Google says it has cut its vast data centres’ energy use by 15% by applying artificial intelligence to manage them more efficiently than humans. The servers that power billions of web searches, streamed films and social media accounts are estimated to account for around 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Google is believed to have one of the biggest fleets of them in the world. On Wednesday, Google said it had proved it could cut total energy use at its data centres by 15% by deploying machine learning from Deepmind, the British AI company it bought in 2014 for around £400m. Such centres require significant energy for cooling, as well as constant adjustments to air temperature, pressure and humidity, to run as efficiently as possible.
Guardian 20th July 2016 read more »
A new book analysing energy and environmental law and policy in Europe and the US features contributions by two Centre for Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED) researchers who argue that reducing energy demand will prove more challenging than is commonly assumed and that current policy approaches are insufficient. They argue that a multidisciplinary approach that combines social and technical considerations and emphasises the need for wider changes to energy systems is needed to deliver the transformation required.
Centre for Innovation and Energy Demand 20th July 2016 read more »