How is AWS Making Data Centres More Sustainable?
Whilst AI can be an incredible asset to sustainability strategy, boosting efficiency and optimising processes, it is also incredibly energy intensive.
The increasing demands of the technology are driving data centre operators around the globe to rethink how their facilities work.
The powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) essential for AI operations guzzle up to four times more power than conventional processors. This spike challenges the traditional infrastructure of data centres which were not initially engineered for such intensive computing tasks.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud computing branch, has developed a new generation of data centres tailored to accommodate the hefty power requisites of AI workloads. These details were shared at the re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, highlighting significant upgrades in power distribution, cooling systems and hardware configurations aimed at boosting compute power per site by 12%.
This announcement isn't just about meeting technical requirements; it's also about staying ahead in the competitive field as cloud providers clamour for GPUs to support the rising demand for generative AI applications.
Additionally, AWS disclosed for the first time its power usage effectiveness (PUE) metrics. In 2023, the company’s global data centres reported a PUE of 1.15, with the most efficient site achieving an impressive 1.04.
Innovative cooling strategies
The new data centres will feature a cutting-edge hybrid cooling system.
These data centre capabilities represent an important step forward with increased energy efficiency and flexible support for emerging workloads
This method combines traditional air cooling with direct-to-chip liquid cooling—a process where a coolant fluid directly contacts the processors to more efficiently dissipate heat. This system caters to both the liquid-cooled AI processors and the air-cooled components like network and storage infrastructure, maintaining AWS's extensive range of over 750 Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute instances.
“These data centre capabilities represent an important step forward with increased energy efficiency and flexible support for emerging workloads,” says Prasad Kalyanaraman, VP of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “They are designed to be modular, so that we are able to retrofit our existing infrastructure for liquid cooling and energy efficiency to power generative AI applications and lower our carbon footprint.”
Reducing failure risk
AWS is not stopping at cooling enhancements.
The company has re-engineered its power distribution system to cut down potential failure points by 20%. The redesign allows for a sixfold increase in rack power density, with options for further expansion.
Data centres must evolve to meet AI’s transformative demands.
This overhaul simplifies the electrical systems, achieving what AWS claims as 99.9999% infrastructure availability and drastically reduces the impact of electrical disruptions.
The integration of new control systems across the data centres' electrical and mechanical setups ensures standardised monitoring and operating sequences, assisted by AWS's bespoke telemetry tools for agile diagnostics and troubleshooting.
Nvidia and AWS: Partnering for sustainable data centres
Nvidia has collaborated with AWS on the cooling system design.
“Data centres must evolve to meet AI’s transformative demands,” says Ian Buck, Vice President of Hyperscale and HPC at Nvidia. “By enabling advanced liquid cooling solutions, AI infrastructure can be efficiently cooled while minimising energy use.”
AI research company Anthropic cites the infrastructure improvements as a factor in selecting AWS as its primary cloud provider. “Having access to secure, performant, and energy-efficient infrastructure is crucial to our success,” says James Bradbury, Distinguished Engineer of Compute at Anthropic.
What environmental impact will these changes have?
AWS's approach targets significant environmental improvements.
- AWS data centres achieved a global PUE of 1.15 in 2023, with best performing site at 1.08
- New cooling system design reduces mechanical energy consumption by 46% during peak conditions
- Power distribution redesign cuts potential failure points by 20%
The company has introduced a cooling system reported to cut mechanical energy use by 46% during peak conditions and is using concrete with 35% lower embodied carbon. To support its green initiatives, AWS is deploying renewable diesel in its backup generators across Europe and America, a move it says could cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to standard diesel.
The new data centres, set to start construction in early 2025 in the USA, will integrate these advancements across AWS's global network.
This forward-thinking infrastructure enables AWS customers like Experian to focus on creating new services that enhance financial decisions for consumers, as highlighted by Alex Lintner, CEO of Technology, Software Solutions and Innovation at Experian.
Alex says: “AWS's continuous infrastructure advancements allow us to concentrate on innovating new services that help our customers make more informed financial decisions rather than the undifferentiated heavy lifting of running data centres."
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