我們可以讓互聯(lián)網(wǎng)不那么耗電嗎？

Can we make the internet less power-thirsty?

By Michael Dempsey

沒有數(shù)據(jù)中心就沒有互聯(lián)網(wǎng)

There is no internet without data centres

我們每天在做的很多事情都會和數(shù)據(jù)中心有著千絲萬縷的聯(lián)系。如網(wǎng)上購物、視頻娛樂及閱讀這篇文章，它們都涉及到數(shù)據(jù)被存儲并隨時可以使用。

So much of what we do every day involves a data centre. Shopping online, streaming TV shows, reading this story - they all need data to be stored and readily available.

這些服務(wù)器的及時性和便利性對用戶使用非常友好，但這也需要相應(yīng)付出代價。 

The immediacy and convenience of those services is great, but that comes at a cost.

數(shù)據(jù)中心的運轉(zhuǎn)需要大量的電力來維持，一個大型數(shù)據(jù)中心設(shè)施的用電量約等于一個中型城鎮(zhèn)所需的電力。

Data centres need huge amounts of electricity to keep them going - a large facility will use as much electricity as a medium sized town.

這種情況在愛爾蘭尤其明顯，在那里，相對較小的電力網(wǎng)絡(luò)維持著日益增長的數(shù)據(jù)中心設(shè)施。

The situation is particularly acute in Ireland, where a relatively small electricity grid is hosting a ballooning number of data centres.

都柏林有超過20家數(shù)據(jù)中心，微軟和亞馬遜均在都柏林建立大型數(shù)據(jù)中心。

More than 20 of these are in Dublin where Microsoft and Amazon have built very large sites.

據(jù)能源顧問Baringa稱，愛爾蘭全國目前總共有75個數(shù)據(jù)中心，另外超過11個數(shù)據(jù)中心正在建設(shè)當中。預(yù)測到2029年，這些數(shù)據(jù)中心用電量將達到占全國耗電量的27%。

Altogether the nation hosts 75 data centres with 11 more under construction and, according to energy consultants Baringa, they could take up 27% of the national electricity output by 2029.

這種令人擔憂的電力需求迫使愛爾蘭政府采取行動?？沙掷m(xù)性是現(xiàn)在批準新數(shù)據(jù)中心開發(fā)的先決條件，政府表示“新建數(shù)據(jù)中心必須能夠靈活的降低電力消耗”。

That alarming demand for electricity has forced the Irish government to take action.Sustainability is now a pre-condition of approval for new data centres with the government stating that 'new-build data centres must be able to flexibly reduce power consumption'.

對于亞馬遜、微軟以及其它科技巨頭來說，愛爾蘭是重要的節(jié)點中心

Ireland is an important hub for Amazon, Microsoft and other tech giants

相應(yīng)的技術(shù)正在被研發(fā)運用，期待用于降低數(shù)據(jù)中心對電網(wǎng)的壓力。

Technology is being deployed in the hope of making data centres less of a burden on the power grid.

一個開設(shè)在都柏林郊區(qū)的格蘭奇堡（Grange Castle）新的數(shù)據(jù)中心設(shè)施，通過伊頓公司與能源巨頭Enel聯(lián)合開發(fā)的軟件進行管理，連接到電網(wǎng)。

A new facility, opened at Grange Castle on the outskirts of Dublin, has its connection to the electricity grid managed by software from the firm Eaton in conjunction with energy giant Enel.

如果電網(wǎng)受到壓力，數(shù)據(jù)中心的電力將被切斷，同時備份系統(tǒng)將立即啟動。

If the wider electricity grid is under stress, the electricity to the data centre is shut off and back-up systems immediately kick-in.

所有數(shù)據(jù)中心都有完善的備用系統(tǒng)，在停電狀況下都能保持設(shè)施的正常運行。

All data centres operate sophisticated stand-by systems that keep them running in case of any electricity outage.

備用系統(tǒng)的第一道防線是不間斷電源（UPS）設(shè)備，這是一種非常成熟有效的電池備用系統(tǒng)，可以在電源中斷的瞬間，馬上啟動并運行足夠的時間，以便柴油發(fā)電機啟動或主電源恢復(fù)。

The first line of this defence is Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) devices. These are effectively sophisticated batteries that cut right in the split second they're needed and run for enough time to allow a diesel generator to kick in or for mains power to be restored.

在格蘭奇堡，當電網(wǎng)的電頻率（以赫茲為單位）波動時，表明電網(wǎng)處于壓力狀態(tài)，伊頓的UPS會進行干預(yù)并補充電網(wǎng)的電力。

At Grange Castle, Eaton's UPS intervenes and frees up power on the grid when the grid's electrical frequency, measured in hertz, fluctuates in a way that indicates it is under stress.

