One key element of future data center design should be water cooling. Currently, most data centers rely upon air conditioning to vent excess heat. However, liquid is several hundred times more efficient than air for cooling hot servers” [15]. Google currently uses water or evaporative cooling systems in their data centers [16]. These systems resemble a traditional radiator in that heat is transferred from the air into water flowing through pipes. The hot water is then pumped to a cooling tower where it dissipates the heat through evaporation and cool water then re-enters the system. Future systems could even harness this hot water as a resource to gain even more energy efficiency. To see how IBM proposes to do this, you can watch this short IBM animation.
Finally, if data centers and IT companies are truly concerned with reducing their GHG emissions and not just on saving money by reducing their energy consumption, then switching to clean, renewable sources of energy is the final step in the greening of data centers. To this end, Google initiated a project in 2007 called: Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE<C) [17]. The aim of this program is to have the capacity to generate a gigawatt of energy from renewable sources within the span of a few years. To achieve this goal, Google has created a special research and development branch in their engineering division to pursue advanced solar, wind and geothermal energy production systems. Additionally, companies such as “Google and Microsoft have announced plans to build new data centers along the Columbia River to take advantage of hydroelectric power” [18]. Using a clean, stable, renewable energy source such as hydroelectric power will allow the company to reduce their overall GHG emissions while they work on reducing their energy needs which ultimately reduces their operational expenses.
LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology, School of Library, Archival and Information Science, University of British Columbia
Neil MacDonald
November 17th, 2008