Siting a
Data Center: Dilemma or Opportunity
Recently, much has been written and discussed in both
professional social media sites and IT journals about locating a data center,
particularly as it relates to the issue of energy and cooling. The discussion has raised several options
including siting facilities in countries where cooler temperatures are normal
and geothermal and other environmentally friendly forms of energy are more
common. That being said, it takes a long,
large, robust data hose to make such sites viable. Other interesting options are also coming to
the fore. This piece discusses Nordic
and other options for businesses to consider.
Go North,
Young Man….
A 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek article titled
Iceland, Data Center Hub? describes
Iceland, with a population of 320,000, as “waiting to host the world’s
information.” (
Link
to BW article) A former NATO air base is the site of Verne Global, a $700
million data center where, “You have 100 percent renewable energy. We can
do 100 percent free cooling.” The
piece also notes, “Iceland faces competition from its Nordic neighbors. In
southern Finland, near Helsinki, Google has converted a former paper mill
into a data center; Facebook’s first site outside the U.S. will be built close
to the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden.”
In Iceland, The 100 percent free cooling is from the
country’s abundant geothermal sources coupled with low ambient temperatures. Most Nordic countries have abundant
hydroelectric power, a source not without its own environmental concerns. Still, the economics are compelling for
energy efficient operation.
Why Not in
My Back Yard?
For some, Nordic and Arctic regions may be too remote to consider.
How about next door? Siting data centers
in large population centers can make a lot of sense. High speed communication is easier because
data transmission infrastructure is in place and many users are local. Knowledgeable and experienced staff can be
abundantly available. But what can be
done about data center power and cooling demands in modern urban environments
where electrical grids are often strained and getting rid of heat not always
easy?
Creative data centers are taking two paths, sometimes in
combination. One is to use heat produced for internal cost reduction. Intel published a 2007 Brief titled Data
Center Heat Recovery Helps Intel Create Green Facility. (
Link
to Intel Brief) In this piece a new
data center was able to provide a 1.7 month ROI by installing special heat
recovery equipment instead of conventional boilers for the facilities hot water
and heating needs. NREL’s new HPC Data
Center in Golden Colorado uses such an idea.
Opened in early 2013, the facility uses heat capture and reuse to save a
projected $200,000 in annual operating expenses, which combined with other
energy savings, can bring the site’s total energy savings to $1,000,000 per
year.
NREL HPC Data Center
waste heat recovery system (Source:
Link
to NREL)
A second path is to use
the exhaust heat for local businesses and residences. Like many older
complexes, my university had a central boiler plant with steam pipes to the
campus buildings. Data centers may be
the new “central heating system” for surrounding buildings.
Website ecoBuilderToday described Canadian
telecommunications company Telus’ latest project, a $750-million residential
and commercial complex in downtown Vancouver, BC. (
Link
to ecoBuilderToday Website) The
Telus Garden development will use waste heat from its own data center to heat
and cool the 24-story office tower and a 53-story residential tower with more
than 425 homes plus retail space. Waste
heat will also supply domestic hot water for both towers. While power from the grid is needed, capture
and reuse of the waste data center heat is expected to reduce the development’s
energy demand from conventional sources by up to 80 percent. Many eyes will be watching this project to
determine if the economic projections live up to expectations, but there is
reason to believe that this design concept will be useful for many large urban
infill projects.
Telus Garden data
center, retail and residential complex design concept
Too Many
Choices, Too Little Time
Which location is best for a particular data center? Businesses will need to assess their strategy
and priorities. Considering the Verne
Global Iceland based location, Bloomberg Businessweek authors cite an industry
competitor who notes, “Iceland may be too remote to become a true data hub. The
location would be useful for backup data rather than live traffic that’s needed
on a trading floor.” Certainly the
infrastructure for seamless, reliable high speed communication is paramount.
Still, the arguments and economics may be compelling for those who can afford
to build and enlist high quality staff in such remote locations.
For the urban infill projects, large commercial and
industrial cities will have future challenges for electrical grid capacity and
reliability. The 2012 hurricane Sandy
certainly showed even data centers that planned for such outages were at risk
of flooding in their below grade generator rooms. So assessing the businesses
service reliability guarantees will be an integral part of the siting decision.
As I write this article I am in a friend’s beautiful wooded
New England pond side cabin in early April, and winter’s grip is still evident. Despite this, crocuses are beginning to
emerge through the leaves, beavers are actively taking down trees for new
projects, and giant blue herons and Bufflehead ducks forage for food. It’s nice to have the time to relax and catch
up on reading and writing, but my ADD is whispering to me that it’s time to get
closer to civilization. Iceland or
Vancouver, two interesting choices, ones businesses may want to consider in
their search for cost-effective data center options for their current and future
customers.
Author: Dave Ruede is VP Marketing at Boston based
Temperature@lert (
www.temperaturealert.com),
a leading developer and provider of low-cost, high-performance temperature
monitoring products. Professional
interests include environmental and energy issues as they relate to data
centers, clean rooms, and electronics.
Contact: dave@temperaturealert.com
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