In June 2020, Microsoft announced that the company will be Carbon negative by 2030, and by 2050 it will absorb all the Carbon the company has emitted since its start in 1975[1]. Undoubtedly, Azure data centers are the biggest source of Carbon in Microsoft. So, Microsoft must make their business, including the data centers Net Zero by 2030.
Recently, human activities have released an increasing volume of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is the prevalent greenhouse gas and contributes to 76% of global emissions[2]. The burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation and transportation are the primary sources of Carbon Dioxide.
Every organization on the planet contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Net Zero is an initiative to reduce these gas emissions to zero or as close to zero as possible.
An organization could contribute to greenhouse gas emissions either directly or indirectly. Greenhouse gas emitted from equipment owned and controlled by an organization accounts to direct emissions. Indirect gas emissions are from sources owned by other parties but caused by the activities of the particular organization.
For example, a company operating its diesel generator is causing direct greenhouse gas emissions. When that company buys electricity from the national grid powered by diesel, it causes indirect emissions.
Greenhouse gases have made our planet habitable by maintaining a favorable temperature for humans and many other species. But, the growing levels of greenhouse gases can lead to dire effects.
In the short term, it can result in respiratory diseases and an increase in the global temperature. In the long run, greenhouse gases can cause more complex problems such as changes in weather patterns, increased sea levels, disruption of food chains, etc. Therefore, the increase in greenhouse gas could threaten the existence of all plants and animals on the planet.
According to our knowledge, this world is the only habitable known planet. So, it’s the responsibility of every organization and individual to keep it livable for a long time in the future. Net Zero is a great goal that every organization must strive to achieve to ensure their contribution to this responsibility.
Almost all organizations cause direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, achieving Net Zero as an individual goal is not practical. A company must work together with the other companies in their supply chain to accomplish Net Zero as a collective goal to eliminate all indirect emissions.
Carbon neutrality is not the same as Net Zero, but achieving carbon neutrality could be considered a preliminary goal for Net Zero.
An organization can be Carbon neutral by compensating for its carbon emissions via other channels. Many companies invest in reforestation projects, forest preservations, and renewable energy projects to become Carbon neutral. However, these endeavors do not reduce the carbon emission caused by a particular organization, and it attempts to minimize the impact of carbon emission by absorbing Carbon via other mechanisms.
While carbon neutrality could create some positive effects, it is not sustainable in the long run. According to research, 40% of the emitted Carbon remains in the atmosphere even after 100 years [3].
Recent growth in cloud computing has increased the capacity and the number of data centers throughout the globe. The servers, storage, and networking hardware in data centers consume electricity in their operation. Also, data centers need to maintain ambient temperature for this hardware which requires more electricity for cooling.
This electricity is mainly sourced from the country’s national grid where the data center operates. Therefore, the central portion of greenhouse gas emissions from data centers are indirect emissions caused by electricity generation.
Data centers worldwide are consuming 200 TWh/year, about 1% of global power consumption as of 2018[4]. Electricity and heat account for about 31% of global greenhouse gas emissions[2]. With approximately 32,500 Million metric tons of Carbon Dioxide being released into the atmosphere in 2018, we can estimate that the data centers have been responsible for about 100 Million metric tons of that.
This is a considerable volume. So, companies operating data center businesses are responsible for investing in becoming Net Zero.
According to Microsoft’s Net Zero goals, the Azure data centers also must be Net Zero by 2030. Many improvements in server hardware and cooling technologies have recently reduced the power demand in data centers; however, they are still not enough to achieve Net Zero.
Therefore, Microsoft works on many novel approaches to make their data centers more energy efficient.
Liquid immersion cooling uses a dielectric liquid to absorb and dissipate heat from microchips in servers.
Microchips are responsible for most of the heat generated in data centers. Traditionally, data centers have been using air circulation-based cooling mechanisms to dissipate the heat generated by computing hardware.
However, with the advances in the microchip industry, more capable chips are being continuously released to the market. Air cooling is not adequate or efficient enough to cool some of these advanced chips, which can dissipate much heat.
Liquid immersion cooling is more energy efficient and suitable for cooling such microchips. Therefore, liquid immersion cooling can reduce power consumption and enable Azure to achieve its Net Zero goals.
Grid interactive UPS batteries can ease the demand on the national grid caused by data centers by providing microbursts of electric supply to the data center or the grid based on load.
Data centers use diesel-powered generators to maintain uninterrupted electricity supply during outages in the primary grid. The data centers could burn a considerable diesel annually in some areas if there were prolonged power outages.
If a clean power source such as a hydrogen fuel cell can be used instead of a diesel generator, it could eliminate this carbon emission.
Net Zero is a collective goal, and every organization, irrespective of its size, must try to achieve it. However, small businesses operating their own data centers have very little leverage to act on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their data centers. They cannot invest in high-tech energy-optimizing technologies because they operate their data centers with a limited budget.
On the other hand, hyperscalers like Azure can continue to invest in such technologies and make their data centers Net Zero. Since Azure has already committed to its Net Zero plans, a small businesses can achieve Net Zero for their computing workloads by moving all their workloads to Azure and using on-premise data centers only for essential requirements.
A company may incur certain additional costs to achieve Net Zero goals. However, it could bring many benefits in return.
Since Net Zero is a global goal, many countries offer tax benefits for businesses that have plans to become Net Zero. Small businesses can be entitled to these benefits by starting initiatives to use Azure for their computing needs.
Investors who care about long-term sustainability would like to invest in companies that have Net Zero initiatives. Therefore, small businesses can increase their opportunity of getting investors by being Net Zero
Small businesses can use Net Zero to promote their brands. Net Zero could improve the brand’s emotional value as consumers may feel less guilty about the environmental impact when they buy products from a Net Zero company. It can give a small business an edge over the larger competitors. Also, a Net Zero business can build a loyal customer base around its brand by promoting the value of Net Zero.
Net Zero is a challenging goal for a small business. However, a business can use this challenge positively by motivating employees to work towards a worthy cause – the long-term sustainability of our planet. It will provoke them to take action not just for their company but for the whole world.
Contrary to popular belief, the power demand for data centers is not growing exponentially, and it has remained flat while the cloud computing industry has been growing exponentially. However, since data centers are contributing to a considerable volume of greenhouse gas emissions, it’s the responsibility of the data center operators to work towards a Net Zero goal.
Microsoft is attempting to go further by setting a goal to be Carbon negative. Small businesses using Azure can be a part of this goal. It’s impractical for a small enterprise to achieve Net Zero while operating its data centers. Instead, it can rely on Azure to accomplish that goal, ensuring its business’s long-term sustainability.
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