Let’s talk Data Centres – Pixie Van Dimple and I were reading our First News newspaper today, our trusted news source – and we saw an article about how Kier Starmer, our Prime Minister, is investing a lot of money in Artificial Intelligence ‘to boost public services across the UK’.
The plan is to build more Data Centres across the UK so that we can compete with other countries and develop our own Artificial Intelligence technology, to be a global leader and experts in the field! Woo! The ‘Right Kind of Artificial Intelligence!’
It also talks about ‘meddling Elon Musk’ but the less said about that the better !
Since Pixie is an expert in Artificial Intelligence now but also champions sustainability and the circular economy, she is interested to know how eco-friendly data centres are – what are they made of, how are they powered and are they sustainable?
So, we asked Chat GPT! Yes Chat GPT is being used by teachers to create lesson plans so we thought we would try it out..
To make things more fun, we created a quiz – multiple choice questions – see how you get on, go on give it a try..
Question 1: What is a data centre?
A) A place where people go to play video games
B) A large building full of computers that store and process information
C) A science lab that studies plants and animals
D) A factory that builds mobile phones
Question 2: How much electricity do data centres around the world use?
A) Enough to power one city
B) About the same as all the schools in the UK
C) More than the electricity used by some countries
D) None at all – they don’t need electricity
Question 3: What is one reason why data centres use a lot of electricity?
A) They need to power millions of computers
B) They have bright lights on all the time
C) They use computers that are very old
D) They don’t use electricity at all
Question 4: Data centres also need water to cool their computers. Why do computers in data centres need to stay cool?
A) To keep the building nice for workers
B) To stop the computers from getting too hot and breaking
C) So they don’t use too much electricity
D) To help them run faster
Question 5: How much water can a data centre in a rural area use in one day?
A) As much as one swimming pool
B) As much as 10 households
C) As much as 50,000 people in a small town
D) None – data centres don’t use water
Question 6: Where is the largest data centre in the world located?
A) The UK
B) The United States
C) China
D) Australia
Question 7: What material is commonly used to build the walls and foundations of data centres?
A) Wood
B) Concrete
C) Plastic
D) Glass
Question 8: Why is concrete a concern for sustainability?
A) It is expensive to buy
B) It releases a lot of carbon emissions when produced
C) It’s too heavy to use in data centres
D) It doesn’t last very long
Question 9: What type of metal is often used for wiring and cooling systems in data centres?
A) Gold
B) Iron
C) Copper
D) Silver
Question 10: Why are rare earth metals important for data centres?
A) They help power the lights in the building
B) They’re used in computers and cooling fans
C) They make the buildings look pretty
D) They help recycle old equipment
Question 11: What is one problem with mining rare earth metals?
A) It’s very slow and doesn’t work well
B) It uses a lot of water and harms the environment
C) It’s done in deserts and is too hot to work there
D) It’s easy to do but costs too much
Question 12: What material is used to make semiconductors, which are the “brains” of computers?
A) Glass
B) Silicon
C) Plastic
D) Copper
Question 13: What happens to old computers and servers when they’re no longer useful?
A) They are thrown away as waste
B) They disappear into thin air
C) They are recycled or refurbished in some cases
D) They are melted into gold
Question 14: How do data centres use water?
A) To help cool down hot computers
B) To clean the floors in the building
C) To generate electricity
D) To water the plants around the building
Question 15: What is one way data centres save energy when cooling computers?
A) Using fans powered by wind turbines
B) Cooling only the computers that need it
C) Turning off computers at night
D) Adding more water every hour
Question 16: What material is often used for data centre roofs to reflect heat?
A) Black tiles
B) Grass
C) White or reflective membranes
D) Solar panels only
Question 17: What renewable energy sources are used to power some data centres?
A) Coal and oil
B) Wind and solar
C) Wood and gas
D) Steam and fire
Question 18: What can companies do to make data centres more sustainable?
A) Build more data centres in cities
B) Use recycled materials and renewable energy
C) Use only new equipment and materials
D) Build them near forests
Question 19: Why are recycled materials important in data centres?
A) They are cheaper to buy
B) They reduce waste and environmental damage
C) They make data centres run faster
D) They make buildings stronger
Question 20: What is one way that AI (Artificial Intelligence) helps data centres?
A) It turns computers off when no one is using them
B) It improves the way cooling systems work to save energy and water
C) It builds new computers faster
D) It fixes broken servers
Answers – how did you do?
- B 2. C 3. A 4. B 5. C 6. B 7. B 8. B 9. C 10. B 11. B 12. B 13. C 14. A 15. B 16. C 17. B 18. B 19. B 20.B
Lynn McAllister 