☕ Fired up

Using data centers to heat an Olympic pool.

August 07, 2024 PRESENTED BY It's Wednesday. What do data centers and Katie Ledecky have in common? They both bring the heat. Tech Brew's Kelcee Griffis has a story about a data infrastructure company transferring heat from its data centers to the Olympics Aquatics Center. In today's edition: This Paris Olympics pool has an unusual heat source: a data center As 6G network planning ramps up, Nokia sees chance to help the next mobile evolution go greener New report homes in on solutions to reduce mining impacts of EV transition —Kelcee Griffis, Jordyn Grzelewski, Annie Saunders GREEN TECH A match made in Paris Illustration: Anna Kim, Photo: Adobe Stock The only indoor facility built specifically for the Paris games is having a watershed moment. As part of organizers' sustainability goals, the Olympics Aquatics Center—the venue hosting the diving, artistic swimming, and water polo competitions—draws heat from sources in the neighborhood, including emissions from a nearby data center that digital infrastructure company Equinix operates. The model is one that Noah Nkonge, Equinix's heat export lead, said he hopes gains traction after its showcase on the world stage. "There's an interest in what can be done from an energy-efficiency perspective, what can be done to give back to the community," he told Tech Brew. "At Equinix, we're committed to doing that, to being a leader, to finding those solutions that will improve our company's energy efficiency, because it does benefit our customers, but it also benefits those communities." In Paris, as across the world, data centers are a critical link providing the processing power for all manner of online experiences, from searching for an address in Google Maps and booking a hotel to supporting caregiving and record-management in hospitals. The IT infrastructure that carries out these processes inside data centers generates a lot of heat; in Paris, the output from the Equinix center is enough to heat about 1,000 homes. Without an energy-sharing arrangement, that heat is released into the atmosphere. But with the right partners on board, the byproduct can instead be released into heat-distribution networks and redirected to places it's needed. Keep reading here.—KG PRESENTED BY HOKA Weather-proof your wardrobe From commuting on a rainy day to trekking a final summer getaway, the shoes on your feet shouldn't enter uncomfy mode just because the journey is long. That's why HOKA's Transport Chukka GTX was built for everyday adventures, whether you're meeting at the office or the trailhead. It's a new waterproof, ankle-high, weather-ready style that amps up all the fave features on the original HOKA Transport. Protective deets include nubuck leather, a waterproof GORE-TEX invisible-fit membrane, and a soft engineered-knit collar. No matter the season, the Transport Chukka GTX can give you a reason to take the scenic route—rain or shine. Shop here. CONNECTIVITY They grow up so fast! Subho Mukherjee With 5G rollouts still underway, it might feel too early to start talking about 6G. Not so, according to Subho Mukherjee, VP and global head of sustainability at Nokia, who sees the current planning stage as the perfect opportunity to make the next generation of mobile technology more energy-efficient. Tech Brew recently chatted with Mukherjee about how advances in AI and visibility into real-time network traffic can make mobile networks more responsive and less resource-hungry. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. How will 6G differ from 5G on the technology side, and how do those differences play into energy consumption? The objective of the 6G world is to bring the digital and the physical world into fusion. 2G was about voice, 3G was about mobile internet, 4G was about videos and social media, 5G has been about video uploads. It is expected that the second half of 5G, around 2025 to 2026, is going to be about industrial automation. Keep reading here.—KG FUTURE OF TRAVEL Cleaning up Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Electrification is key to decarbonizing transportation, one of the biggest contributors to planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions. But "electric" doesn't always mean "clean." That's one of the themes of a new report by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, "Minimizing Mining Impacts on the Road to Zero Emissions Transport." The report, commissioned by environmental nonprofit Earthworks, provides policy recommendations to reduce the environmentally and socially harmful mining impacts associated with electric vehicles, even as it encourages the transition away from fossil fuel-powered transportation. "This report doesn't say that we shouldn't electrify transportation at all," Paulina Personius, international campaigner for Earthworks's Making Clean Energy Clean campaign, told Tech Brew. "But it says that we should do so in a very careful and considerate way, and also while implementing other solutions that make us a lot less dependent on personal vehicles. At the moment, EVs are one of the principal drivers of mineral demand." At the heart of the issue are EV batteries, which use large quantities of materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and copper. Growing demand for lithium-ion batteries is driving higher demand for these minerals, the report notes. And that's where the problem lies. Keep reading here.—JG TOGETHER WITH INVESCO QQQ Step into tomorrow. Innovation is what makes the world go 'round, and Invesco QQQ knows a thing or two about the future. In fact, QQQ can get you exposure to some of the world's most innovative companies and the most groundbreaking industry leaders within the Nasdaq-100. Access tomorrow's innovation with QQQ. BITS AND BYTES Stat: 7%. That's the percentage of queries to AI chatbots that were about sex, according to a Washington Post investigation based on a research data set from WildChat. Quote: "As tens of millions of voters in the US seek basic information about voting in this major election year, X has the responsibility to ensure all voters using your platform have access to guidance that reflects true and accurate information about their constitutional right to vote."—five secretaries of state in a letter accusing X's AI chatbot of disseminating election misinformation and urging the platform to fix it Read: How the Google antitrust ruling may influence tech competition (the New York Times) Treat your feet: HOKA's Transport Chukka GTX is the new waterproof, ankle-high style that can weather any terrain and any season. Talk about putting an extra spring in your step. Check it out.* *A message from our sponsor. JOBS When's the last time you landed a job by applying cold? We've partnered with CollabWORK, the first community-powered hiring platform, to bring you curated jobs from companies looking to connect with Tech Brew readers—apply below! Director of Product Development at Boss Audio Systems (in person) Senior Manager of Product and Community Marketing at Knowify (remote) Director, R&D Customer Focus at ZoomInfo (hybrid) SHARE THE BREW Share Tech Brew with your coworkers, acquire free Brew swag, and then make new friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We're saying we'll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 Click to Share Or copy & paste your referral link to others: emergingtechbrew.com/r/?kid=b3968dba ✳︎ A Note From Invesco QQQ Disclaimer: Invesco Distributors, Inc. Written by Kelcee Griffis, Jordyn Grzelewski, and Annie Saunders Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.   Guide → What is AI?   Guide → What is 5G? 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