Despite the Trump administration’s decision, the data center industry is continuing to lead the shift to renewable energy to power the Internet economy.
Insights: Data Center Energy
Electricity is the lifeblood of every data center. At Data Center Frontier, we're exploring new frontiers in data center energy as we see data centers in new places. Some of these new facilities will seek new sources of energy, especially renewable technologies such as wind and solar, as well as landfills and other sources of biogas. Other technologies, such as Bloom Energy fuel cells, may prompt consolidated approaches to power architecture.
We're interested in how modular data centers and other design innovations allow new methods of deploying Internet infrastructure, creating opportunities to make use of solar arrays, wind turbines, fuel cells, combined heat & power (CHP), microgrids, and the recycling of server exhaust heat to warm buildings through district heating.
DataStation: Bringing Servers to the Heart of the Grid
The SRP DataStation places modular data centers at the bulk transmission lines that represent the fast lane of the power grid, allowing them to operate without a UPS or generator.
Iron Mountain Energy Deal Highlights Greening of Colo Sector
The latest company to provision green power for its data centers is Iron Mountain, which today announced a 15-year agreement to purchase 25 megawatts of wind power capacity from a new wind farm in Pennsylvania.
Greener Terawatts: Google, Microsoft Seek Renewable Cloud
Google used 5.7 Terawatt hours of energy in 2015. which is why the company has also taken a leadership position in procuring renewable energy for its data centers and cloud campuses.
Colo Customers Organize to Seek Greener Power
Fourteen large tech companies want to improve the green power options for colocation customers through Corporate Colocation and Cloud Buyers’ Principles developed by non-profit BSR.
The Cloud Becomes A Major Force in Green Energy
Cloud computing providers signed contracts for more than 1.2 gigawatts of renewable power in 2016, marking a dramatic turnaround from data centers’ earlier dependence upon coal power.
Green Data Center Conference Returns to La Jolla, CA
Early bird registration is open for the 8th Annual Green Data Center Conference 2017 until January 27th. This event is being held on February 21st-23rd at the San Diego Supercomputer Center in La Jolla, CA with the option to attend two live data center tours.
Amazon Approaches 1 Gigawatt of Cloud Capacity in Virginia
Amazon’s cloud computing operation may soon have more than 1 gigawatt of power capacity supporting its huge US-East data center cluster, according to a Greenpeace analysis of the company’s energy use.
Lithium-Ion Batteries Offer New Options for Data Center Backup Power
For decades, data center uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS) have predominantly relied on valve regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries for backup transitional power. Increasingly, businesses are looking for alternatives to the VRLA, such as lithium-ion batteries.
Greenpeace: The Cloud is Getting Greener, But Work Remains
The cloud is getting greener, with a growing number of server farms supported by renewable power, according to a new report from Greenpeace. The environmental group, which has been one of the data center industry’s toughest critics, now says it has seen meaningful improvement in the use of green energy by cloud computing platforms. The […]
Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 15 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution.