17 hours Ago
Emphasising that transition towards net-zero carbon by 2040 is “not linear” with “one-defined path”, Chris Walker, Director of Sustainability at Amazon Web Services’ (AWS), said the company is “future proofing” its energy consumption by leveraging nuclear power among others. Technology is at the heart of the data centre giant’s efforts to identify more clean energy sources, he said, adding that AWS is continuously recalibrating its efforts to further develop its circular economy strategy that rests on three core pillars—Design Better, Operate Longer, and Recover More. “In terms of using energy, we want to be able to use that energy as efficiently as possible.
We’re also thinking about the transition to carbon-free energy and finding ways to scale it for society and data centres. That’s why we’re excited about exploring nuclear energy and small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of our efforts to meet growing energy demands sustainably,” Walker told businessline. To that effect, AWS matched the power consumption by its global operations with 100 per cent renewable energy —seven years ahead of its 2030 goal, he noted.
The company aims to become a net zero emitter by 2040. Besides, AWS in October this year announced investments in nuclear energy , which can be brought online at scale and has a long record of a reliable source of safe carbon-free energy. This includes developing nuclear energy projects including construction of SMRs.
“First with Dominion Power, which is in Northern Virginia, to invest and deploy SMRs within their grid. Second with Energy Northwest, in Pacific Northwest corridor of the US, to deploy SMRs in their space that will initially produce 360 MWs, but will scale potentially up to 960 MWs. We’re working with X-energy and they’re developing SMRs.
We’re excited about how we’re thinking about future proofing power generation,” he elaborated. Walker stressed that the other end of the spectrum is energy efficiency, where recycling is a “very critical” pathway. The most important component in sustainability with AWS is “recycling”.
“We have data centres that are 12-13 years old or 14-15, years old and the components that come out generally go to waste. What we’re excited about is over 99 per cent of the materials are being reused, recycled or resold. These materials go into reverse logistics hubs, and we’ve been able to recover or resell or recycle 23.
5 million components since 2023,” he noted. The reverse logistics hubs have enabled the technology major to source 13 per cent of spare parts from its own reuse inventory. The latest generation AWS data centre design is projected to provide 12 per cent more compute power, while improving availability and efficiency and power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating to 1.
08, he added. Walker said that AWS is also using the equipment for as long as operationally efficient in a bid to reduce carbon footprint for manufacturing and using new hardware. “We focus on maintenance to maximise operating life of equipment and infrastructure.
AWS’s average expected server lifetime had improved from 5 to 6 years. We have extended the lifespan of Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) hard disk drives (HDDs) by up to two years through consolidation of functional drives,” Walker said. Since 2023, this has aided in avoiding purchase of more than 295,000 new hard drives.
“Embracing circularity is at the heart of our efforts to create a resource-efficient model for our data centres. Our path to net zero carbon by 2040 is not going to be linear. It’s not going to be a straight line.
Why? Because everybody knows energy demand is going to go up, but nobody knows by how much. So I think what’s important is to not just rely on one solution,” Walker emphasised. (The reporter was in Las Vegas at the invitation of Amazon Web Services) Comments.
