Technology firms explore building zero-carbon internet in China.
The Chinese internet industry has seen robust growth in recent decades, but its data centers, large-scale servers, and cellular base stations are consuming energy at a faster pace. Hence, China’s tech firms have started to work on green solutions.
According to a report by China’s State Grid Energy Research Institute, the electricity consumption by data centers alone in 2020 is estimated to exceed 200 billion kWh, accounting for 2.7 percent of the country’s electricity consumption.
By 2030, the data center electricity consumption in China will exceed 400 billion kWh, accounting for 3.7 percent of its total electricity consumption.
The electricity consumption of China’s internet industry is growing at an annual rate of about ten percent. It will double in seven or eight years and become a significant energy source in the future. China’s tech giants, such as Huawei and Tencent, have been trying to build a zero-carbon internet industry.
In Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2021 held in February, Huawei unveiled its solution for zero-carbon network, including minimalized base stations, server rooms, data centers, and wide use of green electricity.
Vice President of Huawei and President of its Digital Power Product Line Zhou Taoyuan said Huawei could reduce energy consumption by using high-performance, low power-demand, and highly integrated servers and minimizing the room occupation of base stations.
