Underwater Data Centers

[JimAKABlkhwks918]

One of my company's target markets is data centers. Saw this and was absolutely fascinated: a 1/8 server failure rate underwater vs. land based.

Microsoft finds underwater datacenters are reliable, practical and use energy sustainably - Source

Microsoft retrieved the Northern Isles underwater datacenter from the seafloor off Scotland's Orkney Islands. Project Natick is proving the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.

news.microsoft.com

 

[Hawkeye OG]

This is really cool. Data Centers have been popping up all over Iowa because we think it's cool to give these massive tech companies millions of dollars in tax breaks to build these god awful boring ass buildings on our land for 50 jobs. (Excluding the jobs is creates to build the thing)

 

[JimAKABlkhwks918]

This is really cool. Data Centers have been popping up all over Iowa because we think it's cool to give these massive tech companies millions of dollars in tax breaks to build these god awful boring ass buildings on our land for 50 jobs. (Excluding the jobs is creates to build the thing)

Fact....my company has put up quite a few of them, and has quite a few more on the drawing boards.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

Fact....my company has put up quite a few of them, and has quite a few more on the drawing boards.

You ever work on a job for Facebook in Altoona?

 

[KittiesKorner]

my company needs that. The A/C has failed 3 times in the past month in the San Diego lab and the servers almost caught fire each time lol

 

[Burque]

We have a facebook data center like 30 minutes from here.

It gives right at that 50 permanent jobs mark. I think they are expanding it though so there may be a few more, but really big tax breaks to build a building.

 

[JimAKABlkhwks918]

You ever work on a job for Facebook in Altoona?

No, we've been in West Des Moines for about 10 years now...currently on a project fronted up to the west side of I-35 a little south of the airport...I've been out there a couple of times...with the way union portability works, we've primarily had only supervision and project management out there permanently, and we're in a joint venture with a local electrical contractor.

 

[JimAKABlkhwks918]

We have a facebook data center like 30 minutes from here.

It gives right at that 50 permanent jobs mark. I think they are expanding it though so there may be a few more, but really big tax breaks to build a building.

Data centers definitely don't require a lot of permanent onsite staff, true, but there is a lot of transient work that site staff doesn't do that is fairly constant.

 

[Tater]

Data centers definitely don't require a lot of permanent onsite staff, true, but there is a lot of transient work that site staff doesn't do that is fairly constant.

I've worked in a bunch of data center/server rooms as an electrician. It always boggled the mind when they had the AC running full blast in there in January in Chicago.
It always seemed like there should be a way to bring in the cold, dry outside in during the winter, even if it had to dehumidified first. Seemed like a total waste blasting the AC.

 

[HeHateMe]

I've worked in a bunch of data center/server rooms as an electrician. It always boggled the mind when they had the AC running full blast in there in January in Chicago.
It always seemed like there should be a way to bring in the cold, dry outside in during the winter, even if it had to dehumidified first. Seemed like a total waste blasting the AC.

Crack a window will ya?

 

[Tater]

Crack a window will ya?

I've never been in a data center with a window.

 

[JimAKABlkhwks918]

I've worked in a bunch of data center/server rooms as an electrician. It always boggled the mind when they had the AC running full blast in there in January in Chicago.
It always seemed like there should be a way to bring in the cold, dry outside in during the winter, even if it had to dehumidified first. Seemed like a total waste blasting the AC.

They do use the winter air...depends on the type of cooling they employ, but either way, they take advantage of the outdoor cool air in the winter. One of the first I worked in had a chilled water system: rooftop units cool salinated water, which is piped and circulated throughout cooling coils with blowers placed where needed. The staff on site there said the system automatically turned off the cooling portion of the rooftop chillers and kept the circulation pumps on at around 40F. The center I'm in now uses outdoor air, filtered, and then pumped directly through the roof into the server rooms. These employ a larger system similar to your home AC. These cut off the cooling portion around 50F, and just pump air at that point. Rooms on the lower floors use a large system again comparable your home AC: evaporator/blower unit in the room, copper refrigerant lines to a condenser on the roof. The similarity ends there...these units have a separate compressor "circuit" in the refrigerant lines. This allows the unit to circulate the refrigerant without running the compressor when the outside air is cold enough, around 50F. Inside at the evaporator blower, the similarity ends as well; your home unit is binary...on or off. The commercial units employ variable frequency drives on the blowers and refrigerant sections...if you "wake up" the touch screen on a CRAC (Computer Room AC,) it will indicate a percentage 0-100 on both cooling and fan, which ramp up and down based on sensor readings in the room.

Data centers evaluate cost performance based on a ratio of $ of revenue in to $ of utility operating cost. The bulk of energy expended in the cooling systems are the compression of refrigerant. The operations staff at data centers do a happy dance when the weather gets like this, and early falls and late springs help their overall annual performance.

 

[JimAKABlkhwks918]

I've never been in a data center with a window.

That's a fact....working long hours in them kinda messes with your sense of time...never see the outside...I've had entire winters where I left home in the dark, and came home in the dark, and didn't see daylight except Saturday afternoon, and Sunday...it affects your mood adversely.

 

[Tater]

That's a fact....working long hours in them kinda messes with your sense of time...never see the outside...I've had entire winters where I left home in the dark, and came home in the dark, and didn't see daylight except Saturday afternoon, and Sunday...it affects your mood adversely.

All true!

 

[Burque]

Data centers definitely don't require a lot of permanent onsite staff, true, but there is a lot of transient work that site staff doesn't do that is fairly constant.

Honestly I am more excited about the Amazon center they are building here. It will make a LOT more long term jobs than the Facebook data center.