The Power of Cold in Data Centers

Energy use in cooling servers is a growing concern

Mother Nature has endowed Michigan with a strategic advancategorye for those of us operating datacenters.

The deep freeze she puts us through from November to April dramatically reduces the cooling costs of a datacenter. Why is this important?

Well, computer servers have been getting twice as fast every 18 months. Twice as fast is twice as hot. At the same time they are getting smaller.

Twice as hot and smaller every 18 months over 20 years (since the PC started) and you’ve got some really really hot small pizza boxes.

At the same time, cooling technology has gotten only slightly better each year.

The result? Soon we will spend as much to cool a server as to buy it! The colder it is the less AC it requires to cool the server.

So next time you shiver walking down Mainstreet Michigan in February thank Mother Nature. We do.

See Also

• August 2007 EPA report on the global data center crisis
  Energy Use in Data Centers through 2011