Microsoft will reduce its polluting emissions, building wooden AI data center. In reality they will be hybrid buildings that will also use steel and cement, but in smaller quantities. It ensures that this will reduce its manufacturing emissions by up to 65%.
The technology companies They are the richest in the world, and they are also quite polluting, so they are the first that should set an example when it comes to reduce your carbon footprint.
All of them filled their mouths with promises of neutrality in carbon a few years ago, until AI greed has thrown those plans into the trash. They are now building AI data centers by the dozens, increasingly consumed by the needs of artificial intelligence.
Microsoft’s wooden data centers
All big tech companies have increased their emissions in 2023 and 2024 due to AI, and unlikely to meet 2030 carbon neutrality targets.
So we have to look for other ways to reduce the environmental impact. Microsoft is going to try it with the construction of buildings.
Process all steel and cement that is needed to build a data center pollutes a lot, so for the building he is constructing in Virginia (United States), he is going to use fire-resistant cross-laminated wood (CLT).
It is less polluting than cement and steel, but also very resistant and durable.. According to the press release from Microsoft, its hybrid construction (it also uses the previous materials a little) is 35% less polluting than a steel building, and 65% less than a cement building alone.
In addition, Microsoft is working with different leading startups, to reduce the carbon footprint of all these materials.
It has created a Climate Innovation Fund of 1,000 dollars, and has already allocated 761 million to companies like the Swedish Stegrawhich is developing a hydrogen-based steel manufacturing system, which emits water vapor instead of carbon.
Also with CarbonCurewhich injects CO2 into the concrete to remove it from the atmosphere, or Prometheus Materialswhich creates carbon-free cement using microalgae. It will use this cement in the Wood data center in Virginia.
Technology companies are the first to set an example when it comes to achieving carbon neutrality. Microsoft continues to maintain its plans to be carbon neutral in 2030. I hope I get it, but I’m not very optimistic. Not just with Microsoft, but with Google, Meta and the rest.
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Tags: Artificial intelligence, Microsoft, Environment
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