Book contents
- In Search of Good Energy Policy
- In Search of Good Energy Policy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Multidisciplinary Perspectives
- Part II Cases and Multidisciplinary Responses
- 10 The Ethics of Nuclear Energy: Its Past, Present and Future1
- 11 Fukushima and German Energy Policy 2005–2015/2016
- 12 Rethinking the Environmental State: An Economic History of the Swedish Environmental Kuznets Curve for Carbon
- 13 Fossil Fuel Systems to 100 Per Cent Renewable Energy-Based Smart Energy Systems: Lessons from the Case of Denmark, 1973–2017
- 14 The Politics of Carbon Capture and Storage: How Interests Have Outstripped Economics in Shaping the Evolution of a Technology
- 15 Scaling Clean Energy for Data Centres: Trends, Problems, Solutions
- 16 Public Participation in the Context of Energy Activities: The Role of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee
- 17 Biofuel Energy, Ancestral Time and the Destruction of Borneo: An Ethical Perspective
- 18 From Inspiration to Implementation: Laudato Si’, Public Theology and the Demands of Energy Policy
- Part III Multidisciplinary Cases
- Index
- References
15 - Scaling Clean Energy for Data Centres: Trends, Problems, Solutions
from Part II - Cases and Multidisciplinary Responses
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2019
- In Search of Good Energy Policy
- In Search of Good Energy Policy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Multidisciplinary Perspectives
- Part II Cases and Multidisciplinary Responses
- 10 The Ethics of Nuclear Energy: Its Past, Present and Future1
- 11 Fukushima and German Energy Policy 2005–2015/2016
- 12 Rethinking the Environmental State: An Economic History of the Swedish Environmental Kuznets Curve for Carbon
- 13 Fossil Fuel Systems to 100 Per Cent Renewable Energy-Based Smart Energy Systems: Lessons from the Case of Denmark, 1973–2017
- 14 The Politics of Carbon Capture and Storage: How Interests Have Outstripped Economics in Shaping the Evolution of a Technology
- 15 Scaling Clean Energy for Data Centres: Trends, Problems, Solutions
- 16 Public Participation in the Context of Energy Activities: The Role of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee
- 17 Biofuel Energy, Ancestral Time and the Destruction of Borneo: An Ethical Perspective
- 18 From Inspiration to Implementation: Laudato Si’, Public Theology and the Demands of Energy Policy
- Part III Multidisciplinary Cases
- Index
- References
Summary
As the modular backbone of the technological revolution, data centers are essential. As the infrastructure of the twenty-first century, data centers must align with the challenges of twenty-first-century infrastructure. While data centers are far less power hungry than distributed computing, the technology revolution in the making will choke without a satisfactory solution of clean energy for scaling data centers. Key innovations in predictive intelligence make a world of PUE ratios near one likely. But absolute power draw will continue to grow the footprint of data centers on local power networks and their carbon intensity. Two key factors to overcome the clean energy barrier of scaling data centers are energy optimization via on-site production and intelligent location siting. For humanity to thrive in the digital age, data center infrastructure much be efficient, decarbonized, and resource neutral at scale.
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- In Search of Good Energy Policy , pp. 202 - 223Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019