Microsoft pledges to remove data center diesel backup generators by 2030
Hannah Green · For Microsoft, AI is an ‘unlock’ for decarbonization · Nov 7, 2023 · at 26:20
Hannah Green outlines Microsoft's 2030 climate targets and data center infrastructure plans during an interview with Stephen Lacey.
0:00 / 0:28exact quote · 28.9s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“When we look out to 2030 we are committed to being carbon-free as a company, to removing diesel gensets from as a backup power source to our data centers, which by the way means we need a really, really, really reliable grid globally, like everywhere, and so we got to work with you on that. And then we're also committed to reaching what we call hundred hundred by zero, which is a hundred percent clean energy, a hundred percent of the time, zero carbon.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Hannah Green
Slow software integrations will cause power utilities to miss climate goals
“We were seeing these integrations take five, seven years. And then if every utility kind of goes at the pace we were going at, and then says, well, we're going to build our DERMs over the next five years. I just started adding up the numbers. I was like, we're…”
Utilities have more data than finance or healthcare but use it least
“Utilities have more data than all of our peer industries. We have more data in our segment than healthcare, than finance. They would be jealous of our data sets, and yet we make some of the least use of our data of any industry”
Most utility grid inspections still rely on paper, clipboards, and walking
“In many parts, Of the U.S. And even beyond the U.S. Globally, the most common way that, that we check for just quality of our distribution and transmission and storage systems is still paper, clipboard, and a walk.”
AI is critical for complex distribution grid forecasting as EVs expand
“That is a level and complexity of forecasting that we do not have today in the distribution grid, and AI is going to be a really powerful tool to unlock that.”
AI outcomes in the utility sector require compute close to the data
“Outcomes, business insights, they're a function of compute in close proximity to data. Like, compute in close proximity to data is where you're going to get the results that you're really looking for.”
Utilities must use climate models to avoid building in future wildfire zones
“If you're working on an IRP, you should be looking at a climate model so that you're not building next generation transmission through an area that might be green and wooded today, but in 15 years we expect to be a high threat wildfire zone.”