Sometimes, the smallest news items may point to a large trend lurking beneath the surface. A good case: Google announced later last month that it had installed 100 million lithium-ion cells throughout its data center to provide backup power to its servers.
That alone, it’s not news that will crush the earth. But it sheds light on the trend that ripples the world. Batteries are everywhere, changing countless parts of the economy thanks to relentless pushes to significantly reduce the costs of electric vehicles.
A few years ago, in Google’s data centers, server racks were fixed with lead ACID battery backup units. The old crankers were reliable, but they were bulky, heavy and not very strong.
However, the benefits are increasing as Google has replaced it with lithium-ion cells. Google says the cells they use hold twice the power and take up half the space of an old lead-acid battery. As a result, the company was able to reduce the number of cells needed by three-quarters.
In that space, Google can pack more servers, unlike batteries like physical forms of insurance. You will need to use them in emergencies, but you will only need to buy what you absolutely need. According to developer JLL, every inch counts considering it would cost at least $125 to develop a new one-square-foot data center.
The trend in battery as a bankrupt is also being rolled out elsewhere.
At home, people install large multikilowatt batteries to store excess sunlight and leave the lights on when the power goes off. At campsites, portable battery packs are used to replace noisy, harmful generators. One startup is moving dry ice from the delivery of medical specimens using small cells, providing finer temperature control and a lot of tracking data for booting.
Should Google be impressed with the installation of 100 million lithium-ion cells after 2015? It depends on the context. Since opening in 2015, Panasonic has shipped over 10 billion cells from its Nevada plant.
No matter how undesirable, the ratio seems to underscore the effects of the cascades the battery has. Even Google’s modest numbers show how batteries can create subtle confusion in the expected corners of the world.