{"id":638718,"date":"2024-09-17T15:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/startups-race-to-curb-data-centre-energy-use-amid-ai-boom\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:00:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:00:05","slug":"startups-race-to-curb-data-centre-energy-use-amid-ai-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/startups-race-to-curb-data-centre-energy-use-amid-ai-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"#Startups race to curb data centre energy use amid AI boom"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a33b12000d24\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a33b12000d24\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/startups-race-to-curb-data-centre-energy-use-amid-ai-boom\/#Immersion_cooling\" >Immersion cooling<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/startups-race-to-curb-data-centre-energy-use-amid-ai-boom\/#Repurposing_data_centre_heat\" >Repurposing data centre heat<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/startups-race-to-curb-data-centre-energy-use-amid-ai-boom\/#Striking_a_balance\" >Striking a balance\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n                            <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Data centres gobble up roughly 2% of global electricity, which <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2024\/02\/harnessing-waste-energy-data-centres\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">translates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to around 1% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Streaming Netflix, storing stuff in the cloud, and meeting up on Zoom are just some of the online activities fuelling machines\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>etite for energy. But perhaps the biggest culprit of all is artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI models require immense amounts of computational power to train and run, particularly for machine learning and deep learning tasks. Consequently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts energy use from data centres will <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iea.org\/reports\/electricity-2024\/executive-summary\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">double<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Either way you slice it, data centre energy use is a looming climate problem. So what can we do about it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"inarticle-wrapper channel-cta\">\n<div class=\"ica-text\">\n<p class=\"ica-text__title\">TNW Conference 2025 &#8211; Back to NDSM on June 19-20, 2025 &#8211; Save the date!<\/p>\n<p>As we wrapped up our incredible 2024 edition, we&#8217;re pleased to announce our return to Amsterdam NDSM in 2025. Registration now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other than pressing pause on digitalisation, there are two key solutions. The first is powering data centres with renewable energy. Tech giants have made lofty claims about cutting emissions from their data centres, but big question marks remain. More on that later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second, and something that a growing number of startups are working on, is extracting the most value from every kilowatt \u2014 aka energy efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Immersion_cooling\"><\/span><b>Immersion cooling<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Big tech companies like Nvidia are investing in more <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/ai\/nvidia-unveils-next-gen-blackwell-gpus-with-25x-lower-costs-and-energy-consumption\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">energy-efficient hardware<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as specialised AI chips designed to reduce power consumption for specific tasks. But, to really tackle data centres\u2019 energy use you have to look at cooling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cooling down servers alone accounts for around 40% of data centre energy use. Startups like Netherlands-based <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asperitas.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asperitas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Spain\u2019s <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/submer.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Submer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and UK-based <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iceotope.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Iceotope<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> believe they have an answer \u2014 throw the servers in water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, it\u2019s not <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">technically<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> water at all, but a non-conductive, dielectric liquid that absorbs the heat from the servers much better than air. The heat is then transferred from the liquid to a cooling system. This method keeps the servers cool without needing fans or air conditioners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1410350 size-full js-lazy\" alt=\"immersion-cooling-submer-data-centre\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/09\/immersion-cooling-submer-data-centre.jpeg\"\/><figcaption>A technician lifts a server out of Submer\u2019s immersion cooling tanks. Credit: Submer<\/figcaption><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1410350 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/09\/immersion-cooling-submer-data-centre.jpeg\" alt=\"immersion-cooling-submer-data-centre\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pure.rug.nl\/ws\/portalfiles\/portal\/896652485\/s42162-023-00269-0.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the University of Groningen, immersion cooling, as it is known, can cut the energy consumption of cooling a data centre in half. Immersion cooling also allows you to stack the servers closer to one another, cutting space requirements by up to two-thirds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barcelona-based Submer, which has raised over $50mn in funding, claims its tech can cut up to <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nordic9.com\/news\/submer-raised-30-million-from-mundi-ventures-norrsken-vc-and-planet-first-partners\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">99% of data centre cooling costs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The startup, and many others, are looking to tap this emerging market that by one <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.researchnester.com\/reports\/immersion-cooling-market\/4896\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">estimate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could swell by 35 times over the next 12 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While startups like Submer are looking to reduce the energy required to cool down data centres, other companies are pursuing ways to put the heat to good use.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Repurposing_data_centre_heat\"><\/span><b>Repurposing data centre heat<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do AI and swimming pools have in common? They both devour huge amounts of energy, of course. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">London-based startup <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deep Green<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has found a clever way to marry the two.