Data Centre to Replace Tiawi Point?

I talked earlier this month about the impacts of the proposed ETS in "ETS - Can Tiwai Point Survive" which relates to some interesting articles I read today from The Economist about computer data centres. The link lies in the amount of power that each uses - it's comparable. So if Rio Tinto decides to leave maybe we can replace it with a data centre, just like the ones that power Google?

Down on the server farm explains that the rise of web based applications is increasing the amount of computing power required to run the world wide web. It is data centres at the other end of the fibre that will become increasing important as we embrace "cloud computing." Football sized warehouses filled with thousands of computers are needed and it may become a bit of a surprise as to the location of such structures.

As more and more servers and systems are required the more energy they will require. Thus energy is a major consideration when deciding on a server farm location because it must not only power the computers but cool them also. It is therefore understandable that geographic locations with cool climates are being investigated. Iceland may be an option? Maybe Bluff?

So Bluff maybe the right location, but how does it stack up against the ETS? At present, not as great as one would think. I have always thought of a web business as having a low impact on the environment but if current cloud computing trends hold some estimate that by 2020 its carbon footprint will be larger than aviation!

If you read my blog Think Smarter Not Harder you will be aware of the big impacts of relatively small increases in efficiency. Well the same is true here. It appears that companies that supply to data centres are playing on these estimates because guess what? They can provide a solution!

According to Buy our stuff, save the planet many servers are not running to capacity and those controlling them only have a vague idea what is happening on each computer. By increasing efficiency, through matching computer requirements and availability the estimated carbon footprint would be significantly smaller.