新加坡绿色数据中心的必然之选
The curious case of green data centers
由DCD中国授权翻译并在DeepKnowledge公众平台发表
Kevin Wee, Johnson Controls
Kevin Wee is director, data center vertical market (APAC), at Johnson Controls
May 21, 2021
能耗大户数据中心可以做到碳中和甚至负碳吗？看看来自新加坡的观点。
Can energy-guzzling data centers be made carbon neutral, or even net carbon negative? A view from Singapore
May 21, 2021
对我们中的很多人而言，在线访问互联网已经融入我们每日生活。疫情加速了数字化工作和学习的生活方式，也改变了我们与亲朋好友联系和休闲的形式，这种“新常态”今后将持续下去。
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.
我们数字化生活方式无疑将产生更多互联网流量，也改变了数据中心的需求因素。仅从居家工作期间发起的海量视频会议、流媒体服务和每天各种信息沟通应用就能得出结论，2020年每人每秒钟产生1.7M的数据，生成的海量数据在过去两年占全球数据的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.
问题是，我们是否真的考虑过我们日常工作和个人生活中产生和使用的数据，需要耗用和管理的能源该怎样解决吗？
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?
能耗惊人的基础设施
Energy-guzzling facilities
作为互联网的骨干枢纽，数据中心存储、转发、处理和分析各种在线处理业务所需的数据。数据中心也是能耗惊人的基础设施：40%的能源用于全天制冷和提供特定空调环境。据估计，今后数据中心将对应产生全球5%温室气体排放。
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.
与笔记本电脑在高负载下发热多一个道理，数据中心中装有计算设备的服务器机柜在处理更多数据时会产生更多热量，相应需要更高效的制冷方案。在一个全效的数据中心内，服务器每消耗1千瓦电能就需要对应1千瓦电能来制冷。这在现实中是不可能的，因为有不可避免的能源浪费，并不参与计算的电气设备如空调和照明也消耗电能。
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.
与此相反，数据中心能实现碳中和甚至负碳吗？绿色数据中心是不是一个自相矛盾的概念呢？
Against this backdrop, can data centers be carbon neutral, or even net carbon negative? Are green data centers a paradoxical concept?
优化能源的策略
Strategies to optimize energy
数据中心运营方正全力投入节能降耗，实现设施的可持续性和降低成本。其中一种方案是投资安装高能效的冷水机组，实现有竞争力的能效性能和久经考验的可靠性。智慧建筑技术服务商提供了先进的制冷设备，采用低全球暖化潜势（GWP）的制冷剂，通过优化后降低平均年电力能耗达35%。为了走得更远，数据中心服务提供商甚至考虑使用自然冷却冷水机组，通过采用蒸发冷技术实现更高的能效。
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.
利用数字化资源和分析工具也是优化能耗的另一途径。在一个典型的数据中心内，服务器负载一天内波动很大。智能方案将监控能耗模式，为数据中心管理人员赋能，实现资源的优化利用，识别和诊断设备的问题并采取预防性措施进行修复。在有些情况下，智能冷机能够降低66%非计划性和紧急维护的工作。
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.
现在也是时候该变更数据中心运行所需20-22°C低温的惯例了，有证据已经支撑数据中心可运行较在高1-2°C温度环境下，而不以牺牲系统可靠性为代价，这也为冷水机组带来5%能耗的节省。新加坡信息发展局IDA已经推出热带数据中心试点，适应环境温度高达38°C和工作湿度高于90%的极端工况。
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.
不论在哪里，只要可能，就要考虑采用可持续能源为数据中心供能。例如，新加坡已经宣布计划到2025年将太阳能光伏装机容量扩大到当前的4倍，已启动至少2GW峰值光伏容量的工作，这将占新加坡2030年全国能耗的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.
前进之路
The road ahead
新加坡肩负着成为平衡作为国际网络枢纽和致力运营低碳排放数据中心的双重责任。本地数据中心行业将迎来高速增长，而很多基础设施在设计和建筑之初并未顾及可持续性和节能降耗。实际上，数据中心已经占新加坡全国能耗的7%，到2030年将升至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.
新加坡政府已经采取措施全国内鼓励和促进可持续的数据中心，仍有很多提高和改进的空间。开发数据中心的全过程应重新审视，在设计阶段初始就明确能耗总量及能效，不仅到建造完成，而应该一直持续到建筑今后的改造。
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.
新加坡到底应该建什么类型的数据中心呢？数据中心建设方和业主必须面临严峻的问题：他们应该成为解决方案的一部分，还是让问题凸显。
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?
对可持续性的关注，伴随制冷和热管理技术的进步，已经改变了数据中心设计、管理和运维的方式。我们已经看到了前行的方向，这也应该是努力的道路。不然，我们将为使用数据和网络连接的贪得无厌而自毁前程。
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
翻译：
Eric
DKV（Deep Knowledge Volunteer）创始成员
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本文并非官方认可的中文版本，翻译学习参考，不用于任何商业用途，版权归DCD及作者所有，文章内容请以英文原版为准。