Facebook to Build Largest Arctic Data Fortress

Data on Facebook's Planned Data Center.Facebook's planned data center will have dual redundant substations fed from two independent sources that are directly connected to Sweden's "robust" national grid, company spokesperson Kirschner said.

This will let the firm reduce the number of generators installed by about 70 percent and minimize the data center's impact on the environment, he added.

The Lulea data center will achieve a power usage effectiveness ratio of 1.07, Kirschner disclosed. "That compares to our target of 1.15, an EPA-defined industry state-of-the-art rating of 1.5, and 1.5 in our leased facilities," he added.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses the power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric developed by The Green Grid, an association of IT professionals.

PUE compares a facility's total power usage to the amount of power actually used by the IT equipment. This shows how much power is lost in distribution and conversion. An average PUE of 2.0 indicates that the IT equipment uses about 50 percent of the total power drawn.

Companies "can capture a fairly significant amount of cost back by tapping into the natural air temperature," Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, told TechNewsWorld.

The Trend Toward Green Data Centers  

Data centers are increasingly going green, driven by a combination of environmental considerations and concerns about available electricity.It's critical where data centers are located and how they're run because they have a huge impact on whether or not coal plants are kept online or retired," Greenpeace's Harrell said.Facebook's Lulea plans are a part of the general movement in the data center industry toward reducing energy usage and environmental impact," said Tom O'Rourke, vice president of global data center strategy at iTracs. 

Facebook settled on Lulea after reportedly looking at 100 or so sites, because it "provides a combination of an extremely stable electricity infrastructure and access to natural cooling and renewable hydropower," spokesperson Kirschner said.Infrastructure won't be a problem because Sweden is ranked first in Europe in terms of technology readiness, broadband quality and broadband penetration, and it has "well developed" coverage of fiber optic networks, Kirschner pointed out.