TRENDING electricity they require isn’ t sustainable without change. To increase generation, key considerations include:
Firstly, can the electricity providers supply more power from their grid connections? Second, can more backup coverage be installed to provide resilience, and what fuel / generator does this come from? Third, can more cooling be added to extract the additional heat which will be generated and is there enough power for this as well?
Where do we go from here?
While individuals need to take responsibility for their own energy use, business and government have a vital role to play. This includes controlling usage, legislating for change and investing in long-term solutions.
Additional broad considerations include:
• Society: Consumers want change – look at the explosion in electric car usage. However, to convert the whole planet to use electric vehicles, we need 10-100X today’ s electrical power. That’ s simply not possible today.
• The Grid: manufacturing, food production and industrial capabilities are all dependent on fossil fuels. These need to be reinvented from the start.
• Supply: There are already countries where load shedding, brown-outs and regions where no more power can be provided. This needs to be better controlled.
• Material: In 2022, 2.8B tonnes of metals were mined. 2.6B tonnes of that is iron, 69M tonnes is aluminium. 10-100X the current copper amount( 22M tonnes) needs to be mined for new grids and general electrification.
What can the IT industry do?
The whole IT industry has had a pass in recent years. That must change.
Tech leaders need to embrace and champion different ways of doing things – get in front of governments and policy makers to redesign, revise and remodel for more energy efficient technology. Some considerations:
• Sustainability: report power consumption and embedded carbon( CO 2
E) at a device and fleet level. Focus on and use the most energyefficient technologies. Build a circular economy to re-use equipment.
• Invest in innovation:
• Try new things, embrace alternatives.
• Look at the state-of-the-art components for compute, network, storage, and cooling.
• Consider how software like enhanced compression and dedupe algorithms impact overall usage.
• Examine new technologies like ceramic data storage.
Alex McMullan, CTO International at Pure Storage
• Short term solution for powering energy needs: Small modular reactors will help alleviate energy demands. They are, in context of the industry, fairly’ simple to stand up and run and can be online in a few years( instead of a few decades).
• Moderate: ensure the outcome is worth it – don’ t say yes to every AI project.
Exponential improvements
Pure Storage launched its first product – a 5TB system more than 10 years ago. Since then, the single system capability has increased by a factor of 1,200 + to 6PB.
The product is now physically smaller and requires less power despite( currently) being 1,200x larger capacity. If cars had improved at the same rate since 2013, today we would be able to drive around the earth in around ten minutes on a single tank of fuel.
There needs to be massive change in electricity; data centres; networking; the grid – they’ re all connected and all need to be updated.
The data boom may have been the catalyst that highlights the need to upgrade. But it will not stop or slow down. Consumer and business demand has reached such a pitch, that it’ s obvious this industry is only growing.
The only way to meet these needs is to invest in innovation, embrace change and be sensible with the resources available. �
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