Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered a way to greatly reduce the environmental impacts of cloud computing, according to a university report posted by Tech Xplore.
The report explained that a team of scientists at the university created a systematic way to design and deploy what they referred to as GreenSKUs, or "carbon-efficient server designs that minimize a cloud's overall emissions while promoting its efficiency."
Furthermore, the researchers created a first-of-its-kind framework called GSF that will allow "cloud providers to systematically make informed carbon-efficient SKU design and deployment decisions," per the report. The team tested GSF against Microsoft Azure's production constraints and was able to theoretically reduce the platform's planet-warming pollution by about 10%.
This kind of solution could make a big difference when it comes to the amount of these pollutants making their way into the atmosphere. Information and Communication Technology currently accounts for between 2% and 4% of global carbon pollution and is projected to rise significantly if unchecked, according to the report. Cloud computing is a big part of that due to both its operational and manufacturing impact.
AI platforms like ChatGPT are expected to be a major contributor to this rise in pollution, as they require vast amounts of energy to operate — as the researchers noted.
"The rise of machine learning and large language models like ChatGPT will make it necessary to deploy servers with specialized hardware in the cloud," commented the study's lead researcher Jaylen Wang, a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering, per Tech Xplore.
With that in mind, companies and scientists are looking for ways to reduce this impact. For instance, a project in Germany is building data centers inside wind turbines to make them more sustainable. Plus, Microsoft recently struck a deal that would allow it to utilize nuclear energy to power its data centers (and it's important to note that this energy source is still controversial as a clean energy source due to handling of spent fuel and past nuclear accidents).
Meanwhile, the CMU team took on another environmental issue associated with tech — planned obsolescence, which leads to waste. According to research from Statista, a provider of market and consumer data, about 68 million tons of e-waste were generated globally in 2022. This number is expected to hit around 90 million metric tons in 2030.
According to the Geneva Environment Network, e-waste harms people and the environment, as it is toxic, non-biodegradable, and accumulates in the soil, air, water, and living things. Plus, the planned obsolescence that leads to much of this e-waste causes even more planet-heating pollution because of more frequent production of new tech items.
"In our work we targeted planned obsolescence by reusing decommissioned components in our carbon-efficient server designs," Wang said, per Tech Xplore. "Finding ways to use hardware longer, across computing domains, is something that this work motivates."
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
