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Yahoo aims for world’s most efficient data centre

Tony Chan | July 1, 2009 | 0 Comments

Less than a month after it took the stealth shield off of its data centre operations, Yahoo is again making news with the construction of what the company claims may be the world’s most energy efficient data centre.

According to this blog post by David Filo, co-founder and Chief Yahoo, the company’s new data centre, to be build in Lockport, New York will feature a new customised design that enable it to achieve an annualized average PUE, or power usage effectiveness, of 1.1 or better. PUE measures the amount of energy that actually powers the IT equipment compared to the amount of energy that is delivered to the site. A 1.1 PUE means that for every unit of electricity that powers the servers, only 10% (0.1 of the PUE) more is needed to handle the cooling and other passive infrastructure.

To put that into perspective, Google’s data centres have an average PUE of 1.16, with the most efficient running at 1.12 PUE. Yahoo recently revealed that its Quincy, Washington data centre was running at an PUE of 1.21. Legacy data centres typically run at a PUE of around 2, according to various studies and the US EPA.

The new Yahoo Lockport data centre features what the company is calling, the Yahoo! Computer Coop, because, Filo wrote, “it looks like something chickens live in.” According to Filo, it is a building that is angled to take advantage of Buffalo’s microclimate, enabling the data centre to use 100% outside air to cool the servers.

This isn’t the first time that chickens have come up in discussions on data centre cooling. Last year, True, a Thai ISP revealed that it has adopted cooling technology from chicken farms to supplement its air conditioners.

This Data Center Knowledge report adds that the Yahoo design, filed with the Lockport municipality, consists of five prefabricated metal structures measuring 120 feet by 60 feet. On the site of each structure will be louvers, like large venetian blinds, that will help funnel outside air into the building, which in turn is being position accordingly with wind directions to maximize the effectiveness of the design. The buildings themselves will feature a peak roof, so the hot air from the servers are guided upwards and released through a “penthouse” running along the top.

In addition to the customised design, Yahoo also chose the site because it was close to a renewable and abundant power source, Niagara Falls. The Yahoo facility will be powered by 10 megawatts of hydroelectric power in its initial phase and an additional 15 megawatts in a second phase.

“It will be powered by one of the cleanest utilities in the country – fed predominantly by renewable hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls,” Filo wrote.

“We’ve been pushing green data center standards since we started building our own data centers two years ago. For example, our facilities in Washington are powered by zero-carbon wind and hydroelectric sources, and we use free cooling for most of the year, dropping energy consumption by 40-50%. As we build more capacity to meet demand, we’ll continue to focus on innovations and inventions that improve energy efficiency. And we’ve been sharing best practices to encourage the entire industry to put smarter policies in play,” he added.

The new centre is part of an ongoing plan to reduce the carbon intensity of its data centres by at least 40% by 2014, according to Filo. “In other words, we’ll decrease our average electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from our data centers around the world. We’ll get there through a combination of innovative data center design, improving how we utilize our servers, cloud computing, and locating our data centers in areas where cleaner energy is available.”