Very good article on the new Facebook Data Center in Prineville, Oregon via Wired.com. One of the interesting aspects of the data center design is the energy efficiency aspect. In a data center that services 800 million users, shaving a few percentage points off of the energy bill represents huge savings.
According to the article, the location was chosen for its climate. The area has low humidity, thus allowing the use of evaporative cooling system verses the conventional refrigeration cycle systems most often used.
Another area is in the servers themselves. Facebook decided to design their own servers, using a stripped-down platform, larger heat sinks, slower fan speeds, etc to reduce the amount of electricity used.
All in all the article is well worth reading, as the future of broadcasting will be centered on data centers such as this one.
The facility seems to have a certain attraction. I’ve seen it talked about repeatedly. I managed to score a tour earlier this year (I’m based in Portland). It was well worth the trip. Even then, it was remarkable how quickly they were filling it up. They’re already working on datacenter #2 on that site. The techniques they use to gain efficiency, while very interesting, are difficult for small operations to utilize (custom servers, the building itself as HAVC system, etc).
I found it interesting, with a facility that size, even saving 10-20 Watts per server adds up to a big number.