Microsoft's building data centres out of wood hoping we'll forget AI's made its carbon emissions 29% higher than when it pledged to go 'carbon negative' in 2020

Cross-laminated timber being used in two new Microsoft datacentres under construction in northern Virginia.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Traditional data centre buildings are standard industrial constructions, with steel and concrete being the main materials. In a bid to reduce its carbon emissions, Microsoft is currently building two new data centres that use a hybrid wood construction, that the software company claims has a 35% lower carbon footprint than other standard designs.

Wood is perhaps the last material that one would associate with hulking servers and associated buildings, but that's precisely what's being used, according to a news report by Microsoft (via The Register).

Strictly speaking, it's using a kind of plywood called cross-laminar timber (CLT)—thick layers of wood glued together, with the grain of each piece at right angles to the one underneath it.

Depending on the size, such facilities use a lot of electricity and it's estimated that in the US alone, the total power consumption could hit 35 GW by 2030—potentially doubling the carbon emissions seen today.

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The reason why I mention that specific year is that it's also the deadline Microsoft has set itself for being carbon-negative (i.e. its total carbon offset and capture footprint is larger than its emissions).

Not that this is going particularly well right now, as Microsoft's carbon emissions are 29% greater than they were in 2020 when it set the carbon goal, due to building more data centres for AI.

Now, I don't believe for a moment that Microsoft thinks that two wooden builds are going to make much of a difference here, especially in light of how much energy they're going to consume, but every little helps.

CLT is a bit more expensive than standard steel and precast concrete builds, so Microsoft is at least putting its money where its mouth is.

I think I might have an idea for something it could try to further cut down on carbon emissions, though. How about it stops adding AI to everything it makes, so fewer AI servers are needed? Yeah, I guess not.

Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in the early 1980s. After leaving university, he became a physics and IT teacher and started writing about tech in the late 1990s. That resulted in him working with MadOnion to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its PC gaming section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com covering everything and anything to do with tech and PCs. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open-world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?