Serving up greener data centers

Posted June 30th, 2009 at 10:54 am by David Filo, Chief Yahoo

 14 Comments / Filed in: Video, Yahoo! For Good

This morning, at a press conference in Buffalo, New York, with New York Governor David Paterson and Senator Chuck Schumer, we took another big step forward in addressing climate change. We announced plans to build one of the greenest, most energy-efficient data centers in the world.

This is significant because data centers represent the majority of our energy consumption. Keeping Yahoo! running smoothly for more than 500 million people around the world calls for a lot of server power. So we’ve made it a priority to become a leader in designing and building data centers that are environmentally sustainable, investing millions to design facilities that make the best use of the energy we consume.

Here’s what makes us so proud of our future New York data center plans. First, it will be powered by one of the cleanest utilities in the country – fed predominantly by renewable hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls. And second, a record 90% of that energy will power the servers. To put that in context, the industry average is 50% or lower, with the other half dedicated mostly to keeping the servers cool.

For data center geeks, we expect our Buffalo Lockport, NY, data center design will have an annualized average PUE (power usage effectiveness) of 1.1 or better. To achieve that, we’ve come up with a unique building design that we call the Yahoo! Computing Coop (because it looks like something chickens live in), which is angled to take advantage of Buffalo’s microclimate, using 100% outside air to cool the servers.

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.

And we’ll continue to push ourselves hard to lower our impact. Today we’re committing to reduce the carbon intensity of our data centers by at least 40% by 2014. 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.

Reducing our carbon footprint has always been a priority and we’ve decided to focus all our energy and investment on that philosophy. We will no longer purchase carbon offsets as announced in 2007. Instead, we’ll focus our resources on reducing our carbon impact while helping the rest of the industry do the same. We believe creating highly-efficient data centers will have a greater long-term, direct impact on the environment and gives us the best opportunity to play a leadership role in addressing climate change.

So the next time you check your email, do a Yahoo! search, or get the latest environmental info on Yahoo! Green, you can feel good about putting some of the greenest data centers in the industry to work.

David Filo
Co-founder and Chief Yahoo

Tagged: climate change, cloud computing, data center, environment, Yahoo! For Good, yahoo! green

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14 Comments Add your own

Karen Schacht | June 30th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

This is fantastic. I was thinking along these lines and I’m glad someone has made it successful. This would be a great demo at Data Center Dynamics.

Phil Hughes | July 1st, 2009 at 11:48 am

Air cooling is so out of date. Of course you can build giant data centers with very low power density to use outside air. The environmental cost of big buildings is high, not only in land coverage but in energy need to create the building materials (Cement is a serious GHG emitter). A PUE of 1.1 is not that good. The server fans are included in the IT load. We have measured fan consumption. It ranges from 10% (typical) to 40% (Mfrs max air inlet temp)of real IT load. Best case, true PUE is (1.1+0.1)/0.9 = 1.33. And there is always the problem of what to do when the air becomes too polluted (e.g. grass fire etc.).

With our cooling racks (distributed by Liebert, Inc.) we can achieve a true PUE of 1.09 (or 0.99 by the traditional measure) and densities of 2000 w/sq ft. And you can put a system in any building that has power. An old factory or warehouse would work just fine – no need to create more pollution by more building.

Dwayne Black | July 1st, 2009 at 5:35 pm

Why not build it underground? Sureley it can be kept cooler underground. In the hottest part of australia some houses are built underground to keep them cool!

Perfect solution!

Chris | July 1st, 2009 at 7:01 pm

Seems like Buffalo’s a really natural fit for locating data centers (not just for Yahoo). Cheap, clean power, readily available talent from good universities at reasonable (ie non-Californian) prices, good infrastructure, low costs for real estate, and usefully cool winters. ;o) Oh, and seismic stability.

For once, Buffalo’s winters are an advantage. Why aren’t they shouting this from the rooftops?

Mikko | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:58 am

Why not build data centers in areas where it is naturally cold? For example, in Finland or Iceland.

Bill Sodeman | July 2nd, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Lockport? That’s an interesting choice.

They may find some local staffing opportunities, especially if Y! partners with community colleges and universities.

Air cooling may work, especially in the winter.

It’s just hard to understand why Yahoo employees will want to move to the Northern Tier. The relatively low cost of living might help, but Buffalo’s epic winters might scare some folks away.

