Cool Ideas for Hot Servers

I recently spoke with Chandrakant Patel at HP Labs about how to increase power efficiency and keep data centers cool.

Patel, a researcher at HP, says a data center with 100 racks consuming 10-12KW each can save over $1 million in energy costs annually by making some relatively inexpensive modifications to the existing air conditioning system and following layout recommendations from a thermodynamic audit (which of course HP would like to sell to you). The payback, he claims, is less than one year. Patel offers the details in a Q&A this week (See Redefining Cool).

The issue of what to do with data center heat loads seems to have captured the imagination of some readers, who have chimed in with innovative ideas of their own. Says Bob Hoffman:

An intriguing idea once brought forth was setting up huge data centers
near the North Slope Oil Fields here in Alaska.  [The systems would benefit from] free A/C using cooling tubes buried in the ground or exposed to ambient air.  The excess heat could be used to help heat the facility or melt snow for water. 

Ron Lohn adds:

I live in Minnesota & we usually need heat. Why not just put these heat generating units here, instead of New Delhi or Phoenix? Then, just move the heat over to another part of the building, that needs it for a great cost savings there.