谷歌的可再生能源计划似乎是什么？

When I first heard about谷歌的最新消息，我认为公司将依赖可再生能源来直接激发其数据中心。我对这种成就感到惊讶，因为数据中心运作了24/7和风，太阳不断使用资源。但事实证明，尚不是案件。谷歌的可再生能源计划只是所有温室气体（温室气体）排放的借口，因为它将与化石燃料一起激励其数据中心。除了深入了解本公告的意义外，我们还要求一些专家对这种趋势权衡以及数据中心所有者正在进行这些趋势的原因。

To provide some background, owners of big data centers like Google had started to rely progressively on renewable sources because data centers require such significant amounts of energy. In 2015, Google consumed 5.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, which is nearly as much electricity as the city of San Francisco used in the same year. Google’s long-term goal is to run on clean, zero-carbon energy full-time, every day of the year. To achieve the 100% renewable energy purchasing goal, Google is currently participating in a number of large-scale deals with renewable producers and partnerships with utility providers such as:

• “直接”可再生于竞争零售市场的可再生零售市场，批发和零售电力市场
• A fixed-floating swap approach, whereby Google buys fixed-price renewables directly from a wind or solar farm and then resells it into the wholesale market at a floating market rate, retiring the associate renewable energy certificates (RECs). It then sells the power back into the same grid from which we later draw power at the consumer level.

“从物理角度来看，这与直接消耗可再生能源一样好。那是因为网格上的电力是可替换的;在一个地方产生的电子不能被引导到网格上的任何特定用户，任何倒入河流的任何水都可以被引导到特定的流。因此，我们购买的可再生能源所在的差异并不大大，只要它在与我们的数据中心相同的网格中，“Google数据中心能源能量和地点战略总监Gary Demasi表示。

But not many people agree with Google’s approach on renewable energy and its description of electricity on a grid as “fungible.” In a blog onHuffington帖子, Ed Kraples, founder and CEO of Anbaric, states, “Essentially, Google is contracting for green energy from places that can never reach its data centers. If it were as simple as Google claims, it would be easy to build a renewable power sector. New York City could execute a massive number of contracts with wind farms in upstate New York because they are on the same grid. “

Basically, Google is promising to buy—on an annual basis—the same amount of megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy as the amount of megawatt-hours of electricity that it consumes for its worldwide operations. This approach will benefit the renewable energy market even though it is still generating the same amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with or without its 100% renewable energy purchasing plan. By purchasing energy from not-yet-constructed generation facilities, Google will promote the advancement of new technologies. In the long term, it also should generate new green power on the grid while spurring economic growth and new employment opportunities.

Why Buy Renewable?

Many are speculating about why the owners of the largest data centers are including renewable energy: Is it because it gives them very good publicity? Or is it because renewable energy is getting cheaper and easily scalable? While renewable energy is becoming cheaper to produce, does it mean we are getting closer to replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy? Dr. Eduard Oró, an energy consultant from Catalonia Institute for Energy Research in Spain, was a speaker at one of the sustainability sessions. He gave us his take on the future of renewable energy and data centers:

“数据中心行业非常传统和专注，因此他们真的集中在他们的业务上，这是提供IT服务。真的很难（我会说不可能）找到任何数据中心操作员/维护，其首要优先级是能效。他们试图覆盖他们的背部，因此他们更喜欢安装另一个冷却器而不是控制和优化整体系统的能量管理系统。你必须思考正常研究所是数据中心咨询组织的全球参考，来自Cat-Sa-Big Machines和柴油发电机。如果您想成为顶级数据中心（获取Tier IV认证），则应安装整天连接的冗余系统，因此无法节能。“

oró继续“从我谦虚地看来，只有大玩家担心在他们的投资组合中实施可再生能源。但它更像是企业社会责任，而不是在数据中心安装现场可再生能源。他们更喜欢在远处的风力涡轮机上投资或与一些电力公司进行绿色协议，而不是从头开始建立净零能量数据中心。

“But I don’t want to be negative,” Oró adds. “There are many initiatives in the private industry and also in governments (in particular the European Commission) to bring more renewables into the data center industry. It would be difficult but we are working on that. For instance, at IREC, we have coordinatedRenewIT，这是一个欧盟资助的项目，旨在传播知识并打破关于在数据中心投资组合中实施可再生能源的技术和行业障碍。“

大规模数据中心有很多原因包括可再生能源，似乎可再生能源将取代化石燃料的那一天越来越接近可再生能源飙升，新技术创新出现和可再生能源补贴增加。如果规范的公用事业提供更好的购买可再生能源的零售选项，许多中小型数据中心将受益。随着需求量的需求，可再生能源将成为可持续和经济实惠的能源。