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On May 28, the Metrology and Testing Center of the Fifth Electronics Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (Guangzhou Saibao Metrology and Testing Center) released “The Road to Decarbonization of China’s Digital Infrastructure: Data Center and 5G Carbon Reduction Potential and Challenges (2020-2035) )” report (referred to as the “Report”), which predicts the energy consumption and carbon emission trends of China’s data centers and 5G and other digital infrastructures.

The “Report” states that After China fully achieves its carbon peak in 2030, the carbon emissions of digital infrastructure will continue to grow, and it has become a new growth point in energy consumption and carbon emissions. It is necessary to accelerate the transition to 100% renewable energy and achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible.

“Report” predicts, By 2035, the total power consumption of China’s data centers and 5G will be about 2.5-3 times that of 2020 , Will reach 6,951-7,82 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 5-7% of China’s total electricity consumption.

Simultaneously, In 2035, the total carbon emissions of China’s data centers and 5G will reach 230-310 million tons, accounting for 2-4% of China’s carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the current carbon dioxide emissions of the two Beijing cities. Among them, the carbon emissions of data centers will increase by 103% compared with 2020, and the carbon emissions of 5G will increase by 321%.

In contrast, key emission industries such as steel, building materials, and non-ferrous metals are expected to take the lead in achieving peak carbon emissions and begin to decline after 2025, and the “lock-in effect” of carbon emissions from digital infrastructure will enable China to achieve carbon peaks and further carbon neutrality. Important challenge.

The “Report” recommends, Accelerating the transition to 100% renewable energy can fundamentally help the digital infrastructure industry to reduce carbon emissions, and is the industry’s priority path towards carbon neutrality. Among them, data centers and 5G can apply renewable energy through investment in the construction of distributed and centralized renewable energy projects, market-based procurement of renewable energy, and subscription of green power certificates, while exploring the application scenarios of combining energy storage and renewable energy. .

To this end, the “Report” puts forward the following recommendations to relevant companies: First, set a goal to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2030, and further propose a full range (scope 1, 2, 3) carbon neutral goal by 2030; The second is to expand the scale of corporate renewable energy procurement and actively communicate with key stakeholders to facilitate further breakthroughs in the market-based renewable energy procurement mechanism; the third is to further improve energy information disclosure, disclosing information on greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.

Plan from El Salvador Bitcoin mining with volcanic energy?

Status: 10.06.2021 12:45 p.m.

Completely clean, completely renewable: El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele plans to mine Bitcoins with the help of energy from volcanoes. This is how the country wants to get its high energy consumption under control. El Salvador wants to use geothermal energy from volcanoes for the energy-intensive mining of the crypto currency Bitcoin. President Nayib Bukele tweeted that he had commissioned the state-run geothermal electricity company LaGeo to work out a corresponding plan. The President is convinced that this is very cheap, 100 percent clean and renewable, does not generate any emissions and will develop quickly. There are more than a dozen volcanoes in El Salvador, many of which are still active.

Huge energy requirements

The immensely high energy requirement of Bitcoin mining has been discussed critically in public for a long time. The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF) is working on this topic and has created an index on it . The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index is supposed to estimate in real time how much electricity is currently being used for mining. The data is then extrapolated to the year. The calculated value is currently around 111 terawatt hours. This corresponds roughly to the annual electricity consumption in the Netherlands. According to the Federal Environment Agency, Germany consumed around 553 terawatt hours in 2020. According to a study by Bank of America, the global Bitcoin industry emits a total of 60 million tons of CO2 annually, which corresponds to the emissions of around nine million cars.

Bitcoin as a means of payment …

A few days ago, Bukele announced that El Salvador would be the first country to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender . He expects the move to create thousands of new jobs in the Central American country. Among other things, taxes should be able to be paid in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the most popular digital currency. It is not issued by a central bank, but created using a decentralized computer process known as mining. It is by no means clear whether it is even suitable as a means of payment.

… or as an object of speculation?

Because so far, cryptocurrencies have mainly attracted attention as speculative objects, the value of which is subject to extreme fluctuations: Bitcoin was quoted at more than $ 55,000 around May 10, and is currently around $ 36,000. If the value of part of the income is exposed to such strong fluctuations within a very short period of time, this poses a number of problems for a state budget policy. The high volatility of cryptocurrencies is also an incalculable risk for companies. The US electric car maker Tesla, for example, started in March of this year To accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for its vehicles and reversed this step a little later . As a justification, Tesla boss Elon Musk referred to the “insane” energy consumption of prospecting. But it is likely that Musk, as a businessman, at least had these price fluctuations in mind.

