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Microsoft builds first datacenters with wood to slash carbon emissions

⁨85⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Joker@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/sustainability/microsoft-builds-first-datacenters-with-wood-to-slash-carbon-emissions/

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Comments

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  • WraithGear@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This odd a pod price to distract. Microsoft has made no effort to lessen their carbon footprint.

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    • brlemworld@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Technically it just makes their carbon footprint even larger

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      • TheFriar@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yeah this is like people who think they’re “saving money” when they go shopping because there’s a sale. You didn’t save money. You spent it. You just might’ve spent more (depending on the store because a lot of them mark things up just to mark them back to full price)

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    • SilverFlame@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I recently had a tour of the Redmond campus. They have multiple geothermal wells for power as well as an air conditioning system that uses almost no energy, it was pretty neat.

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      • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Too bad all that cool stuff is negligible compared to what actually makes a difference

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    • Syd@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not supporting Microsoft, but didn’t they just lease out a nuclear power plant to reduce their carbon emissions?

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      • BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Three Mile Island, and they want to do it to power their AI development. Not move their current servers and infrastructure to the nuclear power grid.

        And the owner of Three Mile Island, who’s working with Microsoft, is trying to get the fed to give him the money needed to get the plant running again. Taxpayer money for Microsoft’s AI project that they’ll reap all the reward from.

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      • potpotato@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Working on reactivating Three Mile Island.

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  • x00z@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Ah yes, greenwashing. Thanks Microsoft.

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  • not_that_guy05@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Slash emissions by using the dead bodies of the source that removes carbon?

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    • gsfraley@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I mean, that’s the mechanism by which carbon is removed. It goes into tree, tree dies or gets cut down taking all the solidified carbon with it, new tree gets planted in its place to repeat the cycle. In fact, the fastest way to scrub carbon with the practice is to farm trees, assuming you do it sustainably.

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      • db2@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You mean sequestered, not removed. It’s one fire away from being back in circulation.

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      • themurphy@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        So the best thing you can do with a tree, is to cut it down and use it as materials, if we want to release as little CO2 as possible?

        And ofc this depends on new trees being planted in its stead.

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    • BombOmOm@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Trees are carbon neutral. They pull the carbon out and sequester it in themselves. When they rot or burn, the carbon is returned.

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  • bebabalula@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Talk about putting lipstick on a pig…

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    • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      No no. Those trees died of natural causes. /s

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      • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Wood is a carbon sink.

        Growing trees and building things out of them is good. Trees are renewable.

        We ought not be cutting down forests for it BUT farmed wood is actually a good building material.

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  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If they really cared about carbon emissions, they would shut down all of their AI crap.

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    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Shut down themselves even better.

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  • CosmoNova@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    What does a datacenter need a huge glass front for? Slashing carbon emissions? Yeah right.

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    • random_character_a@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Maybe it’s meant to let the sun in and save on the heating… in… a buildind that has significant excess of… nevermind.

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  • gencha@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’ve also put wood panels on my car to save the environment. It’s pretty useful.

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  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    LOL they are trying to trick us. Microsoft we see you.

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  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Wood? You mean Fire’s Favourite Food?

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    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Fire suppression systems, and fire prevention mechanisms, are no joke in a data center.

      Plenty of systems that displace oxygen in the room to prevent combustion.

      Many places won’t let you even bring combustable materials into the data center spaces. Receiving department unboxes and puts cardboard right into the baler. Wanna store stuff in your cage? Better be in a tote.

      Also, humidity is strictly controlled to prevent static buildup.

      The most likely place for a fire to break out in a data center would be from battery backup systems. But at the scale that most large facilities have, there is a dedicated battery room, or they use something else for instantaneous load transfer, like flywheels.

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  • Cryan24@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    So lots of heat plus combustible material… That sounds like a winning idea to me.

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    • Blemgo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      If memory serves right, one of Germany’s datacenters went up in flames a few years ago because they had wooden flooring and no adequate fire suppression systems.

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      • aeno@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        It was OVH in France

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  • veeesix@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Woot! Heavy timber construction!

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