Microsoft’s Datacenters Are About To Get A Lot Greener

Due to the immense amount of data that companies like Microsoft need to process, it is not surprising that datacenters can get pretty resource intensive. This is obviously not very sustainable given current methods of powering them, which is why Microsoft has been testing out new ways to more sustainably manage their datacenters.

The company has announced that they have recently successfully tested powering a row of datacenter servers for 48 hours using hydrogen fuel cells. The company is aiming to be carbon negative by 2030, and also to completely eliminate their dependency on diesel around the same time.

However, it seems that Microsoft’s ambitions don’t just stop at powering their datacenters with hydrogen fuel cells. These storage tanks could also be outfitted with an electrolyzer that will convert water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen and could also be integrated with the power grid to help balance out the energy load.

They also envision that it is possible that in the future, long-haul vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells could also pull up to the company’s datacenters to fill their tanks. It is, of course, going to be a while before we see that happen, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Green
Tags: Microsoft