Friday, October 28

Facebook takes an Arctic Plunge

You may think the only things living in the Arctic Circle are moose, Scandinavians, and Santa Clause, but it looks like they'll soon have a new neighbor.

Drawn by the promise of lower electricity costs, Facebook announced this week that it will build a data center just south of the Arctic Circle in Lulea, Sweden. The cooler temperatures of the region mean less electricity needed too cool the servers - both a cost and environmental benefit. Facebook plans to build three 300,00 square foot buildings in Sweden, projected to be in operation by 2012. Utilizing cool outside air can result in tens of millions of dollars in savings per year for each site, according to a representative for the company. Tax breaks and abundant renewable energy sources are also appealing to tech companies taking a polar plunge, like Google, which also holds a data center in Finland. Brrr!

No comments:

Post a Comment