Reducing the Global ICT Footprint via Self-adaptive Large-scale ICT Systems

ICT目前消耗了全球约10%的电力，云计算中心、物联网和HPC系统等大型ICT系统在能源消耗和温室气体排放方面产生了巨大的ICT足迹，并且对气候变化的贡献越来越大。计算机科学和各种工程学科的研究人员主要通过改进调度、软件优化、硬件和冷却来提高单个组件（软件、服务器、网络、冷却）的能效来解决这个问题。然而，提高系统组件效率仍然导致全球ICT足迹不断增长-更多的数据、更强的计算能力和更多的设备。这是由于反弹效应，即技术进步提高了系统效率，但也提高了消费率和最终用途需求。鉴于摩尔定律的终结、全球数字服务消费的增长以及社会中大数据和人工智能服务的兴起，这一点越来越令人担忧--所有这些都导致ICT足迹迅速增加。人们不再可能依赖传统的看法，即“绿色”大规模信息和通信技术系统可以仅仅通过提高组件的能源效率来实现。我们认为，这一问题并非不可克服，但需要从根本上重新思考大规模信通技术系统的设计和运作方式。一个系统的ICT足迹是其操作的副产品，我们建议扭转这种动态-系统操作，而不是一个副产品，并直接决定，其ICT足迹。所需要的不是更高的效率，而是对ICT系统如何运行和响应能源水平和足迹目标的精确控制;考虑到在理解ICT足迹表现，组件交互和组织可持续发展的影响之间的关系的绝对规模和复杂性，这是一个重大的研究挑战。这一挑战进一步加剧了潜在的组织阻力，他们可能会在环境问题上支持商业利润。然而，克服这一挑战将使ICT系统的运行直接与可再生能源产生的能源相匹配，遵守在组织或国家层面定义的指定温室气体排放目标，或动态地与组织的商业目标或运营成本限制相一致。该研究金将设计一个大规模的信通技术系统，能够根据能源供应情况和信通技术足迹目标自行调整其运作。这具体包括：（1）研究技术组织内ICT足迹表现的原因，并了解制定可持续发展战略的理由和影响。(2)确定复杂的信通技术组成部分相互作用与由此产生的信通技术足迹之间的精确关系并建立模型。(3)设计一个自适应框架，全面协调信通技术节能决策。(4)该奖学金由英国及其他地区的工业和学术计算机科学和可持续发展合作者组成的联盟提供支持，并将在生产和实验室基于CPU/GPU的计算中心和HPC系统中进行大量的实证分析和实验。这项研究的结果可能是在面对环境变化时设计未来数字基础设施的突破性成果。我们的主要成果包括：-在不影响软件性能的情况下，将ICT系统能耗降低25-50%。 - 证明通过解除系统运作的反弹效应，扭转全球信通技术足迹增长的可行性。- 发布来自现实世界ICT系统的最大深度运营和能源数据。

ICT now consumes approximately 10% of global electricity, with large-scale ICT systems such as Cloud datacentres, IoT, and HPC systems generating a substantial ICT footprint in terms of energy consumption and GHG emissions, and are growing contributors to climate change. Researchers across Computer Science and various engineering disciplines have predominantly tackled this problem via enhancing the energy-efficiency of individual components (software, servers, networking, cooling) via improvements to scheduling, software optimisation, hardware, and cooling.However, enhancing system component efficiency has still resulted in a growing global ICT footprint - more data, greater compute ability, and more devices. This is due to the rebound effect, whereby technological progress enhances system efficiency, however increases the rate of consumption and end-use demand. This is of increasing concern given the end of Moore's law, growing global digital service consumption, and the rise of Big Data and AI services in society - all when combined result in a rapidly increasing ICT footprint. It is no longer possible to rely on the conventional perception that 'green' large-scale ICT systems can be achieved just by solely improving component energy-efficiency. There needs to focused effort to actually reverse the global ICT footprint.We believe that this problem is not insurmountable however, yet requires a radical rethink how large-scale ICT systems are designed and operate. A system's ICT footprint is a by-product of its operation; we propose to inverse this dynamic - whereby system operation is instead a by-product of, and directly dictated by, its ICT footprint. What is required isn't greater efficiency, but instead precise control over how ICT systems operate and respond to energy levels and footprint targets; a significant research challenge given the sheer scale and complexity in understanding the relationship between ICT footprint manifestation, component interactions, and the impact of organisational sustainability practises. This challenge is further compounded by potential organisational resistance who may champion commercial profits over environment concerns. However, overcoming this challenge would allow ICT systems operation to be directly matched to energy generated from renewable sources, adhere to a specified GHG emission targets defined at organisational or national level, or dynamically align with an organisation's commercial targets or OpEx restrictions. This fellowship will design a large-scale ICT system capable of self-adapting its operation in response to energy availability and ICT footprint targets. This specifically entails:(1) Studying of causes of ICT footprint manifestation within technology organisations, and understand the rationale and impact of enacting sustainability practises.(2) Determine and model the precise relationship between complex ICT component interactions and resultant ICT footprint. (3) Design a self-adaptive framework that coordinates ICT energy-efficient decision making holistically.(4) Create a holistic resource manager underpinned by energy availability and ICT footprint targets.This fellowship is backed by a consortium of industrial and academic Computer Science and sustainability collaborators in the UK and beyond, and will be underpinned by considerable empirical analysis and experimentation in both production and laboratory CPU/GPU-based datacentre and HPC systems. Findings from this fellowship are potentially ground breaking towards designing future digital infrastructure in the face of environmental change. Our key outcomes include: - Reducing ICT system energy use between 25-50% with no software performance penalty. - Demonstrating the feasibility to reverse global ICT footprint growth via unshackling system operation from the rebound effect. - Releasing the largest in-depth operational and energy data from real-world ICT systems.