Singapore: RDA and MVGX partner for sustainable data center development

MetaVerse Green Exchange (MVGX), a crypto exchange regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has announced it is teaming up with AI firm Red Dot Analytics, for carbon measurement and to offset tropical data centers.

Singapore implemented a three-year moratorium on new data center projects, which was lifted in January 2022, as a result of the industry consuming 7% of Singapore's largely non-renewable generated electricity. This project has been lauded as a potential answer to this crisis. But how will it work? Together RDA and MGVX plan to use more digital capacity to measure the carbon footprint of data centers in Singapore, with the intention of then offsetting this. RDA’s DCWiz technology, through AI, has the ability to create a digital replica of data centers and their operations, and simulate the effect of implemented changes before they’re physically deployed. Meanwhile, MVGX’s carbon management system, powered by its non-fungible digital twin technology (NFDT), will be responsible for handling the reporting, calculation, and validation process. This, the company has said, will credibly certify carbon neutrality with the British Standards Institution‘s (BSI) carbon footprint verification and PAS 2060 carbon neutrality verification.

Speaking about the proposal, Red Dot Analytics Chief Scientist and professor of computer science and engineering at NTU Dr. Wen Yonggang, said “For too long now, rapid technological innovation and changing consumer behaviors have come at the expense of the environment.” Adding: “While there are growing trends in the use of renewables or the race to produce more energy-efficient hardware, the truth is, we need to find ways to use energy in a more intelligent way and that begins with accurate measurement. RDA can solve one part of the puzzle and in working with MVGX, we hope to strengthen our value proposition by taking our clients one step further in their sustainability journeys.”

Bo Bai, chairman and co-founder of MVGX, commented: “As businesses work toward meeting their net-zero goals, they need to consider the entire scope of what they do and that begins, first and foremost, with the infrastructure that powers their operations. Today, data centers, while overlooked, are a core component of any online organization and in working with RDA, we want to show that there is in fact a way to ensure that energy expenditure at every level, can in fact be accounted for and mitigated accurately.”

While this sounds like a positive development, it’s important to note that the very foundation of the proposal has its own problems. Many sustainability groups have argued that offsets effectively allow companies to continue polluting unimpeded through their continued use of non-renewable sources of energy. On the other hand, blockchain is well-known for being slow, inefficient and power hungry.