Power planning 8 proposes 3 scenarios for power source development. The Institute of Energy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) has just released a report explaining the conclusions of Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh on the national electricity development plan for the period 2021-2030 with a vision to 2045 (Planning for electricity development). electricity 8). In which, receiving opinions on reviewing the scale of power source development, reasonable power source structure compared to electricity demand in each period, especially in the period to 2030; In order to prevent unreasonable backup of power sources (such as the plan to develop the total installed capacity of 167GW of power sources by 2030, while the load demand is forecast at 86.3GW), the Consultant said Power planning. 8 proposed 3 scenarios for developing power sources to meet 3 scenarios of low load demand, base load and high load. The results of capacity balance of 3 selected scenarios show that renewable energy sources (wind and solar) have the proportion of 24% in 2020; 24-27% in 2030 and 38-42% in 2045 depending on the load scenario. The crude reserve ratio if including wind and solar is always high at 60-80%, but wind and solar power sources are variable renewable energy sources, contributing very little to power system redundancy, especially At the time of maximum load in the evening, there is no sun. Specifically, in the dry season, in the evening, when the national wind power occurs, it only reaches the guaranteed capacity (about 10% of the installed capacity for onshore wind and 20% of the installed capacity for offshore wind). ), at this time, the national crude reserve ratio of power supply will only reach 21% in 2020, 11%-14% in 2030 and 5%-8% in 2045 depending on the load scenario. The consultant said that in order to confirm the redundant or insufficient spare capacity, it is necessary to calculate the expected number of hours that do not meet the load demand. The calculation results show that the reserve scale as above ensures the reliability of the system’s power supply. The proportion of electricity from renewable energy sources (including hydroelectricity) in total electricity production of the selected scenarios all meet the objectives of renewable energy development in Vietnam’s Renewable Energy Development Strategy, reaching 32% in 2030 and 40.3% in 2045. According to the Institute of Energy, although the simulation of energy storage sources has been included, the minimum-cost planning model still chooses to cut a part of renewable energy to meet the flexible needs of the system instead. because investing in more storage resources, because investing in these resources will not be economically viable. The reduction rate calculated from the model is about 1.5% of renewable energy output/year (excluding cuts due to local transmission). The use of a partial reduction in renewable energy to meet flexible demand is used by countries around the world, and accepting a partial reduction in renewable energy is also one of the solutions. to develop renewable energy sources. At the request of ministries, agencies and appraisal councils, Power Master Plan 8 has included additional power source options that occur in addition to the above 3 scenarios to provide information for competent authorities to consider in determining the power supply. operating. In particular, the most difficult option to build power sources and grids is when there are risks of stacking, including high load growth and slow progress of thermal power sources (especially domestic gas exploitation sources). Accordingly, the proposal proposes to select the power source development scenario corresponding to the baseline load demand forecast, which is the selected scenario to calculate the design of the transmission grid, calculate economic and financial criteria. of Power Planning 8. At the same time, the project proposes a power source scenario corresponding to the forecast of high load demand to be considered for use in the management and development of power sources, ensuring to meet demand in the event that the national economy and electricity demand are met. load demand increased dramatically. In case of risk of stacking (high load, slow progress of coal-fired power sources, domestic gas-fired power sources), it will be necessary to add wind power, solar power, flexible power sources, etc. operate ICE to meet the demand for electricity and build more one-way lines from the South Central region to the North to transmit the capacity of power plants.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc attends the Opening Session of the Summit on Climate (Photo: VGP). At the invitation of US President Joe Biden, on the evening of April 23, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered an important speech on the topic “Economic benefits of Climate Action” at the Summit on Climate Post, held in the online form for two days April 22-23. State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that as a country heavily affected by climate change, especially in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam commits to take drastic action to respond comprehensively to climate change. including 9% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions by domestic resources and up to 27% reduction with bilateral and multilateral international support. According to the President, Vietnam will continue to drastically reduce coal power, rapidly increase the share of renewable energy to 30% of the total primary energy supply by 2045, and domesticize international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to organize and implement the program to plant 1 billion green trees by 2025. The President also shared views of many countries on the benefits of a transition to a green economy, zero emissions, especially on job creation, ensuring energy security, and improving. competitiveness and sustainability of the economy, but also emphasized that developing countries still face many challenges in their transition due to difficulties in capital and technology. The State President emphasized that the transition must be fair, inclusive and equal in terms of opportunities and benefits of the people, so that no one will be “left behind”; urges developed countries to continue to lead the way in reducing emissions and increasing financial, technology, and green energy support, and building efficient, high-quality infrastructure associated with creating more jobs. developing countries, including Vietnam. The State President believes that the implementation of the logistics objectives is appropriate to the conditions of each country and integrated into the national development strategies and plans. During the two days of the conference, senior leaders of 41 countries and the Secretary-General of the United Nations made a speech, emphasizing that climate change continues to be the biggest challenge for humanity and showing determination. accelerate efforts to respond to climate change. Some major economies such as the US, China, Japan … have made a strong commitment to reducing emissions by 2030, declaring zero emissions by 2050 or before 2060. Many countries call on the international community to promote green growth, invest more in renewable energy projects. The United States and a number of countries are committed to increasing their financial contributions to the climate. For their part, many developing countries reaffirm the historical responsibility of developed countries, the principle of common but different responsibility, calling on developed countries to fulfill the obligation to make financial contributions and support. to assist developing countries in building capacity to adapt and mitigate to climate change.

Facebook logo at headquarters in Menlo Park, California, USA. Photo: AFP / VNA According to a joint statement by Facebook and CleanMax, the 32 MW wind power plant will be located in the state of Karnataka in southern India, as part of a larger project on wind and solar power that the two companies are working with. to provide renewable energy to the Indian power grid. CleanMax will own and operate the above projects, while Facebook will buy electricity from the Indian grid. Facebook’s head of renewable energy, Urvi Parekh, said the tech company usually does not own the power plants, instead signing a “long term” power purchase agreement with the renewable energy company. According to her, this will help projects find the necessary capital. India is currently Facebook’s largest market in terms of users. Meanwhile, in Singapore, Facebook has also announced similar partnership arrangements with energy suppliers such as Sunseap Group, Terrenus Energy and Sembcorp Industries, which can generate 160 MW of solar power. Power from these plants will be supplied to Facebook’s first data center in Asia and located in Singapore, the facility expected to come online next year. Last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said data centers were causing technology companies like Facebook to consume about 1% of all global electricity. Tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft have pledged to move towards zero carbon emissions and achieve zero net emissions, amid demand for digital data and services. ants will increase steadily. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on April 15 announced that the company’s global operations are now run entirely on renewable energy and have reached zero net emissions.