2024.03.12

[seanmcilroy29]

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2024.03.12 Agenda/Minutes

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Time 0900 (PT) / 1600 (BST) - See the time in your timezone

• Chair – Adrian Cockcroft
• Chair - Pindy Bhullar (UBS)
• Convener – Sean Mcilroy (Linux Foundation)

Antitrust Policy

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If you have questions about these matters, please contact your company counsel or counsel to the Joint Development Foundation, DLA Piper.

Recordings

WG agreed to record all Meetings. This meeting recording will be available until the next scheduled meeting.

Roll Call

Please add 'Attended' to this issue during the meeting to denote attendance.

Any untracked attendees will be added by the GSF team below:

• Full Name, Affiliation, (optional) GitHub username

Agenda

• Approve agenda
• Approve previous Meeting Minutes

Renewable Energy Percentage

• Defining language for the column headers

Action Item: Members requested to assist in defining column headers GSF Real-Time Cloud Renewable Energy Percentage spreadsheet

Open Issues Project Board

• Cloud provider Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) generation locations as an Impact Framework dataset #20
• Windows Energy Estimation Tool #19
• What are the use cases for real time power and carbon intensity information? #12
• How can cloud regions be mapped to electricity grids for carbon metrics? #7
• How can energy data collection and reporting be implemented by a cloud provider? #4
• What should the real time cloud standard be called? #2

Discussion Board

• Review miro dataflow in detail
  • Continue to review and approve the proposed Scope.

Milestone Objective

• Outline of proposed milestone dates

AOB

• Any topics members would like to submit

Next Meeting

• 26th Mar

Adjourn

• Motion to adjourn

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Previous meeting AI's

• Members to review and comment on the RTC Cloud Region Impact Framework Documentation
• Add a column for Google's 24/7 carbon intensity data once it is approved for publishing.
• Members requested to assist in defining column headers GSF Real-Time Cloud Renewable Energy Percentage spreadsheet
• Fill in missing data columns in the spreadsheet, including PUE data and IEA annual average numbers.
• Review and comment on Scope Flow

Members to review and comment on the RTC Cloud Region Impact Framework Documentation
Add a column for Google's 24/7 carbon intensity data once it is approved for publishing.
Members requested to assist in defining column headers GSF Real-Time Cloud Renewable Energy Percentage spreadsheet
Fill in missing data columns in the spreadsheet, including PUE data and IEA annual average numbers.
Get the spreadsheet definitions finalized to start filling in the data. Clarify column names and descriptions.
Review and comment on Scope Flow

[smol84]

Attended

[seanmcilroy29]

Attended

[adrianco]

Attended

[seanmcilroy29]

MoM

Adrian opens the meeting at 0900 (PT) / 1600 (BST)

Data sources for cloud providers' energy efficiency metrics.
Adrian discussed the impact framework and how to deal with missing parts and pieces when tracking players closest to Earth. Adrian and Henry are trying to come up with a naming scheme for their metrics, with Adrian wanting to argue the point and come to a decision today. Adrian and Vincent discuss data sources for Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) for various companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

Obtaining carbon emissions data for cloud providers.
The group discussed the challenges of mapping cloud regions to cities, taking into consideration the involvement of multiple vendors and non-cloud capacity that can affect accuracy. The discussion then shifted towards the importance of gathering data on carbon emissions from cloud providers, particularly Google and Microsoft. Adrian expressed his desire for clarification on the data provided by Google and suggested the need for a more straightforward way of consuming it.

Carbon emissions and renewable energy for cloud providers.
Adrian and Tim had a discussion about using AWS and Azure to obtain location-based data for SEI calculations. They talked about how this data could be used to support optimization efforts within the JSF. Meanwhile, Speaker 3 emphasized the significance of market-based data. The group had a conversation about the importance of providers in impact framework models, and Henry explained the difference between hourly and 24/7 calculations.

Carbon intensity and renewable energy in cloud computing.
Vincent emphasizes the importance of annual carbon intensity calculations, while Speaker 3 highlights the complexity of hourly calculations. Vincent suggests defining terms like "hourly" and "24/7" for clarity in the document. Adrian explains that carbon intensity data from the IEA is generally the same for a specific location, but some cloud providers may have renewable energy sources that are not included in the calculation. To differentiate between cloud providers in the same region, additional data sources, such as hourly carbon emissions data from electricity maps or marginal carbon numbers from a specific time, are necessary.

Data centre energy efficiency and sustainability.
Adrian notes that on-site generation is not material for data centers, but Tim raises the possibility of Google using hydroelectric power in US data centers. Vincent notes that a hyper-scale data center's energy consumption is equivalent to 2% of its annual average power generation, and Adrian agrees that it's not just about private power generation capacity, but rather about the grid's capacity to transmit that power. Adrian explains that if a data centre is not grid-connected, it can still draw power from the grid, but it's not necessarily cleaner or more sustainable than the rest of the grid.
Tim: Industry investment in cloud infrastructure drives demand for more sustainable data centres.
Adrian: Cloud region selection impacts carbon intensity, with higher PUE data centres in different grids.

Energy procurement metrics and cross-border purchasing.
Vincent emphasizes the importance of clarifying metrics for energy procurement, particularly the distinction between geographic and grid-level data. Vincent explains market-based sourcing rules for EU countries, including China and Hong Kong. Adrian notes that cloud providers like AWS are not purchasing significant amounts of cross-border renewable energy credits despite some countries having different energy usage patterns.

Standardizing cloud computing metrics and power measurement.
Adrian and Henry discuss naming conventions for columns of data and how to pass an "ace" through the system into an impact framework.

Adrian closes at 0950 (PT) / 1650 (GMT)

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Action Items

• Write a doc section defining terms like hourly, 24/7, grid, provider, etc.
• Reach out to Microsoft rep (Thomas) to discuss PUE data needs
• Create GitHub issues to request PUE data from AWS and Google
• Reach out to AWS contact to discuss getting power usage metrics
• Write a paragraph in the doc to explain the difference between market-based and location-based carbon intensity metrics
• Add section to doc with table/graph to show dimensions of different carbon metrics (geography, time, production vs consumption, etc)
• Follow up on Google PUE data issue