6 ms·

> "Our datacenter is 100% green" Cool, where can I read more about this? How do you power your DC?

walrus01 2y ago
Plenty of datacenters that are somewhere generally in the pacific NW can claim to be "Green" because their power supply is entirely hydroelectric. https://www.nwd.usace.army.mil/CRWM/CR-Dams/ https://www.nwd.usace.army.mil/CRWM/CR-Dams/ Many of those areas also happen to have the lowest $ per kWh electricity in North American, the only lower rate is available near a few hydroelectric dams in Quebec.
- latchkey 2y ago
  Previously, I had multiple data centers in Quincy, WA. Those were hydro green. It is an area that hosts a whole multitude of big hyperscaler companies.
- mulmen 2y ago
  As anyone who has driven through the Columbia River Basin can tell you wind power is also abundant in Washington. The grid is very clean here but it’s certainly not purely hydro.
- dlkf 2y ago
  Why is green in scare-quotes?
  - uncertainrhymes 2y ago
    People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green. It opens up questions about grids and market efficiency, so your mileage may vary.
    - sangnoir 2y ago
      > People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green. I don't think that's a cogent argument. It's akin to saying a vegan commune in a small is buying is buying up 50% of the vegan food, "forcing" others to buy meat-products, and framing this to cast doubts on whether they are truly vegan. Consumers aren't in a position to solve supply problems.
      - netrus 2y ago
        Hydro power is a great thing, it was the first renewable energy that was available in meaningful quantities. However, great sites for hydro power are definitely limited. We will not suddenly find a great spot for a new huge dam. Imagine the only source of vegan B12 to be some obscure plant that can only be grown on a tiny island. In this scenario, the possible extend of vegan consumption is fixed.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
        dlkf 2y ago
        In the regions where it works (PNW, Quebec, etc) we could easily build more. The hurdles are regulatory. The regulation isn’t baseless - a dam will affect the local ecosystem adversely. But that’s a tradeoff we choose rather than a fundamental limitation.
        aziaziazi 2y ago
        The other trade off is correlated with the energy stored : potential for catastrophic disaster in case of failure. as a society, living below is not risk free in the long run.
        sangnoir 2y ago
        You've just painted a clearer picture than I did: the crux is that it is a supply-side problem.
  - saagarjha 2y ago
    There's also discussion of environmental damage from damming rivers
- walrus01 2y ago
  I put "green" not in scare quotes but to point out that there isn't any truly consequences-free energy, the datacenter itself may be mostly green but the PNW grid can and does have some peaking carbon-fuel based power plants in the mix, and there's well known environmental consequences from flooding vast areas of land to build a new hydroelectric dam. Many of the dams we have now were permitted and built in the 1930s-1950s era when the external consequences of building them were barely considered.
latchkey 2y ago
We haven't announced the dc yet, but will soon. Very well known. I'm actually pretty excited about it.
- tamiral 2y ago
  waiting to see it posted on HN!
  - latchkey 2y ago
    https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7219750115375243267/?actorCompanyId=97460718 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7219750115...
- wferrell 2y ago
  X?
  - latchkey 2y ago
    https://x.com/HotAisle/status/1813989556032807093 https://x.com/HotAisle/status/1813989556032807093
epistasis 2y ago
I have no idea how they are powering it, but with the speed with which solar and battery prices are falling, and the slowness of getting a new big grid interconnection, I would not be surprised to see new data centers that are primarily powered by their own solar+batteries. Perhaps with a small, fast and cheap grid connection for small bits of backup. If not this year, definitely in the 2030s. Edit: for a much smaller scale version of this, here's a titanium plant doing this, instead of a data center. The nice thing about renewables is that they easily scale; if you can do it for 50MW you can do it for 500MW or 5GW with a linear increase in the resources. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-industry/in-a-first-a-solar-microgrid-will-directly-power-an-industrial-plant https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-industry/in-a-fir...
- spywaregorilla 2y ago
  I don't think you could cover a data center with enough solar panels to power it
  - FrojoS 2y ago
    They can be to the side of the data center, too.
- rlupi 2y ago
  For hundreds of MW? https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-data-center-markets/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-data-center-markets/ You can do that but they are the size of a mountain (literally: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/inside-switzerland-s-giant-water-battery/46915530 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/inside-switzerland-s-g... this is 900MW)
  - rapsey 2y ago
    I don't know what the power consumption of an individual data center is, but your link talks about the consumption of all datacenters in individual states/countries.

