‘Data centre builder Ark Continuity is building a data centre which it promises will ultimately use underground stone mines and nuclear bunkers to set efficiency records for shared data centres reports E WEEK EUROPE.
The first phase of the data centre in Spring Park, Corsham, Wiltshire, will open in November 2009, with a modular structure that gives users their own space in a sustainable data centre which will have a PUE (power usage effectiveness) of 1.5 - compared to a national average of 2.2. Following that, further phases will use Victorian stone mines and Cold War bunkers below the site with undergound cooling, to go even further, according to Dr Phillip ("Pip") Squire, project and engineering director of Ark Continuity.
"The next stage of development will prove to be one of the most energy- efficient data facilities in the world – achieving a PUE of under 1.2 without introducing fresh-air into the data rooms," said Dr Squire'.
Keysource says: It is a positive sign that more and more global businesses are recognising the impact that data centres are having on the environment. However, this commitment by T-Systems and Intel just goes to show how far behind many companies are when compared with best practise within the data centre sector. These two organsiations plan to make a multi-million dollar investment to achieve efficiency levels that still fall short of industry leading solutions that are already operational today.
The Ecofris solution at PGS is achieving a PUE of 1.2, resulting in a reduction in annual power consumption of 15.8 million kW-h, when operating at full IT load and compared to the company’s previous facility. This equates to a saving of 6.8 million kilograms of CO2 each year (based on UK grid average).