I’ve always admired Google for being serious in reducing their energy consumption, specifically in their data centers. Which we could say is the life blood of their business because it houses the data and algorithms of their search and money making online applications.
One special data center to take note of is the one located in Belgium. That’s because it operates on natural cooling alone due to the natural cool climate of Belgium.
Without the need for chillers to cool computer equipment they save a ton of money on electricity which also helps to limit the amount of fossil fuel burned into the atmospher. The catch however is that if the temperature gets too hot, they have to turn off the data centers in Belgium. The resulting capacity lost will then have to be shouldered by the other Google data centers located across the world.
The article also points out that this ability to take the slack of downed data centers by other data centers could be an enabler for more energy saving strategies. Specifically turning off data centers running on peak hours where the energy cost of the grid is high or running them only at night when the temperature is cool therefore having no need to turn on the chillers.
In the past, Google has given a glimpse of their energy saving data center strategy to the public so that other groups can benefit from it.
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Category: Misc, Energy Tips
