Ah yes, greenwashing. Thanks Microsoft.
Microsoft builds first datacenters with wood to slash carbon emissions
Submitted 5 months ago by Joker@sh.itjust.works to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
x00z@lemmy.world 5 months ago
not_that_guy05@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Slash emissions by using the dead bodies of the source that removes carbon?
gsfraley@lemmy.world 5 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.
db2@lemmy.world 5 months ago
You mean sequestered, not removed. It’s one fire away from being back in circulation.
themurphy@lemmy.ml 5 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.
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 5 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.
bebabalula@feddit.dk 5 months ago
Talk about putting lipstick on a pig…
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 5 months ago
No no. Those trees died of natural causes. /s
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 5 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.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 5 months ago
If they really cared about carbon emissions, they would shut down all of their AI crap.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Shut down themselves even better.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 5 months ago
What does a datacenter need a huge glass front for? Slashing carbon emissions? Yeah right.
random_character_a@lemmy.world 5 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.
gencha@lemm.ee 5 months ago
I’ve also put wood panels on my car to save the environment. It’s pretty useful.
MyOpinion@lemm.ee 5 months ago
LOL they are trying to trick us. Microsoft we see you.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Wood? You mean Fire’s Favourite Food?
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 5 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.
Cryan24@lemmy.world 5 months ago
So lots of heat plus combustible material… That sounds like a winning idea to me.
Blemgo@lemmy.world 5 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.
veeesix@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Woot! Heavy timber construction!
WraithGear@lemmy.world 5 months ago
This odd a pod price to distract. Microsoft has made no effort to lessen their carbon footprint.
brlemworld@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Technically it just makes their carbon footprint even larger
TheFriar@lemm.ee 5 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)
SilverFlame@lemmy.world 5 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.
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 months ago
Too bad all that cool stuff is negligible compared to what actually makes a difference
Syd@lemm.ee 5 months ago
Not supporting Microsoft, but didn’t they just lease out a nuclear power plant to reduce their carbon emissions?
BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world 5 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.
potpotato@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Working on reactivating Three Mile Island.