Facebook has announced that it’s building a fifth data centre — adding to other four in Oregon, Iowa, North Carolina and Sweden. The latest addition will be also be entirely run on renewable energy.
On the new data centre’s Faceboook page — of course it has a Facebook page — Facebook’s Director of Data Center Operations Ken Patchett explains that it will be “one of the most advanced, efficient, and sustainable data centres in the world.” The centre will be cooled by outdoor air instead of air conditioning (apparently that can work, even in Texas) and be powered by a 200MW wind energy plant just 145km down the road. That plant will consume 17,000 acres of land in Clay County, and for the meantime will pump spare energy into the local grid as it produces more than Facbeook actually needs.
[Facebook via TechCrunch]