THE PRODUCTION OF CLOUD
Environmental footprint and sociological impact of cloud-computing in the era of AI
Smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities— "smartness" and AI have become the prefix to nearly every aspect of our lives, promising seamless, instantaneous solutions and interactions facilitated by an invisible "cloud."
The cloud metaphor suggests a frictionless, immaterial flow of information powering pervasive intelligence. Yet, what if this cloud is not ethereal but a vast, energy-hungry, and heavily mechanized landscape grounded in specific geographies, often in remote mountain areas, with extensive environmental and socioeconomic impacts?
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The cloud is firmly rooted in a complex material reality: a planetary-scale network of telecommunications infrastructure, data centers, mining sites, and (un)renewable energy landscapes. The escalating AI revolution has intensified the socio-environmental pressures exerted by these landscapes, characterized by prodigious energy and water consumption. What's more, cloud infrastructure has evolved from a mere technical utility into a critical geopolitical asset. It now plays a pivotal role in shaping national sovereignty, ensuring data security, reinforcing techno-feudal power structures, and informing territorial strategies in an era of intensifying geo-political competition.
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The planetary scale, escalating energy consumption, and socio-economic ramifications of cloud infrastructure are inextricably linked to the climate crisis, demanding urgent attention and innovative solutions.​
This study intends to unveil the hidden 'cloud landscape' powering our digital lives, mapping the resource-intensive peripheries of data centers and (un)renewable energy infrastructures while exposing their profound social and environmental impacts in the era of AI.
By elucidating the production of cloud, this research aims to:
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- Develop a new analytical framework that reveals the materiality and extended geography of the “invisible” cloud.
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- Evaluate the geopolitical, socio-economic, and ecological forces shaping cloud infrastructure and critically assess its local and global consequences with case studies from China and Switzerland.
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- Propose architectural and territorial paradigms that engage with the post-human landscapes of cloud infrastructure, addressing socio-ecological challenges and exploring opportunities for innovation.
Image:Yue Zhao
What is the cloud?
Where is the cloud?
How does the production of cloud reshape our environment?
To meet the enormous energy demands of data centers, the once desolate mountains have been transformed into intricate operational landscapes of energy. These are adorned with expansive wind and solar farms, complemented by peak-regulating thermal power infrastructure to ensure grid stability amidst the inherent intermittency of renewable energy sources.
However, the data centers and renewable energy industries have not brought the anticipated development and prosperity to the local communities. Instead, these industries prioritize automation and unmanned operations. The ongoing depopulation in Zhangjiazhuang continues to intensify, urging us to rethink and recalibrate the approach to the 'production of the cloud.
Serving as a pivotal node in China's 'Eastern Data, Western Computing' strategy (2022) and catalyzed by the 2022 Winter Olympics, Zhangjiakou has undergone a remarkable metamorphosis, repurposing former military bases and mining sites into a cutting-edge cloud hub, with data centers and renewable energy facilities under construction.
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An unforeseen detour through the mountainous terrains of Zhangjiakou led me to a striking juxtaposition of emerging data center clusters. In this remote expanse devoid of human presence, the massive digital fortresses of Tencent (to the left) and ByteDance (to the right) rose amidst the quiet region.