Microsoft takes concrete steps (literally) toward greener datacenter construction
- Reference: 1696348811
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/03/microsoft_green_datacenter_concrete/
- Source link:
Several years ago, Microsoft set a goal of being " [1]carbon-negative " by 2030, but this isn't easy when you keep expanding, especially since constructing new offices and datacenters is a highly carbon-intensive process.
To help offset these emissions, the company has [2]published details of how it is testing "greener" concrete mixes.
[3]
In particular, the bulk of emissions with concrete come from cement production, Microsoft says, especially limestone, which is heated in a kiln with clay to induce a chemical reaction called calcination that releases carbon dioxide as a byproduct.
[4]
[5]
The pilot mixes at its datacenter site in Quincy, Washington, include one with "biogenic limestone," another with fly ash and slag that are activated with alkaline soda ash, and still another mix with both the alkali cement and biogenic limestone. Redmond thinks this could lower embodied carbon in concrete by more than 50 percent compared with traditional mixes.
According to Microsoft, the fly ash and slag for the alkali-activated cement is industrial waste material from coal combustion and steel making, while the biogenic limestone is sourced from a company called [6]Minus Materials . This is "biogenic" as it is produced by marine algae, using a process pioneered at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
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As part of the pilot, engineers will monitor the low-carbon concrete slabs at the site in Quincy for several months to observe how the mixes compare with traditional mixes in the way they harden, for example. Lessons learned will then be applied to more complex pilot projects aimed at scaling low-carbon concrete technologies, Microsoft says.
[8]Telecom giants dial up the heat on suppliers: It's not you, it's your CO 2
[9]Microsoft's Dublin DC power plant gets the, er, green light
[10]Offshore wind power redesign key to adoption, says Irish firm
[11]Climate agenda slips at TSMC, Greenpeace says
"It's just concrete, but the material properties, chemical reactions and mechanical alterations can be complex especially when introducing synthetic fillers combined with biologically derived components," said Steve Gilges, a principal infrastructure engineer on Microsoft's datacenter research team.
Microsoft is also investing in other concepts that could lower the carbon footprint of buildings to zero or even make them carbon negative as part of its Climate Innovation Fund, launched in 2020.
This includes technologies that inject captured CO 2 into concrete, where it mineralizes and is permanently embedded in the material and acts as a carbon sink, Microsoft claims.
For its [12]2022 Environmental Sustainability Report , Microsoft confirmed its total greenhouse gas emissions amounted to nearly 13 million metric tons, a figure down 0.5 percent over 2021 while its business grew by 18 percent during the same period. However, during 2021, Microsoft's total emissions had actually increased by more than 20 percent over the previous year, as we [13]reported at the time.
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Microsoft claimed that for 2021, its Scope 1 and 2 emissions from direct business operations only accounted for about 4 percent of the total, while indirect or Scope 3 emissions made up the rest. That latter includes carbon emissions associated with the construction of new buildings such as datacenters, as well as the new IT equipment to fill them.
Microsoft also needs to do better on other aspects of its sustainability goals as well, with the 2022 report revealing that its total water consumption – chiefly for use in datacenters – increased to roughly 6,399 megaliters, a jump of about 34 percent over the previous year. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/17/microsoft_carbon_removal/
[2] https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/sustainability/low-carbon-building-materials-for-datacenters/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZRyPDYG-C9BwUNvC-1lXMwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRyPDYG-C9BwUNvC-1lXMwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRyPDYG-C9BwUNvC-1lXMwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://minusmaterials.com/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRyPDYG-C9BwUNvC-1lXMwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/04/jac_emissions_best_practices/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/22/microsoft_power_plant/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/16/floating_offshore_wind_redesign/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/09/tsmc_greenpeace/
[12] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/report
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/11/microsoft_winding_its_way_towards/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRyPDYG-C9BwUNvC-1lXMwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Fly Ash
Use of fly ash seems to be becoming increasingly popular as a cement replacement material, driven largely by the desire to cut carbon. Which is potentially a problem, since as the article notes, fly ash comes from coal combustion (it's the ash that goes up the chimney, but doesn't quite escape). Since we're not supposed to be burning coal anymore, we're not making the stuff like we used to. Still, we have a reasonably large amount 'stockpiled'.
Re: Fly Ash
Use of fly ash seems to be becoming increasingly popular as a cement replacement material
AFAIK both fly ash and 'slag' have long been used in making breezeblocks.. Especially I guess if you can collocate block production with a plant that produces a lot of fly & bottom ash. But now I'm curious how much paperwork might be involved in turning 'industrial waste' into useful products. I was talking to some folks about glass recycling a while back and how little of that ends up as 'recycled' glass bottles and jars. That's used in making block products, and I've also seen it used as a sand alternative for laying paving. Even though it's ending up as landfill, it avoids the landfill taxes.
Rest seems to be the usual Greenwash. Instead of taking a waste product and doing something useful with it, we're shutting down the 'waste' producers, replacing them with more expensive/less efficient alternatives and adding transport carbon costs into it in the process. Of course if we ignored the 'renewables' scumbags, we could reduced CO2 emissions by 30%+ by building modern supercritical coal power stations and keep a supply of building materials.
Also I read an interesting report from one of the US biosphere projects. It failed after CO2 levels dropped unexpectedly and plants started dieing. That was due to the concrete absorbing CO2, which lead me down a rabbit hole of learning about concrete science.
Re: Fly Ash
"the concrete absorbing CO2"
Quite. Calcium really does want to become the carbonate so most if not all the CO2 is absorbed in the long run - except what's released by burning the fuel to produce the energy to drive off the original CO2. This is why I get a bit sceptical about solutions that depend on using some form of calcium to absorb CO2. There's one which involved using it as a sort of middle man to absorb CO2 from chimneys, then heating it to drive it off again for sub-sea storage. But what's the overall efficiency if it depends on a fossil fuel for the heat? And if there's some sort of renewable energy for the heating why wasn't that used instead of whatever required the chimneys? You need to look at the complete system.
For Pennies on the Pound
"Microsoft Takes Concrete Steps"
I hear there's a decent clearance sale on for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete at the moment.
US Geography is not by strong point but I don't think Boulder, Colorado is near the sea. That raises the question of where the calcium in this "biogenic" limestone comes from. If it's from non-carbonate sources such as gypsum that's fine but if it's obtained by treatment of limestone that releases CO2 then it's not a gain.
"Biogenic" limestone in quotes because all limestone is biogenic.