當電力來自不穩(wěn)定的發(fā)電源，這種狀況可能會發(fā)生，例如愛爾蘭大型風(fēng)電場。

This might be when power from unstable sources, such as Ireland's vast wind farms, dips.

數(shù)據(jù)中心國際專家培訓(xùn)

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許多數(shù)據(jù)中心已經(jīng)在使用施耐德電氣（Schneider Electric）和Vertiv等公司的成熟技術(shù)，預(yù)期在一定的時間內(nèi)降低了對電網(wǎng)需求。

Many data centres already remove demand from the grid for a pre-defined period using established technology from companies such as Schneider Electric and Vertiv.

但目前在格蘭奇堡的情況，被認為是數(shù)據(jù)中心和國家電網(wǎng)之間首次建立起實時、動態(tài)的連接。

But the Grange Castle arrangement is claimed to be the first time a live, dynamic relationship has been established between a data centre and a national grid.

Ciaran Forde表示他的公司提供的系統(tǒng)服務(wù)可以幫助緩解電網(wǎng)的壓力

Ciaran Forde says his company's system can help relieve pressure on the electricity grid

來自伊頓的Ciaran Forde是一位專門研究數(shù)據(jù)中心的物理學(xué)家。他說，伊頓的系統(tǒng)就像一個壓力閥，釋放數(shù)據(jù)中心對于電網(wǎng)的壓力，是對電網(wǎng)有益的。 

Ciaran Forde from Eaton is a physicist who specialises in data centres. He says Eaton's system acts like a pressure valve pulling the data centre off the grid for valuable interludes.

愛爾蘭電網(wǎng)運營商為數(shù)據(jù)中心提供了這種便捷性。

The owners of the data centre get paid for this flexibility by the Irish grid operator.

來自Uptime Institute（認證數(shù)據(jù)中心的彈性和可靠性的專業(yè)機構(gòu)）的Jay Dietrich表示，營收可能是數(shù)據(jù)中心業(yè)主希望靈活的主要原因。

Jay Dietrich, from the Uptime Institute which certifies data centres for resilience and reliability, says that income is probably the primary reason that data centre owners are keen to be flexible.

Mr Dietrich說，“他們這樣做不是出于任何崇高的理由，只是為了現(xiàn)金流和收入?！保霸贗BM從事能源政策和氣候變化方面的工作。

'They're not doing this for noble reasons. They are doing it for cash flow and revenue,' says Mr Dietrich, whose career has involved working on energy policy and climate change at IBM.

愛爾蘭是這樣的全球問題的一個縮影。

Ireland provides a snapshot of a global problem.

2022年7月，大倫敦區(qū)主管部門致信西部房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商，提醒他們的新開發(fā)項目在接入電網(wǎng)這件事情上，可能會面臨漫長的等待。

In July 2022 London's governing body, the Greater London Authority, wrote to housing developers in the west of the capital warning they could face prolonged waits before new developments could be connected to the grid.

盡管倫敦面臨住房短缺，新的住宅項目仍可能會面臨十年的延期。因為泰晤士河區(qū)域的數(shù)據(jù)中心的電力需求，使得電網(wǎng)無法為倫敦不斷增長的人口提供電力保障。

Despite a housing shortage across London, new residential projects could face a delay of a decade because data centres in the Thames Valley were hoovering up electrical capacity leaving the gird unable to guarantee power for London's growing population.

數(shù)據(jù)中心包括數(shù)千臺服務(wù)器設(shè)備來接收、儲存和發(fā)送信息

Data centres house thousands of servers - devices that receive, store and send data

我們是怎么走到今天這一步的？來自伊頓的Forde先生表示，這是由于云計算產(chǎn)業(yè)的爆炸性增長，這一趨勢促使許多公司將其大部分數(shù)據(jù)存儲和處理業(yè)務(wù)外包給亞馬遜和微軟等第三方公司。他指出，使用“云”這個詞匯其實具有高度誤導(dǎo)性，因為它其實是“非常實體的設(shè)施”。 

How did we get here? Eaton's Mr Forde says it is really down to the explosive growth of cloud computing - the trend which has seen companies outsource much of their data storage and processing to third-party firms like Amazon and Microsoft.He points out that using the term 'cloud' is highly misleading, as it is 'a very physical thing'.

云不漂浮在大氣中，它由計算機服務(wù)器組成，而且對電力有著極大的需求。

The cloud does not float in the atmosphere, it consists of computer servers with a vast appetite for electricity.

