Global Data Center Impose a Major Threat to Climate

Who would have ever thought in their wildest imagination that a tribal teenager in Africa in today's day and age would have more advanced technological access to the world than the US presidents in the 1990s? As wild as this thought may sound through the rapidly developing technology and globalization access to information and connectivity is faster and more robust than ever. But as much as these advancements may sound promising and life-changing in a prosperous manner there are severe and haphazard consequences, particularly to the environment.

Research done by Morgan Stanley has shown that the massive rise in data centers to meet user needs can cause 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide gasses to be released into the air, sabotaging all the efforts made by several climate change activities and global protocols in the name of decarbonization fight to save the climate and preserve the world’s natural beauty.

Mega companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are the frontrunners of these data centers to use non-renewable energy methods like coal-produced electricity to run the centers with the aim of expanding their artificial intelligence and computing research and practically applicable outputs. However, when asked about 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide released they commented that they will reduce their emissions from the year 2030.

The study by Morgan Stanley also mentioned that the carbon emission gashed out in the air by these data centers will be equivalent to 40% of the entire US emission per year. However, the expansion of these companies will also bring in massive investment in clean power development programs to run these data centers. Advanced clean energy producing technology such as carbon capture, sequestration technology (CCUS) carbon dioxide removal processors will be a major part of the future to bring greenhouse gas emissions down.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World