Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) promises to be more transformative than any other technology in recent memory, with the power it possesses to give rise to new industries and professions while propelling the global economy toward a new era of prosperity. Demand for data processing is expected to grow exponentially with AI as data is essential to how AI systems learn and make decisions. AI’s ability to turn mountains of data into insights requires compute power, making data centre performance critical to our ability to leverage this transformative technology.
As with any generational technology, there will be challenges – especially the environmental impact of AI due to the energy and data centre resources required to run larger computing models. While organisations seek to embrace the many benefits of AI, they are also keenly aware of making progress toward their sustainability goals. Data centre energy use and emissions would probe serious issues towards high carbon footprint but when approached mindfully, AI infrastructure development and adoption in data centres can provide a path to more sustainable operations.
As experts in data and IT infrastructure, Dell Technologies believes sustainability will be integral to the success of AI technology through an organisation’s commitment to help offset the environmental impact of AI and harness the potential of AI to support climate-related solutions.
While AI requires significant compute power, it currently represents a small fraction of IT’s global energy consumption. To manage AI’s growing carbon footprint, data centre operators must embrace sustainable data centre investments and practices. Data centre energy use remained stable over the last decade (around 1% of global electricity demand according to the International Energy Agency), even with growing technology workloads and traffic. To offset the environmental impact of AI, greater control over data centre energy consumption is increasingly becoming a top priority, and there are tools available to do this:
- Minimise AI’s carbon footprint through modern, energy-efficient servers and storage devices, and environmentally responsible cooling methods, while powering data centres with renewable energy. At Dell, we prioritise running larger data models in our data centres that are powered by 100% renewable energy.
- Right-size AI workloads and data centre economics. While some organisations will benefit from larger general-purpose large language models (LLMs), many organisations only require domain- or enterprise-specific implementations. Right-sizing compute requirements and infrastructure can support greater data centre efficiency. And, flexible “pay as you go” spending models can also help organisations save on data centre costs while supporting sustainable IT infrastructure.
- Responsibly retire inefficient hardware to optimise data centre performance and energy consumption, while reducing e-waste and keeping recycled materials in use longer.
AI solutions to environmental challenges
As sustainable data centres can help to offset AI’s carbon footprint, this technology can also be used to track and analyse massive amounts of data to ultimately address some of our planet’s biggest challenges, such as climate change, pollution and deforestation. For example, Dell is helping Siemens build smarter buildings with AI. Siemens helps customers reduce their buildings’ carbon footprints by leveraging edge and AI technologies to address building performance issues, like optimising HVAC systems, predicting energy demand and identifying energy leaks in real time.
AI can be used to optimise energy grids, design more efficient transportation systems and develop new ways to capture and store carbon dioxide. The University of Cambridge and Dell collaborated to support advanced and sustainable research through AI. By providing powerful, energy-efficient supercomputing to scientists and organisations, the University of Cambridge drives breakthroughs in innovation that rely on AI. This solution not only enables AI to process enormous volumes of data more quickly, but it does so more efficiently, with less power consumed.
Within data centre operations, AI can be used to improve monitoring and workload placement to optimise efficiency and reduce energy costs. There is no “either/or” decisions, rather efficient data centre infrastructure is integral to AI’s evolution. For this to succeed, advocates and organisations must see sustainability as a vital part of AI computing infrastructure. According to IDC, the number one sustainability priority for IT planning and procurement among IT decisionmakers is reducing data centre energy consumption [i]. At the intersection of sustainability and business priorities, AI can support environmental stewardship at the same time it drives digital transformation.
Leading by example
Drawing the narrative closer to home – Malaysia continues to be a preferred choice for data centres in ASEAN. As the data centre market continues to expand in Asia, Malaysia’s data centre market demands continue to be on the rise as the country is expected to receive 2.25 billion USD by 2028. Meanwhile, the nation is determined to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 – driven by a vision of a low-carbon future highlighted by various national policies such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), Hydrogen Economy and Technology Roadmap (HETR) and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2023 (EECA).
Technology has an important role in addressing environmental challenges. Dell aims to move the industry forward both through modernising data centre technology and modelling the “both/and” benefits of sustainable data centres. We have ambitious goals and we also see the immense benefits AI can bring to protecting our planet. While working to offset the environmental impact of AI, we will also innovate to develop solutions that leverage the power of AI to address some of our biggest environmental challenges.
[i] IDC: Which Circularity Criteria Are Driving IT Planning and Procurement?, Doc #US50683123, May 2023
