新加坡綠色數據中心的必然之選
The curious case of green data centers
由DCD中國授權翻譯並在DeepKnowledge公衆平台發表
Kevin Wee, Johnson Controls
Kevin Wee is director, data center vertical market (APAC), at Johnson Controls
May 21, 2021
能耗大戶數據中心可以做到碳中和甚至負碳嗎？看看來自新加坡的觀點。
Can energy-guzzling data centers be made carbon neutral, or even net carbon negative? A view from Singapore
May 21, 2021
對我們中的很多人而言，在線訪問互聯網已經融入我們每日生活。疫情加速了數字化工作和學習的生活方式，也改變了我們與親朋好友聯系和休閑的形式，這種“新常態”今後將持續下去。
For many of us, online access has become ingrained in our daily lives. The pandemic has accelerated the move to a digital lifestyle of working, studying, connecting with loved ones and relaxing — and the “new normal” looks set to stay for the foreseeable future.
我們數字化生活方式無疑將産生更多互聯網流量，也改變了數據中心的需求因素。僅從居家工作期間發起的海量視頻會議、流媒體服務和每天各種信息溝通應用就能得出結論，2020年每人每秒鍾産生1.7M的數據，生成的海量數據在過去兩年占全球數據的90%。
Our digital lifestyle has undoubtedly resulted in higher Internet traffic and shifted the demand dynamics for data centers. Just consider the volume of video calls, streaming services and multiple messaging applications in use during a day when working from home. It’s no wonder that some 1.7MB of data was created every second by every person during 2020, and that a whopping 90 percent of the world’s data was created in the last two years alone.
問題是，我們是否真的考慮過我們日常工作和個人生活中産生和使用的數據，需要耗用和管理的能源該怎樣解決嗎？
Have we considered the energy needed to capture and manage the deluge of data we’re generating and consuming in our business dealings and private lives?
能耗驚人的基礎設施
Energy-guzzling facilities
作爲互聯網的骨幹樞紐，數據中心存儲、轉發、處理和分析各種在線處理業務所需的數據。數據中心也是能耗驚人的基礎設施：40%的能源用于全天制冷和提供特定空調環境。據估計，今後數據中心將對應産生全球5%溫室氣體排放。
As the backbone of the Internet, data centers store, move, process and analyze the data needed to power any online service. A data center is also an energy-guzzling facility: with nearly 40 percent of energy going to its cooling systems to maintain a temperature-controlled environment, round the clock. Estimates further suggest that data centers account for up to 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
與筆記本電腦在高負載下發熱多一個道理，數據中心中裝有計算設備的服務器機櫃在處理更多數據時會産生更多熱量，相應需要更高效的制冷方案。在一個全效的數據中心內，服務器每消耗1千瓦電能就需要對應1千瓦電能來制冷。這在現實中是不可能的，因爲有不可避免的能源浪費，並不參與計算的電氣設備如空調和照明也消耗電能。
Just as your laptop heats up with heavy usage, server racks housing computing equipment in a data center emit heat when handling more data, thereby needing an efficient cooling solution. A fully efficient data center is one that requires one kilowatt of energy to cool the servers for every kilowatt of power used by these servers. That is not possible in reality due to the inevitable energy wastage and non-computing electrical installations including air-conditioning and lightings.
與此相反，數據中心能實現碳中和甚至負碳嗎？綠色數據中心是不是一個自相矛盾的概念呢？
Against this backdrop, can data centers be carbon neutral, or even net carbon negative? Are green data centers a paradoxical concept?
優化能源的策略
Strategies to optimize energy
數據中心運營方正全力投入節能降耗，實現設施的可持續性和降低成本。其中一種方案是投資安裝高能效的冷水機組，實現有競爭力的能效性能和久經考驗的可靠性。智慧建築技術服務商提供了先進的制冷設備，采用低全球暖化潛勢（GWP）的制冷劑，通過優化後降低平均年電力能耗達35%。爲了走得更遠，數據中心服務提供商甚至考慮使用自然冷卻冷水機組，通過采用蒸發冷技術實現更高的能效。
Data center operators are working to drive down energy consumption to advance sustainability in their facilities and decrease costs. One way is to invest in energy-efficient commercial chiller equipment that offers competitive energy performance and proven reliability. Smart buildings technology providers offer advanced chiller equipment, which uses low-global warming potential refrigerant and is optimized to reduce average annual electricity consumption by 35 percent. To push the envelope further, data center providers could even consider harnessing free-cooling chiller solutions, which include evaporative cooling technologies for even better energy efficiency.
