Is "digital twin" useful for climate change issues?

The 26th Conference of the United Nations Conditions of the UN Sex Change Framework (COP26) has closed today (translated: The original publication date is November 12), but it seems that governments around the world will act quickly to save the earth.do not have.Can technology leaders take action instead?Some are trying it out.

The Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, which was announced in June, aims to understand and improve companies the effects of climate change.This week, NVIDIA's CEO JENSEN HUANG has promised the development of E2 (Earth 2) Super Computers, which can create digital twin on the entire earth at the end of the company's annual technical conference keynote speech.E2 aims to promote the climate several decades ahead and reduce global warming by modeling the earth at an unprecedented resolution.

"We seem a little late to solve some problems, but the technology goes forward to us," said Paige Marie Morse, one of the companies participating in the COP26 summit.It would be great if I could do it. "

Digital twin is an accurate simulation that is a substitute for the real thing, and has a great possibility in testing a large -scale change in industrial processes before implementing hardware and concrete.

Aspentech is not as large as NVIDIA, but suggests using digital twin to optimize chemical processes and accelerate the introduction of clean hydrogen fuel.Here are some typical examples.BASF redesigned methanol manufacturing processes and reduced CO2 emissions by reusing carbon -containing off -gas into the process.The digital twin created with ASPENTECH software modeled the production process change plan and adjusted it before the production started.

Aspentech was established 30 years ago based on the research results of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and has developed software for process industries such as chemical manufacturing and fossil fuel refining.Recently, we are also working on software to achieve sustainable goals.

The company wants to participate in the construction of a "recycling -type economy" where the entire life cycle of all products and industrial products, including the impact on the environment, is eliminated or recycled as much as possible.Morse said.She also said, "There is no agreement around the world about how to measure these when actually calculated."

Environmentally friendly e -commerce

Amazon's CLIMATE PLEDGE FUND has recently announced investment in three green innovation companies, Infinium, Resilient Power, and CMC Machinery.Each of these companies has a product that can reduce Amazon's e -commerce and logistics business carbon footprints.For example, the optimization process of the package developed by CMC Machinery predicts that Amazon can reduce the number of plastic air pillows used as a cushioning material for small boxes delivered in large boxes next year.。

Resilient Power is also working on improving urban electric infrastructure to increase electric vehicles such as Amazon's delivery trucks.INFINIUM combines a clean -combustion hydrogen and a recovered carbon dioxide to create a transitional fuel that can be used for jet engines and diesel vehicles.

"We have achieved goals related to the climate pledge and support technologies and products to make it more sustainable," said Matt Peterson, head of the cleah pledge fund.

Amazon is also working on machine learning to achieve climate goals.Also, Amazon did not push the digital story in accordance with the announcement of the Climate Pledge Fund, but that does not mean that there is no digital story.For example, Josh Keister, president of Resilient Power, stated in an email, saying that the company will use it for "receiving orders and subsidies without much capital -intensive hardware prototypes".After installation (equipment), the big data and machine learning on AWS will increase reliability and faster feedback to the design process. "

For example, you can use the sounds and vibrations of the fans to schedule preventive maintenance before actually occurs.According to Infinium, it has developed its own domestic GIS mapping application, using pipelines and power transmission infrastructure analysis, optimizing renewable power supply, and minimizing carbon dioxide emissions.

What happens to the data center that consumes a lot of power?

On the other hand, the data center, which is operated by such a model, is a major source of energy consumption, and the emission of carbon dioxide increases.The more the electron passes through the processor, the more power consumed by the processor and the more heat generated by the cooling system, so it consumes more power.These effects can be reduced somewhat by using efficient design and natural cooling.Therefore, cold regions such as Norway are said to be the ideal location of the data center.

However, the contribution of data centers to global warming is often exaggerated.I have seen some articles that the data center accounts for 2 % of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, but the article published in the scientific magazine "Nature" in 2018 seems to be the source of the statistics.In fact, scientists have issued this figure as an estimated value of computing and communication technology as a whole computing and communication technology, all PCs, iPhones, communication switches, and home routers.The carbon footprint is almost the same as the amount of jet fuel used in the aviation industry.

Nature magazine articles estimate that the contribution of data centers is about 0.3 % of the world's carbon emissions.On the other hand, pessimistic scenarios warn that data centers could consume 20 % of the world's electricity, especially in the spread of power -consuming applications, such as mining cryptocurrencies.

AI and machine learning models consume a large amount of electricity as well as supercomputers.

Huang argues to E2 that it will show innovative energy efficiency as a supercomputer.I don't know if it will happen yet, but on the other hand, there is no doubt that the world needs all brain power to confront climate change.

[Via VentureBeat] @Venturebeat

[Original text]

Bridge Members