Printer manufacturers Hewlett Packard have unveiled the world’s first wind cooled data centre: an IT services and management hub cooled by entirely external means.
Located in North West England, the facility maintains a fixed 24C temperate owing to eight 2.1 stainless steel and plastic intake fans. Modular filters remove impurities such as dust before the air is circulated, where it runs through the flooring and over the server racks. There the air is finally exhausted.
The Billingham facility is the most energy efficient hub built by Hewlett Packard: for every 1.2 watts spent on powering the server racks, 1 watt is spent cooling them. This gives the wind cooled data centre a 1.2 PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) measurement – when 1.5 PUE is the mark for an energy efficient site.
This is only feasible though because of the region’s temperate climate. Temperatures at Billingham exceed 24C for only 20 hours a year. Even this increase though necessitates electric coolers to keep the server racks regulated.
By contrast, when the outside temperate drops too much exhausted air is recirculated.
In addition to the intake fans, the Billingham facility uses light coloured server racks. These reflect sunlight more easily, saving 40% on electric lighting. What’s more, rain water is collected to increase the facility’s humidity. When the outside air becomes too dry, spray from the 80,000 litre tanks is released.
HP believes they’ll make power savings of £2.4m from the wind cooled data centre.
The IT services and management hub houses HP’s electronic data, and is very secure. A high perimeter fence lines the facility, while the corridors are accessed with biometric readings. When HP opened the facility to journalists last week, cameras were forbidden.
Yet the intake fans contribute to security, by making the facility more anonymous. To the unsuspecting observer, the wind cooled data centre would appear your average treatment plant. In fact the Billingham hub is not only really efficient, but the central nervous system for Hewlett Packard’s IT services.
[Via PCWorld.com]
Located in North West England, the facility maintains a fixed 24C temperate owing to eight 2.1 stainless steel and plastic intake fans. Modular filters remove impurities such as dust before the air is circulated, where it runs through the flooring and over the server racks. There the air is finally exhausted.
The Billingham facility is the most energy efficient hub built by Hewlett Packard: for every 1.2 watts spent on powering the server racks, 1 watt is spent cooling them. This gives the wind cooled data centre a 1.2 PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) measurement – when 1.5 PUE is the mark for an energy efficient site.
This is only feasible though because of the region’s temperate climate. Temperatures at Billingham exceed 24C for only 20 hours a year. Even this increase though necessitates electric coolers to keep the server racks regulated.
By contrast, when the outside temperate drops too much exhausted air is recirculated.
In addition to the intake fans, the Billingham facility uses light coloured server racks. These reflect sunlight more easily, saving 40% on electric lighting. What’s more, rain water is collected to increase the facility’s humidity. When the outside air becomes too dry, spray from the 80,000 litre tanks is released.
HP believes they’ll make power savings of £2.4m from the wind cooled data centre.
The IT services and management hub houses HP’s electronic data, and is very secure. A high perimeter fence lines the facility, while the corridors are accessed with biometric readings. When HP opened the facility to journalists last week, cameras were forbidden.
Yet the intake fans contribute to security, by making the facility more anonymous. To the unsuspecting observer, the wind cooled data centre would appear your average treatment plant. In fact the Billingham hub is not only really efficient, but the central nervous system for Hewlett Packard’s IT services.
[Via PCWorld.com]
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