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deep Green instals tiny data centres at energy-intensive sites like leisure centre facilities. Its system turns waste heat from the computers into hot water for the site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In return, cold water from the centre is used to cool the cloud servers. The idea is that the host site gets free heating generated by Deep Green\u2019s servers processing data, which in turn gets free cooling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">German startup WINDCores is also looking to localise data centres. But instead of swimming pools, it is putting mini <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/world\/windcores-data-center-wind-turbines-climate-scn-spc-c2e\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">data centres inside wind turbines<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The servers are powered almost exclusively by the wind and transfer data via existing fibre-optic cables. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1410353 size-full js-lazy\" alt=\"windcores-data-centre\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/09\/windcores-data-centre.jpeg\"\/><figcaption>WindCORES is putting data centres about as close to the source of renewable energy as you can get. Credit: WindCORES<\/figcaption><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1410353 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/09\/windcores-data-centre.jpeg\" alt=\"windcores-data-centre\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Norway, a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/greenmountain.no\/land-based-trout-farm-will-use-data-center-waste-heat\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trout farm is being powered by waste heat<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from a nearby data centre, while in Stockholm, Sweden, some <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/stockholmdataparks.com\/2018\/03\/12\/digiplex-data-center-heat-10000-stockholm-households\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10,000 apartments<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> receive heat provided by data centre operator DigiPlex.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of these weird and wonderful solutions will need to scale up fast if they are to make a dent in data centres\u2019 thirst for electricity. In January, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deep Green raised a whopping <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a3200mn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to heat between 100-150 swimming pools across the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But ultimately, we also need to start using computing power more wisely.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI find it particularly disappointing that generative AI is used to search the Internet,\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sasha Luccioni, a world-renowned computer scientist, recently told<\/span> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20240915-ai-is-accelerating-the-climate-crisis-expert-warns\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AFP<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luccioni says that, according to her research, generative AI uses 30 times more energy than a traditional search engine<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Striking_a_balance\"><\/span><b>Striking a balance\u00a0<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In August, Dublin <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rejected Google\u2019s application<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to build a new data centre, citing <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">insufficient capacity in the electricity grid and the lack of significant on-site renewable energy to power the facility. Data centres swallowed up <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cso.ie\/en\/releasesandpublications\/ep\/p-dcmec\/datacentresmeteredelectricityconsumption2023\/keyfindings\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">21% of Ireland\u2019s electricity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> last year<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The decision in Dublin is \u201clikely to be the first of many\u201d that will ultimately force new data centre builds to generate more clean energy either on-site or nearby, said Gary Barton, a research director at data analytics firm GlobalData.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scrutiny over the potential costs of the AI-fuelled data centre boom come amid mounting <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2024\/07\/17\/1095019\/google-amazon-and-the-problem-with-big-techs-climate-claims\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">criticism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that tech giants are overinflating their progress on climate change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A recent <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2024\/sep\/15\/data-center-gas-emissions-tech\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">investigation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Guardian <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>p<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aper found that from 2020 to 2022 the real emissions from the company-owned data centres of Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple were about 662% higher than officially disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Balancing the energy demands of data centres with climate and infrastructure constraints will be \u201ccrucial\u201d for governments and service providers going forward, said<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barton.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the future, putting <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/06\/27\/europe-wants-to-deploy-data-centers-into-space-study-says.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">data centres in space<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or powering them <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.helionenergy.com\/articles\/helion-announces-worlds-first-fusion-ppa-with-microsoft\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">using fusion energy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> might solve some of these problems, but for now making sure data centres (genuinely) run on green power and run more efficiently will be critical to strike this balance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/startups-ai-data-centre-energy-use-big-tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Data centres gobble up roughly 2% of global electricity, which translates to around 1% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0\u00a0 Streaming Netflix, storing stuff in the cloud, and meeting up on Zoom are just some of the online activities fuelling machines\u2019 appetite for energy. But perhaps the biggest culprit of all is artificial intelligence.\u00a0 AI models&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":638719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2024%2F09%2Fstartups-data-centre-energy-efficiency-climate.jpg&signature=92ecb28b9e9cfa4fc530ebab11c803cc","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-638718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}