Hoosain Mohamed Sameer, Paul Babu Sena, Kass Susanna, Ramakrishna Seeram
Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Stanford University, Stanford, CA USA.
Circ Econ Sustain. 2023;3(1):173-197. doi: 10.1007/s43615-022-00191-9. Epub 2022 Jul 1.
We are living in an age when data centers are expanding, require abundant spaces, and are an integral part in the urban communities, using massive amounts of environmental resources, and remains in the foreseeable future as the primary driver of the global energy consumption. This demand is disruptive and at times of both peril and opportunity due to impacts such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which is altering the demand of digital infrastructure around the world. With the global call for zero carbon emissions, there needs to be solutions put in place for the de-carbonization of data centers. New innovations are made available, which will have an economic, social, and environmental impact on data centers. Concepts such as circular economy and fourth industrial revolution technologies are useful procedural tools that can be used to systematically analyze data centers, control their mining and critical raw materials, can be utilized in the transition towards a sustainable and circular data center, by objectively assessing the environmental and economic impacts, and evaluating alternative options. In this paper, we will look at the current research and practice, the impact on the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, and look at future strides being taken towards more sustainable and circular data centers. We had discovered that decreasing the environmental effect and energy consumption of data centers is not sufficient. When it comes to data center architecture, both embodied and operational emissions are critical. Data centers also have a vital societal role in our daily lives, enabling us to share data and freely communicate via social media, transacting on the blockchain with cryptocurrencies, free online education, and job creation. As a result, sustainability and efficiency measures have expanded in a variety of ways, including circularity and its associated tools, as well as newer technologies.
我们生活在一个数据中心不断扩张的时代，数据中心需要大量空间，是城市社区不可或缺的一部分，消耗大量环境资源，并且在可预见的未来仍将是全球能源消耗的主要驱动力。这种需求具有颠覆性，并且由于诸如新冠疫情等影响而处于危险与机遇并存的时期，新冠疫情正在改变全球对数字基础设施的需求。随着全球对零碳排放的呼吁，需要为数据中心的脱碳制定解决方案。新的创新成果不断涌现，这将对数据中心产生经济、社会和环境影响。循环经济和第四次工业革命技术等概念是有用的程序工具，可用于系统地分析数据中心，控制其挖掘和关键原材料，通过客观评估环境和经济影响并评估替代方案，可在向可持续和循环数据中心的转型中加以利用。在本文中，我们将审视当前的研究与实践、对联合国可持续发展目标的影响，并展望朝着更可持续和循环的数据中心迈进的未来步伐。我们发现，降低数据中心的环境影响和能源消耗是不够的。就数据中心架构而言，内含排放和运营排放都至关重要。数据中心在我们的日常生活中也发挥着至关重要的社会作用，使我们能够通过社交媒体共享数据并自由交流，使用加密货币在区块链上进行交易，享受免费在线教育以及创造就业机会。因此，可持续性和效率措施已通过多种方式得到扩展，包括循环性及其相关工具，以及更新的技术。
