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Social network giant Facebook has been talking up the energy efficiency of its data center in Prineville, Ore., for some time. Now, the facility has earned a Gold certification nod under the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) program.
The facility requires 52 percent LESS energy to run than a comparable facility. Among the things that helped it get there:
- Energy-efficient server designs that use 38 percent less energy and operate at higher temperatures than is typically allowed
- 100 percent outside air evaporative cooling
- An onsite power distribution system, which dramatically cuts the amount of power lost due to power conversion steps; approximately 7.5 percent of the energy in Prineville is lost to conversions, compared with 21 percent to 27 percent in other data centers
- Electricity for the office areas is supplied by a solar panel system that contributes approximately 204,000 kilowatt-hours to the facility annually
If you have around 11 minutes, and you want to get your inner data center design geek on, you can get a video tour of the data center. The manager shows off some design points that have helped Facebook achieve what he describes as a 28 percent efficiency gain over other data centers like it.