Speaking on Deep Background, the Press Secretary whispered:
> I wonder just how much power it takes to cool 450,000 servers.
.....
KwH = $111,000 /month in cooling.
I don't know the area; but gather it's hydro territory?
How about water-source heat pumps? It's lots easier to cool
25C air into say 10-15C water than into 30C outside air.
Open loop water source systems do have their issues [algae, etc]
but can save a lot of power....
David Lesher wrote:
Speaking on Deep Background, the Press Secretary whispered:
I wonder just how much power it takes to cool 450,000 servers.
.....
KwH = $111,000 /month in cooling.
I don't know the area; but gather it's hydro territory?
How about water-source heat pumps? It's lots easier to cool
25C air into say 10-15C water than into 30C outside air.Open loop water source systems do have their issues [algae, etc]
but can save a lot of power....
The Dalles, OR is on the Columbia River just upriver of Portland by 80 miles or so. It has a large dam spanning what used to be Celilo Falls in it's front yard.
Hydro territory doesn't even begin to define it... 
"Eco-freak" territory also doesn't begin to define it, so the idea of piping water off the Columbia and returning it even 1/2 degree warmer is a non-starter.
I'm amazed they let them put up tall cooling towers in "the historic, scenic Columbia River Gorge...." (sorry, old political battle flashback)
When I made my posting, I didn't know the context was google in Oregon. I missed that somehow.
Anyway, the dam referenced below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dalles_Dam
And the power generated from the region:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectric_dams_on_the_Columbia_River
Seems like a good place to setup a datacenter.
David Lesher wrote:
I don't know the area; but gather it's hydro territory?
How about water-source heat pumps? It's lots easier to cool
25C air into say 10-15C water than into 30C outside air.Open loop water source systems do have their issues [algae, etc]
but can save a lot of power....
If you drill a vertical hole in the order of 50-200 meters deep, the cooling effect of water pumped through a pipe in that hole is in the order of 50W/m. So you can lose 10kW of heat into 200 meter hole. Not sure what the separation needs to be for this to be sustainable. Pretty good return on investment, considering drilling a hole is $3k-$6k.
Pete