氢气和其他 3 种减少数据中心二氧化碳排放的方法
Hydrogen and 3 other ways to cut data center CO2 emissions
我们当中很少有人知道或考虑过“云”是如何工作的，或者无数其他技术是如何让我们这个数字连接的世界运转的。然而它们已经在日常生活中起着至关重要的作用。
Few among us know or perhaps consider how the ‘cloud’ works, or how myriad other technologies make our digitally connected world operate. Yet they play a crucial role in daily life.
我们的世界越来越依赖于数据:收集、处理、分享。虽然我们看不到我们这个星球上纵横交错的文字、数字和图像，我们使用的APP和访问的数据都位于某一个物理空间——数据中心内的服务器中——它们都消耗能源。加热和冷却是数据中心运行的耗电部分，因为服务器需要保持在18到27°C的恒定温度范围内。
Our world is increasingly fueled by data: harvesting it, processing it, and sharing it. And while we can’t see words, numbers, and images crisscrossing the planet, the apps we use and information we access are located in a physical space – on servers in data centers – and these use energy. Heating and cooling are power-hungry parts of data center operations, as servers need to be kept within a constant temperature range of 18 to 27°C.
目前，数据中心约占全球总排放量的0.3%，但随着全球经济向云计算转移的比例不断增加，这一比例正在快速增长。预计在2020年中国数据中心的用电量就将超过澳大利亚的总用电量。
Currently, data centers account for around 0.3% of total global emissions, but that share is increasing fast as an ever-growing proportion of the global economy migrates to the cloud. The electricity used by data centers in China alone is predicted to exceed the total power consumption of Australia in 2020.
尽管像谷歌和亚马逊这样的超级用户努力建立节能的“超大规模”数据中心，能源使用和相关排放量的增长仍然存在。这些超大规模数据中心，极大提升计算机处理范围，构建网络基础设施，并提高数字存储容量，所有这些都需要需要恒定且巨大的能量。
This growth in energy use and associated emissions comes despite the efforts of mega-users like Google and Amazon to build energy-efficient ‘hyperscale’ data centers. These are scaled-up facilities that super-size an organization’s computer processing scope, build out networking infrastructure, and boost digital storage capacity, which requires constant power and lots of it.
对于像这样的大型设施来说，停电是不能接受的，如果电源供应中断，这些设施依赖可靠的备用电源来维持服务器恒定的温度。在大多数情况下，使用柴油发电机，这就是为什么三菱重工发动机和涡轮增压器(MHIET)和三菱重工发动机系统亚洲(MHIESA)等公司采用符合数据中心标准的柴油发电机，以降低燃料消耗和降低二氧化碳、氮氧化物，以及颗粒物排放。
A power outage is not an option for vast facilities like these, which depend on a reliable back-up power source to maintain constant server temperatures if mains supply is disrupted. In the majority of cases, diesel generators are used, which is why companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger (MHIET) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine System Asia (MHIESA) are engineering data center-compliant diesel generators with reduced fuel consumption and lower CO2, NOx and particulate matter emissions.
但是，对可持续性的追求不仅仅局限于柴油发电机，数据中心正在寻求新的方法来为其迅速发展的业务脱碳。
But the search for sustainability goes beyond diesel generators, as data centers seek new ways to decarbonize their burgeoning operations.
氢
Hydrogen
像新加坡这样的通信中心正在寻求将氢燃气轮机作为“绿色”数据中心运营的一种方式。
Communications hubs like Singapore are looking to hydrogen gas turbines as a way to ‘green’ data center operations.
三菱重工亚太区 (MHI-AP) 和吉宝数据中心正在合作探索为吉宝在这个岛城国家的数据中心供电的方法——例如浮动数据中心园区项目中独特的使用氢涡轮机的方案。。如果成功，用于为涡轮机提供燃料的氢将通过蒸汽甲烷重整(SMR)过程从化石燃料中提取，因此将使用碳捕获和存储技术来防止二氧化碳进入大气，确保该过程是碳中性的。
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Asia Pacific (MHI-AP) and Keppel Data Centres are working together to explore ways of powering Keppel’s data centers in the island city-state – such as the unique floating data center park project – using hydrogen-fired turbines. If successful, the hydrogen used to fuel the turbines will be extracted from fossil fuels using the steam methane reforming (SMR) process, so carbon capture and storage technology will be used to prevent CO2 from reaching the atmosphere, ensuring the process is carbon neutral.
三菱重工集团执行副总裁兼亚太和印度首席区域官Yoshiyuki Hanasawa表示:“在全球脱碳的努力中，氢将成为一种关键的能源载体。“ 随着新加坡将成为全球数据中心枢纽，我们期待与吉宝数据中心合作，支持新加坡创造可持续能源的未来。”
“Hydrogen will be a key energy carrier in the global effort towards decarbonization,” says Yoshiyuki Hanasawa, Executive Vice President and Chief Regional Officer for Asia Pacific and India at MHI Group and Managing Director of MHI-AP. “With Singapore set to become a global data center hub, we look forward to partnering with Keppel Data Centres to support Singapore in creating a sustainable energy future.”
当燃烧时，氢产生零温室气体排放，而且足够灵活，可以用于现有的天然气发电厂，这些发电厂可以转化为燃烧氢气。
When combusted, hydrogen produces zero greenhouse gas emissions and is flexible enough to be used in existing natural gas power plants, which can be converted to burn hydrogen.
作为三菱重工（MHI）集团的一部分，三菱动力已经成功地将30%的氢气与天然气混合，减少了10%的二氧化碳排放，并致力于开发到2025年可100%使用氢气的涡轮机。
Mitsubishi Power, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has successfully mixed 30% hydrogen with natural gas to reduce CO2 emissions by 10%, and is committed to developing turbines that can operate on 100% hydrogen by 2025.
