The New York Times wrote a great investigative piece this weekend about how the massive data centers required to run platforms like Facebook are terrible for the environment, as well as wasteful and polluting. Here’s an excerpt:
Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found.
The report notes that only 6 to 12% of electricity in these centers is actually used to perform computations, the rest is mostly dedicated to “in case” activity surges. Consequently, these data centers are often cited in states for violating air quality standards.
The rest of the post includes all kinds of specifics about the use of power versus regulation versus user needs and a company’s need to innovate. Read the whole piece here, let us know what you think about it.
[Image Via IntelFreePress]
Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer who lives between Texas and California. Follow her on Twitter @SaraChicaD.
