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Contabo's 100% renewable claim vs weekly diesel test runs

Datacenter Talk by blogfranck 28 replies 2.6K views
blogfranck

Member OP

12 #1

I do the maths on this one. Our hosting provider Contabo publish nice PDF, green certificates, the works. But I check the generator logs from neighbor colo—weekly test, 30 minutes, 2MW diesel. Voilà, 52 hours yearly of pure diesel burn.

The offset math: 104 MWh diesel versus their "100% renewable" claim. Scope 2 easy to wash with RECs. But the diesel? That is Scope 1, direct. No hiding.

I ask this: if you run diesel weekly for "reliability," are you truly renewable? Or is the marketing team in another building from the operations team?

Someone do the carbon math. I am curious.

lookuppierre

Member

#2

How to say... the Scope 3 is the tricky one, no? The Contabo they buy the servers from The Dell, the concrete for the building, the trucks for delivery. «100% renewable» means only the electricity, not the Life Cycle. I see this before with The OVHcloud -- https://www.ovhcloud.com -- same story.

Yes, I mean yes, the diesel is bad. But the Embodied Carbon is worse, I think. Someone have the numbers?

prix fixe infrastructure: €5/mo
reykjavik_doc

Member

container skeptic

4 #3

Docker? Cgroups and namespaces with a logo ; your diesel generator is just a combustion engine with extra steps

Þey run þose tests because þe utility requires it; no container orchestration fixes þat. systemd could schedule þe tests during solar peak but no, cron is deprecated now everyone wants timers

I have no containers at my home lab. Bare metal and þe occasional þinkpad. Þis whole industry runs on diesel and marketing

Chen

Member

☁️ multi-cloud mess

#4
lookuppierre said:
The Embodied Carbon is worse

Can lah but diesel every week leh, not once off lor

My country diesel backup also must test, regulation one. But we call it diesel, not say 100% renewable. Honest better

Contabo can offset anot? Or just buy green cert cheap cheap already

RanggaDass

Member

9 #5

Contabo have Singapore DC but I never see their diesel. Maybe inside building lor. My VPS there cheap cheap, 4 euro, cannot complain too much. But the green claim... aiyah, all same one.

blogfranck

Member OP

#6
lookuppierre said:
The Embodied Carbon is worse

Pierre you are not wrong. But the embodied carbon is amortized over 5 years, maybe 10. The diesel? Every week forever. Compound interest but for CO2.

I check my numbers again. 104 MWh diesel at 0.85 kg CO2 per kWh = 88.4 tonnes yearly. For ONE generator. How many they have in Nuremberg alone?

reykjavik_doc

Member

container skeptic

#7
blogfranck said:
How many they have in Nuremberg alone?

Þeir Nuremberg site is big. I would guess four generators minimum for N+1. Þat is 350 tonnes easy, probably more. Þe concrete shell alone took more CO2 to pour.

But þe utility mandate is real. Iceland we have hydro, no diesel needed. Þe grid itself is þe backup. Different world.

Fritz48

Member

Datenschutz First

#8

The diesel testing is not only Contabo, this is standard. TÜV, BSI, all require it. But the marketing claim "100% renewable" with this practice? That is the problem. In Germany we have term "greenwashing." Very popular now.

I host with Hetzner for this reason. They publish diesel usage numbers. Not perfect but transparent.

Neuland. Aber schnell.
Chen

Member

☁️ multi-cloud mess

#9
Fritz48 said:
They publish diesel usage numbers.

Wah really ah? I check later. Contabo PDF very pretty but no diesel number inside. Only REC certificate from wind farm somewhere.

My Singtel DC also got diesel test. Can hear from road one. But they never say 100% renewable, just "energy efficient." More honest lor.

MO

Member

#10

Same in Toulouse, the Orange DC near Blagnac airport, you hear the test every Tuesday 11h. I worked nearby. 15 minutes, very loud. They don't claim green either.

Contabo price 4 EUR for VPS, how much can you expect? The green cert maybe cost them 0.50 EUR per customer per year. Cheap to wash.

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