parameter of the energy efficiency of data center functioning, has reached a value of 1.12 over the past 12 months, making Google data centers among the most energy efficient in the world. Considering that the data center's energy consumption can be comparable to the consumption of a small city or a whole district, energy efficiency and economy is one of the pressing issues of IT companies (therefore, coalitioning and joint search for new energy sources are completely non-random initiatives in the IT environment).
Such indicators could not but affect DeepMind, artificial intelligence, managing Google data centers. The artificial neural network regulates almost 120 parameters: the 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 using artificial intelligence reduced the power consumption of data centers by a few percent and increased the energy efficiency of data centers by 15 percent.
Such technology can be used to improve the efficiency of electricity conversion in power plants, reduce water consumption and electricity in industry and increase productivity. Google gives some tips to improve the energy efficiency of data centers, for example, to use the natural 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 a data center in Finland.
Reducing energy consumption — no longer on the scale of a single data center, but within the framework of consumption as a whole — will help transition to cloud technologies. Back in 2013, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published the results of a study, according to which, switching all office workers in the US to cloud servers would reduce IT energy consumption by 87%.
Energy-efficient consumption plays a large role in the development of information technologies: from a pragmatic point of view, it will provide an opportunity to reduce the cost of maintaining data centers, reduce the costs of companies and create a new market for devices that save energy. However, IT, to a certain extent, is also “morally responsible” for the introduction of energy-efficient technologies - after all, 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.
We will talk about how and why the giants of the IT industry unite in “energy coalitions”, and whether artificial intelligence helps save energy.
')
/ photo Hartwig HKD CC
Energy Coalition: Clean Energy Investments
20 years - not a random figure, Vaclav Smil, writer, researcher in the field of energy, environment, population, professor at the University of Manitobas, in his book, Creating Twentieth Century , reinforces with real historical examples. 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 become bankrupt. But he did not know that in the XX and XXI centuries his invention would occupy a significant share in the automotive market.
Investments in the energy sector can only be long-term. But not all investors, even the state, are ready for this: for example, in the USA about 5 billion dollars are spent on the development of the energy sector, which is only 10% of the amount spent on research in the field of the defense industry. Therefore, Bill Gates decided to create an Innovative Energy Coalition , which in addition to him includes about 20 billionaires: Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn founder Reed Hoffman, head of Alibaba Group Jack Ma and many others.
The goal of the coalition is to sponsor important scientific discoveries that can change the world for the better. Moreover, its participants are ready to take on possible risks. The solution to the “energy problem” is planned to be carried out in two ways: through the creation of a special fund “Innovative Energy Partners” where members of the coalition will be able to transfer money by investing in individual companies, and through cooperation with universities and creating funds to sponsor research.
Alternative energy sources are used today. However, despite the constant reduction in the cost of renewable energy, 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 only way to provide energy to the whole world. Indeed, in addition to the absence of emissions from the "traditional" renewable energy sources (sun and wind) there is another indisputable plus - water for their cooling is not required.
Experts offer other options for "healing the planet." For example, at MIT, geothermal energy is perfectly suitable 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 advantages: geothermal energy is rather easily converted into electrical energy and does not require a “storage space”.
Lean technology
Unfortunately, not always the energy produced is 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 because he does not pay the bills). And the Council for the Protection of Natural Resources (NRDC) warns that about a quarter of the total energy consumed in a house is consumed by “vampire devices” that can do this even when it is off.
The least costly way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the near future is rational energy consumption, which can be achieved only by choosing the right methods for using it and strictly adhering to them. The world's population is growing and, in order to raise the standard of living in all parts of the world, the world will need even more energy. But this can not prevent to spend it rationally: today there are many technologies aimed at solving the issue. For example, gas turbine combined cycle power plants, smart meters and heat pumps.
As for buildings in general, the foundations for low energy consumption in a building can be laid even at the stage of its construction. If you make an analysis of electricity consumption in advance and invest in a building management system, then you can reduce energy costs by up to 60-80% (although, of course, not all of these initial investments will pay off in the future). Today, in fact, even the construction of a "zero" house, which itself produces as much energy as it consumes (or even consumes less energy than it produces). This is achieved by combining clean energy sources and smart technologies.
Energy and IT
Many large IT companies are engaged in caring for the environment today. For example, Google is trying to efficiently use energy, optimizing the work of its data centers. The company managed to reduce energy consumption for cooling servers to 12%, which means that most of the energy consumed by the data center is consumed by the machines themselves, and not by the “service” equipment.
And PUE (power usage effectiviness), the parameter of the energy efficiency of data center functioning, has reached a value of 1.12 over the past 12 months, making Google data centers among the most energy efficient in the world. Considering that the data center's energy consumption can be comparable to the consumption of a small city or a whole district, energy efficiency and economy is one of the pressing issues of IT companies (therefore, coalitioning and joint search for new energy sources are completely non-random initiatives in the IT environment).
Such indicators could not but affect DeepMind, artificial intelligence, managing Google data centers. The artificial neural network regulates almost 120 parameters: the 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 using artificial intelligence reduced the power consumption of data centers by a few percent and increased the energy efficiency of data centers by 15 percent.
Such technology can be used to improve the efficiency of electricity conversion in power plants, reduce water consumption and electricity in industry and increase productivity. Google gives some tips to improve the energy efficiency of data centers, for example, to use the natural 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 a data center in Finland.
Reducing energy consumption — no longer on the scale of a single data center, but within the framework of consumption as a whole — will help transition to cloud technologies. Back in 2013, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published the results of a study, according to which, switching all office workers in the US to cloud servers would reduce IT energy consumption by 87%.
Energy-efficient consumption plays a large role in the development of information technologies: from a pragmatic point of view, it will provide an opportunity to reduce the cost of maintaining data centers, reduce the costs of companies and create a new market for devices that save energy. However, IT, to a certain extent, is also “morally responsible” for the introduction of energy-efficient technologies - after all, 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.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/310626/
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