Google Patent Eyes Hydrogen for Data Centers as Energy Use Soars

As its AI ambitions reach a fever pitch, Google wants to make sure its data centers aren’t heating up the earth. 

The company filed a patent application for “hydrogen fueling and storage optimization” of fuel cells in data centers. Google’s method essentially rations how much hydrogen its data centers can rely on. 

“Utilizing greener energy sources is desirable for consuming such large amounts of power,” Google said in the filing. “However, transitioning away from diesel fuels to greener fuels that are less energy dense, such as liquid hydrogen, can create new problems for data centers.” 

Google’s model takes into account several factors in rationing liquid hydrogen fuel, including how fast the data center consumes hydrogen, physical storage constraints of the data center, and logistical refueling constraints. It also takes into account vendor information — such as the time it takes for a vendor to respond and refuel — and cost per tank of hydrogen. Additionally, the system may monitor the amount of hydrogen a facility has available at any given time. 

All of this information is used to calculate and adjust the amount of hydrogen fuel a data center can use at any given time. In the event of an emergency, Google’s model takes into account the power needs of the data center and increases the hydrogen fueling it to prevent sudden power outages. 

As AI demand continues to skyrocket, so does the power demand on data centers. These facilities currently eat up between 1% and 2% of power globally — and that could double by 2030.

And as Google forges on with its crusade for AI dominance, its energy bill feels the effects. The company revealed in July in its annual environmental report that its emissions jumped 50% over the past five years, noting that data centers and supply chain emissions are the primary reason. It said reaching net zero by 2030 is “extremely ambitious,” and that the environmental impact of AI is “complex and difficult to predict.” 

“Google knows that data centers are a huge component of [its energy footprint] and are only scheduled to grow, and they’re looking for creative solutions,” said Dan Stein, founder and executive director of Giving Green.

Lots of companies are searching for solutions to the data center problem. Intel, Microsoft, and Google have all sought patents aimed at tempering data centers’ energy usage. Nvidia filed a patent application to use “natural gas or bio-gas,” such as hydrogen, to cool down data centers, and Microsoft has researched cryogenic energy as a solution. 

Hydrogen, however, may not be the silver bullet, said Stein. Though hydrogen is an abundant natural gas, making it useful is quite energy-intensive, he said, and it is quite difficult to transport. 

Plus, he said, not all hydrogen is created equal: Blue hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas during carbon capture, still emits carbon dioxide; green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable resources, is zero-carbon (though more expensive). 

“At this point, most serious energy modelers do not think that hydrogen is ever going to be practically used for electricity generation because of all of these complications,” said Stein.