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Facebook says the Prineville data center will be designed to a Gold-level standard under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, a voluntary rating system for energy efficient buildings overseen by the US Green Building Council. The Prineville facility is expected to have a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.15. The PUE metric (PDF) compares a facility’s total power usage to the amount of power used by the IT equipment, revealing how much is lost in distribution and conversion. An average PUE of 2.0 indicates that the IT equipment uses about 50 percent of the power to the building.
The cool climate in Prineville will allow Facebook to operate without chillers, which are used to refrigerate water for data center cooling systems, but require a large amount of electricity to operate. With the growing focus on power costs, many data centers are designing chiller-less data centers that use cool fresh air instead of air conditoning. On hot days, the Prineville data center will use evaporative cooling instead of a chiller system.
“This process is highly energy efficient and minimizes water consumption by using outside air,” said Heiliger. Water conservation is also a growing focus for major data center projects, which in some cases can create capacity challenges for local water utilities.
A key function of data centers is providing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to continuously provide power to servers. This is another area where Facebook is gaining energy savings. The Prineville data center will use a new, patent-pending UPS system that reduces electricity usage by as much as 12 percent. The new design foregoes traditional uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and power distribution units (PDUs) and adds a 12 volt battery to each server power supply.
The use of custom servers with on-board bateries was pioneered by Google, which last year revealed a custom server that integrates a 12 volt battery, which the company cited this design as a key factor in the exceptional energy efficiency data for its data centers.
Here’s how this approach saves power: Most data centers use AC power distribution in which a UPS system stands between the utility power grid and the data center equipment. If utility power is lost, the UPS system can tap a large bank of batteries (or in some cases, a flywheel) for “ride-through” power until the generator can be started. This approach requires that AC power from the grid be converted into DC power to charge the batteries, and then converted back to AC for the equipment. Each of those conversions includes a power loss, reducing the amount of electricity that reaches the servers.
Finally, the Facebook Prineville facility will also re-use excess heat expelled by servers, which will help heat office space in the building, a strategy also being implemented by Telehouse and IBM.
How Does Facebook Choose the Sites for Its Data Centers?
Data center site selection is a complex process. A typical site search must consider the availability and cost of power, the cost and availability of land, fiber connectivity to the site, vulnerability to natural disasters, the capacity of local water and sewage systems, the local business environment, incentives from state and local governments, and many other variables.
Connectivity between data centers is also a consideration. Facebook has created two data center clusters on each coast, one in Silicon Valley and another in nothern Virginia. When the company decided to build its own data center, it conducted an in-depth site search in several Western states.
“After a rigorous review process of sites across the West Coast, Facebook concluded that Prineville offered the best package of resources – including a suitable climate for environmental cooling, renewable power resources, available land, talented regional workforce and supportive business environment,” said Tom Furlong, Director of Site Operations for Facebook.
Why is Greenpeace Criticizing Facebook?
Facebook’s new Oregon data center, which has been designed to be highly energy-efficient, is located in a town where the local utility that uses coal to generate the majority of its power. This fact was soon highlighted by environmental blogs and even a Facebook group.
In mid-February the environmental group Greenpeace International called on Facebook to rethink plans for its Oregon data center and find a way to run the facility entirely on renewable energy.
“Given the massive amounts of electricity that even energy-efficient data centers consume to run computers, backup power units, and power related cooling equipment, the last thing we need to be doing is building them in places where they are increasing demand for dirty coal-fired power,” Greenpeace said in a statment, which was published on its web site. “Facebook and the cloud should be run on clean renewable energy Facebook could and should be championing clean energy solutions, and not relying on the dirty fuel sources of the past to power their new data center.”
Facebook, which has touted the energy efficiency of the Prineville facility, has responded at length to the issue, both on Data Center Knowledge and directly to Greenpeace.
“It’s true that the local utility for the region we chose, Pacific Power, has an energy mix that is weighted slightly more toward coal than the national average (58% vs. about 50%),” Facebook’s Barry Schnitt said. “However, the efficiency we are able to achieve because of the climate of the region minimizes our overall carbon footprint. Said differently, if we located the data center most other places, we would need mechanical chillers, use more energy, and be responsible for an overall larger environmental impact—even if that location was fueled by more renewable energy.”
The Greenpeace critiques have continued, growing sharper and targeting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with a letter and video. Here’s Data Center Knowledge’s full coverage of the story:
Facebook’s Green Data Center, Powered by Coal?
Facebook Responds on Coal Power in Data Center
Facebook Responds to Greenpeace
Greenpeace, Facebook & The Media Megaphone
Facebook Responds to Greenpeace Letter
Greenpeace vs. Facebook, Continued
Is Facebook Secretive About its Data Centers?
Lots of companies simply DO NOT talk about their data centers, or even acknowledge their existence. But that’s starting to change, as some companies are pursuing a more open approach and a deeper level of engagement with the communities where these facilities are located. Facebook has been in the forefront of this movement with its project in Prinveille.
Facebook held a groundbreaking announcement with local officials, and has used the Prineville Data Center Facebook page to engage with the community, sharing a detailed list of nearly 60 contractors working on the project, along with regular updates on the ways the company is contributing to the community. An example: Facebook and its construction contractors, DPR/Fortis, are sponsors of the Crook County Fair and local Picnic in the Park events in Prineville.