Scott Noteboom | July 3rd, 2009 at 7:19 am

@Karen: Thanks. We would have loved to present at the upcoming Data Center Dynamics in SF this month, but we are wrapping up a few items before we are ready to go fully public with more detailed information. That said, we will be releasing more information with more details later this summer. Thanks again

@Phil Hughes: Thanks for your thoughts. Due to the fact that Yahoo deploys such large quantities of servers, we also must build our data centers to operate within the current environment of readily available gear that we can procure and utilize at scale. Thus, we have designs that best optimize in an air cooled environment. This is one example.

We’ve got high density compute environments. We’ve got low density archive storage environments. We operate in different climates around the world. Thus, flexibility in design and varying designs to meet different objectives are key. Our blog post refers to one such design to meet a specific density / equipment architecture need.

By the way, we look forward to learning more about your solutions as they evolve.

@Mikko: We absolutely agree and we are closely focused on both markets that you mention. That said, we still are restricted by the speed of light and availability of adequate networks, so there are times when we still must reside in areas with less optimal outside climates. For the United States, upstate NY has shown to be a good climate for our 100% outside air cooling design. We actually have more challenges dealing with the cold versus dealing with the heat :-)

Scott Noteboom
Yahoo! Data Center Operations

Dave Rochlin | July 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am

David,

Congratulations on your plans to create a more energy efficient infrastructure. With or without cap and trade, I hope we see many more firms following your lead in focusing on both energy conservation and a preference for renewable energy in their operations. In the long run, it is both socially responsible and makes business sense.

At the same time, why fall into the trap of what Jim Collins would call “the Tyranny of or”? If Yahoo’s target is 40% reduction of carbon emissions from data centers by 2014, why not continue to support outside programs via offsets while you build toward that target? And what about air travel? Each flight by a Yahoo employee is roughly the carbon equivalent of powering a server for a year. Savings in your data centers will not balance out the negative impact of flying.

There are many worthwhile and quantifiable carbon projects for Yahoo to support as part of an overall emissions reduction portfolio effort. Over 25 million acres of forest are lost every year. Millions of people in the poorest areas of the world suffer from smoke related illnesses from using kerosene and firewood rather than solar for lighting and cooking. Offsets are a powerful tool to address these issues while creating a more sustainable world. Projects that save forests or offer fuel switching opportunities as a method of carbon emissions reduction are just as critical as using more efficient servers.

My organization (ClimatePath) does not think it is “either/or”: both conservation/energy efficiency AND socially responsible offsetting are a part of the solution. We hope you reconsider your position on the latter.

Regards,

Dave Rochlin
Founder, ClimatePath (www.climatepath.org)

Edwin Hoogerbeets | July 6th, 2009 at 10:22 am

Not spending money on carbon offsets is a good move on Yahoo’s part.

I mean, why give money to someone else so they can build wind or solar power farms and then realize the profits from those farms? What’s the return on investment for Yahoo? Zero. How much equity does Yahoo have in those wind or solar farms? Zero. How much less carbon does it cause Yahoo emit? Zero. WTF? What a scam these offsets are!

(Although there is a slight, but unmeasurable, gain from the marketing of your “greenness” that you can get by claiming that you buy these credits, but that is a very expensive way to do it.)

Instead, invest the exact same amount of money in your own company for better power efficiency. Return-on-investment: more than 100% over the life of the improvement. Ownership of the improvements: 100%. How much less carbon? Whatever the efficiency gain is. That is not only greener, it makes good economic sense.

- Edwin Hoogerbeets, former Yahoo employee and green team member

Yeast | July 11th, 2009 at 2:00 am

We’ve got high density compute environments. We’ve got low density archive storage environments. We operate in different climates around the world. Thus, flexibility in design and varying designs to meet different objectives are key. Our blog post refers to one such design to meet a specific density / equipment architecture need.

Denise | July 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm

Will there be new jobs for Lockportians? If so i’d like to take the opportunity to say I would love to work in the customer service area of YAHOO!

Acai | September 7th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

We’ve got low density archive storage environments. We operate in different climates around the world. Thus, flexibility in design and varying designs to meet different objectives are key. Our blog post refers to one such design to meet a specific density / equipment architecture need.That is a very expensive way to do it.

Peter | September 30th, 2009 at 9:01 pm

Hi. This is a great initiative really, serving both the environment and the company’s economic interests. I am a German environmental engineer currently working and teaching in a developing country. We have cold winters and hot summers here. Since one of the topic I am lecturing about is energy efficiency of buildings it would be absolutely great if you sent me some info material about this structure. I am particularly interested in pictures and charts visualising the ventilation and grey-water systems. Thanks a lot.

Beth | October 9th, 2009 at 2:36 am

Two thumbs up for you guys. You care for your people, for your company and for the environment. I could say nothing else but keep up the good work.