愛爾蘭目前的狀況，對于環(huán)境和電網(wǎng)的擔憂，已經(jīng)引發(fā)了一場挽救數(shù)據(jù)中心行業(yè)聲譽的競賽。

The Irish example highlights how a combination of environmental concerns and worries about capacity in the grid have triggered a race to save the reputation of the data centre industry.

新的技術(shù)方案正在研發(fā)中。

New technology fixes are being developed.

在意大利北部靠近瑞士邊境的Brunello小鎮(zhèn)，數(shù)據(jù)管理機構(gòu)Pure Storage正在通過削減比特、字節(jié)和一些垃圾信息，對數(shù)據(jù)中心進行數(shù)據(jù)優(yōu)化。

At Brunello, a town near the Swiss border in Northern Italy, data management business Pure Storage is putting a data centre on a digital diet by trimming bits and bytes and junking surplus information.

Brunello存儲設(shè)備使用的軟件，當信息被不必要地復(fù)制時，這些信息會被識別并被刪除。這個審核和刪除過程抑制了數(shù)據(jù)的膨脹。

Storage devices at Brunello use software that spots when information is duplicated unnecessarily and deletes that material. This process of perpetual review and removal restrains ballooning volumes of data.

對于IT部門來說，這聽起來像是一個普通平淡的工作，但這項工作正在應(yīng)對數(shù)據(jù)中心行業(yè)目前最大的敵人。它正在降低數(shù)據(jù)中心對電力的可怕的需求。Pure公司聲稱它可以削減數(shù)據(jù)中心80%的電力使用。

It sounds like a mundane job for the IT department, but this program is tackling the data centre industry's biggest enemy head-on. It is reducing the horrific appetite for electric power that characterises all data centres. Pure claims it can slice as much as 80% off a data centre's power usage.

Pure公司的James Petter說，數(shù)據(jù)中心公司在關(guān)注如何減少電力消耗

Data centre firms are focused on reducing electricity consumption, says James Petter from Pure

Pure公司的執(zhí)行官James Petter是通過英國陸軍和可口可樂業(yè)務(wù)進入這一技術(shù)領(lǐng)域的，他直面這一電力消耗問題，并意識到這一問題非常的重要。 

Pure executive James Petter, who came to technology via the British Army and Coca-Cola, takes a blunt approach to the problem of power consumption and has no illusions about how important this is.

我們的設(shè)備設(shè)計都是圍繞著低功耗這一原則。目前我們從潛在數(shù)據(jù)中心客戶那里得到的所有需求信息都是關(guān)于能源消耗的。 

'We design our equipment around the principle of lowering power use. And right now all the requests we get from prospective data centre customers are about power consumption.

“他們過去總是先問技術(shù)和價格，但現(xiàn)在碳排放和可再生能源方面才是最重要的。關(guān)于碳排放，每個人都在關(guān)注?！?/span>

'They used to ask about technology and price first, but today carbon emissions and renewables are what count. It's all about carbon footprints, everyone's on the bandwagon.'

他表示在過去兩年中，能源消耗問題已經(jīng)成為首席執(zhí)行官的主要議程。在利雅得的演講中，他描述了他在沙特阿拉伯采訪的最后三家數(shù)據(jù)中心服務(wù)商都對其碳排放感到擔憂。

He says that this trend has taken off in the past two years as energy consumption rose to dominate 'the CEO agenda'. Speaking from Riyadh he describes how the last three data centre providers he spoke to in Saudi Arabia were all deeply concerned about their carbon footprint.

Petter先生不愿意承認，我們可以存儲的數(shù)據(jù)量可能是有限制的?！昂暧^趨勢是隨著數(shù)據(jù)的增加，我認為會有新的創(chuàng)新，會有新的數(shù)據(jù)存儲方式。”

Mr Petter is reluctant to concede that there might be a limit to how much data we can store. 'The macro trend is for data to increase. I do think innovation will continue, there will be new ways of storing the data.'

對我們在云端存儲的照片數(shù)量進行限制，不符合科技行業(yè)的商業(yè)利益。

It's not in the technology industry's commercial interest to impose limits on how many photos we all store in the cloud.

但是如果數(shù)據(jù)中心想要獲得規(guī)劃許可并取得公眾的認可，它們就必須關(guān)注如何有創(chuàng)新性的舉措來減少其巨大的電力消耗。

But if data centres want to win planning permission and maintain public approval they will have to concentrate on imaginative moves that slash their enormous power consumption.

翻譯：

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Global Switch 項目開發(fā)

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王謀銳

城地香江(上海)云計算有限公司  電氣架構(gòu)師

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