The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center
Digitalization is viewed as a potential solution to environmental sustainability issues. However, existing researches suggest that the environmental impact of digital technology is uncertain. This study focuses on the National Supercomputing Center (NSC) in China, a large-scale computing infrastruct...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Communications |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acfa65 |
| _version_ | 1797673347812687872 |
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| author | Haodong Yang Gaofeng Wang |
| author_facet | Haodong Yang Gaofeng Wang |
| author_sort | Haodong Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Digitalization is viewed as a potential solution to environmental sustainability issues. However, existing researches suggest that the environmental impact of digital technology is uncertain. This study focuses on the National Supercomputing Center (NSC) in China, a large-scale computing infrastructure, and expands the correlation between digital infrastructure and green development from a computing perspective. Based on the synthetic control method, we select non-supercomputing cities as the control group and assign appropriate weighting. Through the fitting of a synthetic control group (refer to as the synthetic city) with similar characteristics, the analysis is conducted to compare carbon emissions (CO _2 emission) between NSC city and the synthetic city. The empirical results show that the NSC may worsen regional CO _2 emissions, and this result still holds true after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism examinations show that the NSC does not exhibit significant composition effect (energy structure improvement) and technology effect (green technology innovation), while scale effect (increase in energy demand and consumption) dominate the NSC’s carbon emissions. Based on these findings, we consider that in addition to improving the energy efficiency of supercomputing centers, the adoption of cleaner renewable energy and the promotion of knowledge spillovers are crucial for achieving a green transformation for computing infrastructure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:43:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fc5df7ea47e44964bd82f806ed6fc58e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2515-7620 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:43:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-fc5df7ea47e44964bd82f806ed6fc58e2023-09-26T12:18:15ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Communications2515-76202023-01-015909501510.1088/2515-7620/acfa65The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing centerHaodong Yang0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4758-8812Gaofeng Wang1School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, People’s Republic of ChinaDigitalization is viewed as a potential solution to environmental sustainability issues. However, existing researches suggest that the environmental impact of digital technology is uncertain. This study focuses on the National Supercomputing Center (NSC) in China, a large-scale computing infrastructure, and expands the correlation between digital infrastructure and green development from a computing perspective. Based on the synthetic control method, we select non-supercomputing cities as the control group and assign appropriate weighting. Through the fitting of a synthetic control group (refer to as the synthetic city) with similar characteristics, the analysis is conducted to compare carbon emissions (CO _2 emission) between NSC city and the synthetic city. The empirical results show that the NSC may worsen regional CO _2 emissions, and this result still holds true after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism examinations show that the NSC does not exhibit significant composition effect (energy structure improvement) and technology effect (green technology innovation), while scale effect (increase in energy demand and consumption) dominate the NSC’s carbon emissions. Based on these findings, we consider that in addition to improving the energy efficiency of supercomputing centers, the adoption of cleaner renewable energy and the promotion of knowledge spillovers are crucial for achieving a green transformation for computing infrastructure.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acfa65computing infrastructurenational supercomputing centercarbon emissionsenergy consumptionenergy structuregreen innovation |
| spellingShingle | Haodong Yang Gaofeng Wang The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center Environmental Research Communications computing infrastructure national supercomputing center carbon emissions energy consumption energy structure green innovation |
| title | The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center |
| title_full | The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center |
| title_fullStr | The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center |
| title_short | The impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions: an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center |
| title_sort | impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions an empirical study based on china national supercomputing center |
| topic | computing infrastructure national supercomputing center carbon emissions energy consumption energy structure green innovation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acfa65 |
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