燃料电池
Fuel cells
苹果、微软和eBay等科技和商业巨头的数据中心都在使用燃料电池发电。这些可以在需要时提供一种可持续的方式来产生可靠的电力。
Fuel cells are currently used to generate power in the data centers of some of the world’s tech and business giants, including Apple, Microsoft and eBay. These can offer a sustainable way to generate reliable electricity when needed.
根据燃料来源的不同，燃料电池可以产生低排放至零排放的电力，既可以作为主要电源，也可以作为备用电源。
Depending on the fuel source, fuel cells can produce low- to zero-emissions electricity, either as a primary power source or as back-up.
当由可再生能源供电时，尽管间歇性的问题意味着供应不是稳定的，燃料电池是无排放的。大多数燃料电池使用其他燃料发电。
When powered by renewables, fuel cells are emissions-free, although intermittency problems mean supply isn’t constant. Most fuel cells use other fuels to generate electricity.
微软宣布在其西雅图的数据中心全球率先使用天然气燃料电池，取代了传统的电气设备。该公司表示，该系统可以将其数据中心的能源效率提高一倍，同时降低成本并提高可靠性。
Microsoft claimed a world first by pioneering natural-gas powered fuel cells at its Seattle data center, replacing traditional electric gear. The company says the system could double the energy efficiency of its data centers, at the same time cutting costs and improving reliability.
将燃料电池技术进一步发展，氢动力电池可以提供同样的全天候电力，同时还能减少排放。尽管仍处于试验阶段，但如果使用可再生能源生产燃料氢，则整个过程是无排放的。
Taking fuel cell technology a step further, hydrogen-powered cells could provide the same around-the-clock electricity while also reducing emissions. Although still at the experimental stage, if the hydrogen used as fuel is generated using renewable energy, the whole process is emissions-free.
氢、天然气、生物燃料或任何氢比例的混合气体都可以用来为三菱动力开发的固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）提供动力。三菱动力 的固体氧化物燃料电池系统可以在一个系统中提供电力和热量。
Hydrogen, natural gas, biofuel or mixed gas of any hydrogen ratio can be used to power the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) developed by Mitsubishi Power. Mitsubishi Power SOFC system can provide electric power and heat in the one system.
热电联产
Combined heat and power
由于加热和冷却是数据中心能源供应的主要消耗，因此找到一种有效的方法来满足这一需求是非常重要的。热电联产系统提供了一种解决方案。
As heating and cooling is the main drain on a data center’s energy supply, finding an efficient way to meet this demand is paramount. Combined heat and power systems offer a solution.
在新加坡，三菱重工亚太和吉宝数据中心正在探索如何通过采用可同时产生热量、电力和冷却的节能“三联供”系统来减少数据中心对环境的影响。
In Singapore, MHI-AP and Keppel Data Centres are exploring how to cut the environmental impact of data centers by pursuing an energy-efficient ‘tri-generation’ system that can simultaneously produce heat, power and cooling.
以氢为燃料的三联供发电厂可以为数据中心提供持续的电力供应，减少了对国家电网的依赖。还提供热量并通过吸收式冷却器产生冷冻水，以冷却数据中心的系统和设施。
Fueled by hydrogen, the tri-generation plant could provide the data center with a constant electricity supply, which reduces dependence on power from the national grid. Heat is also supplied and passed through an absorption chiller to produce chilled water to cool the data center’s systems and facilities.
可再生能源
Renewables
可再生能源将在未来的能源领域发挥重要作用。但由于间歇性问题与数据中心供电“始终在线“”的需求不兼容，它们很少成为为数据中心供电的首选。到目前为止，许多公司都倾向于通过抵消来实现碳中和。
Renewables will play an important role in the energy sector of the future. But due to the incompatibility of intermittency issues with data centers’ need for ‘always on’ power, they are rarely a go-to option for powering data centers. Many companies have to date preferred to offset to achieve carbon neutrality.
但这是一个快速变化的环境。谷歌正在投资风力发电场和太阳能园区，并将其与数据中心的存储设施相结合。同时还在开发算法，以便在有更多可再生电力产生时，使其数据中心提升工作力度。
But it’s a fast-changing environment. Google is investing in wind farms and solar parks and combining this with storage facilities at its data centers. It is also developing algorithms to make its centers work harder when there is more renewable electricity being generated.
三菱重工发动机和涡轮增压器（MHIET）的Eblox智能混合动力系统通过太阳能电池板发电，并支持电池存储，实现全天候低碳发电。它有一个备用发电机，可在没有可再生能源时提供电力。该移动系统可以为偏远地区的数据中心供电，以最大限度地利用清洁能源。
For around-the-clock, low-carbon power, MHIET’s Eblox smart hybrid power system generates energy from solar panels, supported by battery storage. It has a back-up generator to provide power when renewable energy isn’t available. The mobile system could power data centers in remote locations to maximize clean energy.
在更远的未来，我们可能会看到数据中心位于可再生能源生产更稳定的地方:海上。例如，利用现有的潜艇技术，微软已经测试了一个可持续的，由海浪和潮汐供电的水下数据中心，这种数据中心可以快速部署以在未来几年，提供基于云的数据服务。
Further into the future, we could perhaps see data centers located where renewable energy can be generated more reliably: at sea. Leveraging existing submarine technology, Microsoft, for example, has tested a sustainable underwater data center powered by wave and tidal energy, which could be quickly deployed to deliver cloud-based data services for years to come.
DeepKnowledge
翻译：李建
校对：刘海峰
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