5 ms·

I upvoted, but I agree so much, I had to comment, too. I wonder how long it’d take to recoup the loss of retrofitting such a system. Despite this story today, t

I upvoted, but I agree so much, I had to comment, too. I wonder how long it’d take to recoup the loss of retrofitting such a system. Despite this story today, this type of problem must be rare. I imagine most of the savings would be found in the electric bill, and it’d probably take a lot of years to recoup the cost.

spydum 3y ago
It's pretty common for hyperscalers actually: https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/showcase-projects/iron-mountain-data-centers-geothermal-cooling-system https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/showcase-pr... https://greenmountain.no/data-centers/cooling/ https://greenmountain.no/data-centers/cooling/ I vaguely remember some other whole building DC designs that used a central vent which opened externally based on external climate for some additional free cooling. Can't find the reference now though. But geothermal is pretty common for sure.
- thakoppno 3y ago
  You may be thinking about Yahoo’s approach from 2010? > The Yahoo! approach is to avoid the capital cost and power consumption of chillers entirely by allowing the cold aisle temperatures to rise to 85F to 90F when they are unable to hold the temperature lower. They calculate they will only do this 34 hours a year which is less than 0.4% of the year. https://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/03/yahoo-compute-coop-design/ https://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/03/yahoo-compute-coop...
  - spydum 3y ago
    No, what I was remembering was a building design for datacenters, but I can't find a reference. Maybe it was only conceptual. The design was to pull in cold exterior air, pass thru the dehumidifiers to bring some of the moisture levels down, and vent heat from a high rise shaft out the top. All controlled to ensure humidity didn't get wrecked.
    - kalleboo 3y ago
      This is done in Facebook's data center in Northern Sweden https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/25/facebook-datacentre-lulea-sweden-node-pole https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/25/facebook-...

spydum 3y ago

It's pretty common for hyperscalers actually: https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/showcase-projects/iron-mountain-data-centers-geothermal-cooling-system https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/showcase-pr... https://greenmountain.no/data-centers/cooling/ https://greenmountain.no/data-centers/cooling/ I vaguely remember some other whole building DC designs that used a central vent which opened externally based on external climate for some additional free cooling. Can't find the reference now though. But geothermal is pretty common for sure.

thakoppno 3y ago
You may be thinking about Yahoo’s approach from 2010? > The Yahoo! approach is to avoid the capital cost and power consumption of chillers entirely by allowing the cold aisle temperatures to rise to 85F to 90F when they are unable to hold the temperature lower. They calculate they will only do this 34 hours a year which is less than 0.4% of the year. https://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/03/yahoo-compute-coop-design/ https://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/03/yahoo-compute-coop...
- spydum 3y ago
  No, what I was remembering was a building design for datacenters, but I can't find a reference. Maybe it was only conceptual. The design was to pull in cold exterior air, pass thru the dehumidifiers to bring some of the moisture levels down, and vent heat from a high rise shaft out the top. All controlled to ensure humidity didn't get wrecked.
  - kalleboo 3y ago
    This is done in Facebook's data center in Northern Sweden https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/25/facebook-datacentre-lulea-sweden-node-pole https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/25/facebook-...