利用數字化資源和分析工具也是優化能耗的另一途徑。在一個典型的數據中心內，服務器負載一天內波動很大。智能方案將監控能耗模式，爲數據中心管理人員賦能，實現資源的優化利用，識別和診斷設備的問題並采取預防性措施進行修複。在有些情況下，智能冷機能夠降低66%非計劃性和緊急維護的工作。
Using digital resources and analytics is another way to optimize energy usage. In a typical data center, the servers’ load will vary throughout the day. A smart solution to monitor the energy consumption patterns allows data center managers to configure the optimal use of their resources, as well as to identify and diagnose equipment problems and take proactive steps to fix them. In some cases, smart chillers can reduce unplanned and emergency repairs by as much as 66 percent.
現在也是時候該變更數據中心運行所需20-22°C低溫的慣例了，有證據已經支撐數據中心可運行較在高1-2°C溫度環境下，而不以犧牲系統可靠性爲代價，這也爲冷水機組帶來5%能耗的節省。新加坡信息發展局IDA已經推出熱帶數據中心試點，適應環境溫度高達38°C和工作濕度高于90%的極端工況。
It’s also time to challenge the convention of operating data centers at low temperatures of 20 to 22°C. Evidence supports the running of data centers hotter than they currently are (by 1 or 2 degrees C) without any significant sacrifices in system reliability — and reap up to 5 percent savings in power consumption for chillers. Even Singapore’s IDA has conducted a tropical data center trial in which environmental temperatures were tested to a high of 38°C and ambient humidity at 90 percent or more.
不論在哪裏，只要可能，就要考慮采用可持續能源爲數據中心供能。例如，新加坡已經宣布計劃到2025年將太陽能光伏裝機容量擴大到當前的4倍，已啓動至少2GW峰值光伏容量的工作，這將占新加坡2030年全國能耗的3%。
Sustainable energy sources should be considered to power data centers, wherever possible. Singapore, for instance, has announced plans to quadruple its solar deployment by 2025, and working towards deploying at least 2 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of solar, which is about 3 percent of the country’s total projected energy consumption, by 2030.
前進之路
The road ahead
新加坡肩負著成爲平衡作爲國際網絡樞紐和致力運營低碳排放數據中心的雙重責任。本地數據中心行業將迎來高速增長，而很多基礎設施在設計和建築之初並未顧及可持續性和節能降耗。實際上，數據中心已經占新加坡全國能耗的7%，到2030年將升至12%。
Singapore has a tricky job to balance being an international hub while juggling to have data centers with low emissions. The local data center industry is expected to experience robust growth, but most of the facilities were designed and constructed without sustainability and energy conservation in mind. In fact, data centers account for 7 percent of the country’s total energy consumption, and could potentially increase to 12 percent by 2030.
新加坡政府已經采取措施全國內鼓勵和促進可持續的數據中心，仍有很多提高和改進的空間。開發數據中心的全過程應重新審視，在設計階段初始就明確能耗總量及能效，不僅到建造完成，而應該一直持續到建築今後的改造。
The government has taken steps to incentivize and promote sustainable data centers in the nation, but more can be done. The whole process of developing data centers needs to be reconsidered — starting with power usage and efficiency needs at the design stage, and not towards the completion of the build, or when it’s time to retrofit the building.
新加坡到底應該建什麽類型的數據中心呢？數據中心建設方和業主必須面臨嚴峻的問題：他們應該成爲解決方案的一部分，還是讓問題凸顯。
What type of data centers do we want to see being built in Singapore? Data center builders and owners have to face a tough question: Will they be part of the solution, or will they exacerbate the problem?
對可持續性的關注，伴隨制冷和熱管理技術的進步，已經改變了數據中心設計、管理和運維的方式。我們已經看到了前行的方向，這也應該是努力的道路。不然，我們將爲使用數據和網絡連接的貪得無厭而自毀前程。
Sustainability concerns, coupled with advances in cooling and heat management technology, have shifted the way data centers are being designed, managed and maintained. We’re seeing some headway in that direction — and that should be the way forward. Otherwise, we’ll be sacrificing our future to fulfill our insatiable need for data consumption and connectivity.
DeepKnowledge
翻譯：
Eric
DKV（Deep Knowledge Volunteer）創始成員
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