When You Feed Data To Your Data Centers, They Get Thirsty Too

Facility managers across all data centers are concerned about power usage. But there is another significant resource widely consumed by data centers across the world that is more precious than power.

We are talking about usage of water, a resource that a data center simply needs loads of it. The alarming state of its usage is forcing companies to come out with innovative ways to measure water consumption and efficiency. The biggest example is that of Facebook when it showed off its new concept of Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) for its data center in Prineville, Oregon.

The new metric introduced by Facebook was one of a kind and showed that efficiency of a data center should be measured in more ways than just one (i.e. the power consumption).

Similarly, the concept of using water from industrial canals as done in Google’s data center in Belgium is another attempt at conserving water. Microsoft also made the cut with recycled water usage in its data centers in San Antonio, TX.

Though both these methods require the recycled water to be treated periodically, it definitely saves on water consumption.

Several measures like increasing the humidity levels in the data center, raising the air temperature, sealing up the data center etc have all been experimented and are additional ways to reducing water consumption in data centers.

The rise of electronic data usage will only pave way for more water usage as more and more data center facilities will be required to handle the volume. Compared to the previous decade, studies say there has been over 150 percent increase in internet usage in the US alone.

Data center facilities for the NSA in Utah have reportedly consumed an average of 1.7 million gallons of water per day for its operation that includes cooling and heat dissipation.

So an effective water conservation plan should be adopted in data center facilities to ensure fair usage of this natural resource, which is more precious than electricity. Striking a balance with resource consumption in your data center facility could prove to be a Herculean task.

This is when outsourcing your data center needs to an expert data center service provider like us would prove to be the vantage point in your business. At Lifeline Data Centers, we are committed to providing our customers with the greenest and the most balanced data center solutions for your business needs. Visit our website to know more about our co-location services.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.