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India Need Green Computing Infrastructure

Submitted by admin on July 10th, 2024

With renewable energy projected to propel the technology industry, this kind of infrastructure might turn water-scarce cities into water-positive ecosystems.

It is rather obvious that semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing (QC) will shape India’s technological future going forward, especially with the National Democratic Alliance back in control at the Center. But in order to make the three-pronged push toward sustainability work, the nation needs a strong green computing infrastructure (GCI) that utilizes water wisely and saves energy.

3.5-7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from cloud computing, according to Climatiq. It is safe to predict that India’s hi-tech sector would be mostly powered by green energy in the upcoming years given our advancements in renewable energy. However, when it comes to water resources, we have severe obstacles. Two million gallons of water are needed daily on average for washing and rinsing activities in semiconductor fabrication units. Depending on their location, data centers (DCs)—which are essential ecosystems for quality control and artificial intelligence—consume 5–20 million liters of water day on average. The majority of the water resources used by DCs are employed in cooling processes.

In 2020, the average yearly water availability in India was 1,123 billion cubic meters. This equates to 13% of what Brazil, the nation with the greatest concentration of renewable water resources worldwide, has to offer. We have little leeway to pursue water-intensive projects because of our high water consumption levels, unless we launch a huge campaign to recycle and increase freshwater supplies. Bengaluru, the leading IT hub in India, is severely short on water supplies. According to recent reports, there is a serious water issue in the National Capital Region as well.

India’s data center growth

India’s significant effort in the area of digital public infrastructure has largely contributed to the country’s rise as a worldwide hub for data centers. Data centers will be granted “infrastructure” status by the Union Budget in 2022, which is anticipated to create a robust pipeline of long-term funding for this thriving industry. To entice DCs, the governments of many states, including Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra, have offered guaranteed electricity and 24-hour water supply. The need for water and electricity will rise significantly in India’s digital towns as the industry is predicted to develop at a compound annual growth rate of 18% over the next six years.

Data centers that are beneficial for water

Recycled water is used as cooling at Google, Meta, and Microsoft’s hyperscale data centers located in the United States. These organizations have also begun researching the possibility of using air conditioning systems in place of water-based cooling systems. Several “co-location” data centers in the United States have devised intriguing strategies to reduce their freshwater use during operations.

Remarkably, Microsoft and Meta data centers in the US have said that they would be water-positive by 2030. By aiding in the restoration of damaged wetlands in the areas where they operate, they hope to accomplish this. Regular operations in the data center, including patching, monitoring, updating, scheduling, and configuration, may all be handled remotely with the aid of Internet of Things devices that are algorithmically managed. In a similar vein, data center managers may enhance operational monitoring using AI’s assistance.

In 2020, the average yearly water availability in India was 1,123 billion cubic meters. This equates to 13% of what Brazil, the nation with the greatest concentration of renewable water resources worldwide, has to offer. We have little leeway to pursue water-intensive projects because of our high water consumption levels, unless we launch a huge campaign to recycle and increase freshwater supplies. Bengaluru, the leading IT hub in India, is severely short on water supplies. According to recent reports, there is a serious water issue in the National Capital Region as well.

India’s data center growth

India’s significant effort in the area of digital public infrastructure has largely contributed to the country’s rise as a worldwide hub for data centers. Data centers will be granted “infrastructure” status by the Union Budget in 2022, which is anticipated to create a robust pipeline of long-term funding for this thriving industry. To entice DCs, the governments of many states, including Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra, have offered guaranteed electricity and 24-hour water supply. The need for water and electricity will rise significantly in India’s digital towns as the industry is predicted to develop at a compound annual growth rate of 18% over the next six years.

Data centers that are beneficial for water

Recycled water is used as cooling at Google, Meta, and Microsoft’s hyperscale data centers located in the United States. These organizations have also begun researching the possibility of using air conditioning systems in place of water-based cooling systems. Several “co-location” data centers in the United States have devised intriguing strategies to reduce their freshwater use during operations.

Remarkably, Microsoft and Meta data centers in the US have said that they would be water-positive by 2030. By aiding in the restoration of damaged wetlands in the areas where they operate, they hope to accomplish this. Regular operations in the data center, including patching, monitoring, updating, scheduling, and configuration, may all be handled remotely with the aid of Internet of Things devices that are algorithmically managed. In a similar vein, data center managers may enhance operational monitoring using AI’s assistance.

India’s infrastructure for green computing

In addition to encouraging the use of sustainable computing in DCs, AI, and QC units, India’s GCIs must be developed as innovation hubs that evaluate and adjust water consumption technologies to high ambient temperature conditions. The emphasis should be on adapting some technologies—like “closed loop” and “direct chip cooling”—to the climatic circumstances in India. More importantly, GCI units should support the restoration of deteriorated lakes and wetlands in metropolitan areas with low water availability, improving the availability of regional public goods.

Climate necessity

A more basic requirement for establishing a strong GCI in India is the increasing focus on freshwater sustainability in the framework of the climate treaty.

The “Freshwater Challenge,” which was announced at an event organized by the COP28 chair and included 15 ministers, was one of the fascinating byproducts of the Conference of the Parties (COP) 28, which was held in Dubai in December. They joined the six nations—Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Gabon, Mexico, and Zambia—that initiated the effort at the United Nations 2023 Water Conference in New York.

The Freshwater Challenge seeks to preserve freshwater ecosystems by committing 300,000 km of polluted rivers and 350 million hectares of degraded wetlands to restoration by 2030. Following COP28, convention members have prioritized water conservation initiatives in their nationally decided contributions.

Having GCI units in India may be justified more fundamentally by their ability to help turn our high-tech cities into ecosystems that are positively impacted by water.