Plenty of datacenters that are somewhere generally in the pacific NW can claim to be "Green" because their power supply is entirely hydroelectric. https://www.nwd.usace.army.mil/CRWM/CR-Dams/ https://www.nwd.usace.army.mil/CRWM/CR-Dams/ Many of those areas also happen to have the lowest $ per kWh electricity in North American, the only lower rate is available near a few hydroelectric dams in Quebec.

latchkey 2y ago
Previously, I had multiple data centers in Quincy, WA. Those were hydro green. It is an area that hosts a whole multitude of big hyperscaler companies.
mulmen 2y ago
As anyone who has driven through the Columbia River Basin can tell you wind power is also abundant in Washington. The grid is very clean here but it’s certainly not purely hydro.
dlkf 2y ago
Why is green in scare-quotes?
- uncertainrhymes 2y ago
  People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green. It opens up questions about grids and market efficiency, so your mileage may vary.
  - sangnoir 2y ago
    > People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green. I don't think that's a cogent argument. It's akin to saying a vegan commune in a small is buying is buying up 50% of the vegan food, "forcing" others to buy meat-products, and framing this to cast doubts on whether they are truly vegan. Consumers aren't in a position to solve supply problems.
    - netrus 2y ago
      Hydro power is a great thing, it was the first renewable energy that was available in meaningful quantities. However, great sites for hydro power are definitely limited. We will not suddenly find a great spot for a new huge dam. Imagine the only source of vegan B12 to be some obscure plant that can only be grown on a tiny island. In this scenario, the possible extend of vegan consumption is fixed.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - dlkf 2y ago
        In the regions where it works (PNW, Quebec, etc) we could easily build more. The hurdles are regulatory. The regulation isn’t baseless - a dam will affect the local ecosystem adversely. But that’s a tradeoff we choose rather than a fundamental limitation.
        aziaziazi 2y ago
        The other trade off is correlated with the energy stored : potential for catastrophic disaster in case of failure. as a society, living below is not risk free in the long run.
      - sangnoir 2y ago
        You've just painted a clearer picture than I did: the crux is that it is a supply-side problem.
- saagarjha 2y ago
  There's also discussion of environmental damage from damming rivers
walrus01 2y ago
I put "green" not in scare quotes but to point out that there isn't any truly consequences-free energy, the datacenter itself may be mostly green but the PNW grid can and does have some peaking carbon-fuel based power plants in the mix, and there's well known environmental consequences from flooding vast areas of land to build a new hydroelectric dam. Many of the dams we have now were permitted and built in the 1930s-1950s era when the external consequences of building them were barely considered.

latchkey 2y ago

We haven't announced the dc yet, but will soon. Very well known. I'm actually pretty excited about it.

tamiral 2y ago
waiting to see it posted on HN!
- latchkey 2y ago
  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7219750115375243267/?actorCompanyId=97460718 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7219750115...
wferrell 2y ago
X?
- latchkey 2y ago
  https://x.com/HotAisle/status/1813989556032807093 https://x.com/HotAisle/status/1813989556032807093

epistasis 2y ago

I have no idea how they are powering it, but with the speed with which solar and battery prices are falling, and the slowness of getting a new big grid interconnection, I would not be surprised to see new data centers that are primarily powered by their own solar+batteries. Perhaps with a small, fast and cheap grid connection for small bits of backup. If not this year, definitely in the 2030s. Edit: for a much smaller scale version of this, here's a titanium plant doing this, instead of a data center. The nice thing about renewables is that they easily scale; if you can do it for 50MW you can do it for 500MW or 5GW with a linear increase in the resources. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-industry/in-a-first-a-solar-microgrid-will-directly-power-an-industrial-plant https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-industry/in-a-fir...

spywaregorilla 2y ago
I don't think you could cover a data center with enough solar panels to power it
- FrojoS 2y ago
  They can be to the side of the data center, too.
rlupi 2y ago
For hundreds of MW? https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-data-center-markets/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-data-center-markets/ You can do that but they are the size of a mountain (literally: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/inside-switzerland-s-giant-water-battery/46915530 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/inside-switzerland-s-g... this is 900MW)
- rapsey 2y ago
  I don't know what the power consumption of an individual data center is, but your link talks about the consumption of all datacenters in individual states/countries.