【Podcast】Greener Data Center: Flexibility and Renewables

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🎙️Episode 105

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Greener Data Centers: 

Flexibility and Renewables 

Data centers are having an increasing effect on the environment and climate due to their rapidly rising energy consumption. In 2018, data centers already accounted for 1% of global energy consumption. Depending on efficiency gains and growth of the computing industry, some studies project that data centers may make up 3-13% of the global energy consumption by 2030. 

In today’s episode of the Environment China podcast, host Anders Hove hosts a special talk with Ye Ruiqi (Angel) of Greenpeace East Asia, Prof Zhang Sufang of North China Electric Power University, and Katerina Simou of the German Energy Agency (dena) about the topic of data centers. In this episode, experts not only talked about how data center operators are trying to go green, but also the related topic of flexibility.

Data center flexibility is potentially important because it enables data centers to modulate their load to better meet the needs of the grid, which in turn would enable greater uptake of renewable energy such as wind and solar. Since data centers in China are now considered one of the energy-intensive industries subject to the Dual Control policies - which limit energy consumption and energy intensity of production - data centers are already facing pressure to become more efficient. In the future, China's carbon neutrality policies will undoubtedly push data centers to adopt renewable energy to support their growing energy loads - which, in turn, will require more flexible operations.

绿色数据中心

提高灵活性和可再生能源利用

随着数据中心的能源消费量迅速上升，目前该领域的能耗已对环境和气候产生越来越大的影响。2018年，数据中心已经占到了全球能源消耗的1%。基于效率提升和信息技术行业的增长，一些研究预测，到2030年，数据中心可能占全球能源消耗的3-13%。

在环境中国近日的播客节目中，主持人Anders Hove与绿色和平组织东亚区的叶睿琪（Angel）、华北电力大学的张素芳教授和德国能源署（dena）的Katerina Simou就数据中心能源利用的灵活性提升这一议题进行了一场专家对谈。在这期节目中，专家们不仅谈到了数据中心运营商如何努力实现绿色发展，而且还谈到了与之相关的灵活性议题。

数据中心的灵活性具有潜在的重要性，因为它使数据中心能够调节负荷，更好地满足电网的需求，这反过来又能使风能和太阳能等可再生能源得到更多有效利用。由于中国的数据中心目前是能耗双控政策约束的重点用能产业之一，数据中心已经面临着提高效率的压力。在未来，碳中和这一政策目标无疑将推动中国数据中心采用可再生能源来支持其不断增长的能源负荷需求—— 这反过来又需要系统更高的灵活性。

/朝左滑查看中文翻译/

Sino-German Cooperation on

Green Data Centres  

In this podcast, Anders and his guests discuss their joint research of data center flexibility in China and Europe. The research project was performed under the Sino-German Energy Transition Project, which is implemented by GIZ in China on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), in partnership with the China National Energy Administration (NEA), and German and Chinese implementation partners including the report's lead author, dena. 

The research includes interviews with industry experts and companies on topics such as time-shifting of data and cooling loads, real-time geographic shifting of loads, the pros and cons of relocating data centers to colder climates for greater cooling efficiency, and using on-site energy storage to participate in power markets. They also discuss whether the many obstacles data center operators currently see to becoming more flexible are likely to be overcome - and what policies would help.

中德能源合作

推动数据中心绿色转型

在今天的节目中，Anders同另外几位专家讨论了他们目前正在开展的中国和欧洲数据中心灵活性联合研究。该项研究项目在中德能源转型项目下框架下进行的，项目受德国联邦经济事务和气候行动部（BMWK）委托，在中国国家能源局的支持下，由德国国际合作机构（GIZ）以及受GIZ委托撰写本报告的德国能源署在内的多家中德能源智库和研究机构共同合作实施。

此项数据中心灵活性提升研究包括对行业专家和企业的采访，议题包括数据和冷却负荷的时间转移、负荷的实时地理转移、为提高冷却效率而将数据中心迁往寒冷气候的利弊，以及利用现场储能参与电力市场等。他们还讨论了数据中心运营商目前在灵活性提升方面的许多障碍是否有可能被克服——以及哪些政策会有所帮助。

Further reads on the topic / 拓展阅读：

“China 5G and Data Center Carbon Emissions Outlook 2035” Greenpeace East Asia, 2021, at https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/6608/electricity-consumption-from-chinas-digital-sector-on-track-to-increase/.

“Clean Cloud 2021” Greenpeace East Asia, 2021,at https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-eastasia-stateless/2021/04/03a3ce1a-clean-cloud-english-briefing.pdf.

更多中德能源转型项目相关内容

简介

中德能源转型研究项目

中德能源转型研究项目受德国联邦经济和气候保护部(BMWK)委托，在中国国家能源局的支持下，致力于在中德两国在低碳能源政策的深入交流合作。项目结合德国能源转型的优秀实践经验及遇到的问题和挑战，为中国能源领域的政治决策者和能源政策研究相关的智库提供政策领域的参考建议，并积极将中国在能源转型领域取得的成绩介绍给包括德国在内的国际社会利益攸关方。项目在中国国家能源局和德国联邦经济和气候保护部（BMWK）的指导和支持下，由德国国际合作机构(GIZ)牵头实施。电力规划设计总院是该项目的中方牵头实施单位。

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下载项目宣传册

The Sino-German Energy Transition Project supports the exchange between Chinese government think tanks and German research institutions to strengthen the Sino-German scientific exchange on the energy transition and share German energy transition experiences with a Chinese audience. The project aims to promote a low-carbon-oriented energy policy and help to build a more effective, low-carbon energy system in China through international cooperation and mutual benefit policy research and modeling. The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) in the framework of the Sino-German Energy Partnership, the central platform for energy policy dialogue between Germany and China on national level. From the Chinese side, the National Energy Administration (NEA) supports the overall steering. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH leads the project implementation in cooperation with the German Energy Agency (dena) and Agora Energiewende.

「Environment China」环境中国

Environment China is a bilingual podcast featuring conversations with advocates, entrepreneurs, and experts working in the sustainability field in China for both Chinese and international audiences. So far we have released 105 episodes already. You can listen to them on Environment China's website, BEN's WeChat Account, or Google/Apple/Spotify Podcast.

「环境中国」是北京能源网络2017年成立的中英双语播客栏目，至今已发布105集。在每一期节目中，我们将邀请到中外环保领域的倡导人士、创新创业者以及行业专家与大家分享他们的独到见解、创新策略和解决方案。您可在环境中国官网，BEN公众号，和谷歌/苹果/Spotify播客收听到我们的节目。

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