Cleaner Tech
AI Is Exploding Data Center Energy Use. A Google-Created Technique May Help
Data center operators are shifting computing power to locations where the cleanest electrons are, in an effort to reduce tech’s carbon footprint.
A data center in Prineville, Oregon.
Photographer: Meg Roussos/Bloomberg
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Tech giants are racing to ward off a carbon time bomb caused by the massive data centers they're building around the world.
A technique pioneered by Google is gaining currency as more power-hungry artificial intelligence comes online: Using software to hunt for clean electricity in parts of the world with excess sun and wind on the grid, then ramping up data center operations there. Doing so could cut carbon and costs.