Microsoft uses a hydrogen fuel cell system to power Microsoft Azure data center for 48 hours

Microsoft has previously announced that it will achieve the goal of zero carbon emissions by 2030, that is, all facilities will no longer use traditional non-renewable energy sources to achieve environmental protection.

Microsoft has previously placed data centers on the seabed in Western Europe to cool down, and then uses onshore wind farms to power servers without using fossil energy.

In a recent test, Microsoft successfully used hydrogen fuel cells to power the large data center of the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform for 48 hours without interruption.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft said that for now, the company has eliminated most of its dependence on fossil energy, but its data centers still use diesel-driven backup generator sets.

In the blog, the company stated that diesel generator sets are expensive and diesel is not cheap, and the cost of using alternative hydrogen fuel cells can drop sharply.

Therefore, Microsoft executives agreed to use hydrogen batteries for diesel generator substitution tests, and eventually, Microsoft used hydrogen fuel cells to power the data center for 48 hours.

These hydrogen fuel cells mainly emit non-polluting water during combustion, which is naturally better than fossil fuels emitting carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and other greenhouse gases.