Sun announces energy-efficient processor

Good news on the energy conservation front. According to Joel Makower on WorldChanging, Sun Microsystems just announced a new energy-efficient processor.

Its research shows that its UltraSPARC T1 processor "could eliminate the number of Web servers in the world by half, slashing power requirements and having the same effect in reducing carbon dioxide emissions as planting one million acres of trees."

Joel points out the difference that could make on the energy impact of the monster server farms of companies like Google, eBay, Yahoo, etc.

Server farms require energy to operate all that electronic equipment, and gobs more to keep the equipment cool. A typical data center can consume nearly 4,000 watts per square foot -- roughly 15 times what they consumed in the early 1990s, and more than half the power required by many homes, according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

To give a feel for how much power one of these server farms can require, he points to a C|net article from 2001 and quotes.

When U.S. Dataport, a company in San Jose, Calif., planned a $1.2 billion server farm "that would be the world's largest data center," it called for "10 huge air-conditioned warehouses on 174 acres that would constantly draw 180 megawatts of electricity -- about enough to provide energy for all the homes in a city the size of Honolulu."

--

Have an energy question? Google it here!

Comments

[Doyle Doss]

If it takes so much energy to keep systems cool, why not build data farms in Alaska and just pipe in the cold outside air?

[t]

that is absolutely not a stupid idea.

The only thing is you have to concider whther the transportation costs to build data farms and such in alaska would be more expensive than just building in built coolers. Also--all the managers and fixers of hardware would also have to be stationed there to service the data farms---which would be more expensive because then you would need localized highly trained personnell--this may be more expensive than just having small in built coolers--

but it is definitely a good idea--It would save a lot of energy.