RE: NJ impact

[Alex Rubenstein]

> I would be interested to know how the power outages due to the storm
> have negatively affected air pollution and the smog problem in the area.
> Due to generators burning huge amounts of diesel, generators which
> undoubtedly have no meaningful air pollution control to speak of.

Well, that isn't really that true. Many machine are tier 2 compliant, and lots 
of new ones are getting catalytic converters.

> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/technology/data-centers-waste-vast-
> amounts-of-energy-belying-industry-image.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Well, if someone doesn't install something properly or get the proper permit, 
they should be fined.

 
> "Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an
> incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online
> companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock,
> whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or
> more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found.

It is more like 99%, converted to heat. That has been the same for 30 years.


> To guard against a power failure, they further rely on banks of generators
> that emit diesel exhaust. The pollution from data centers has increasingly
> been cited by the authorities for violating clean air regulations, documents
> show. In Silicon Valley, many data centers appear on the state government’s
> Toxic Air Contaminant Inventory, a roster of the area’s top stationary diesel
> polluters."

What is your actual question? I'd submit the following to you - for instance, 
one of our facilities consumed about 600 gallons last week over a 24 hour 
period. I am located adjacent to an interstate, which has much dirtier vehicles 
and trucks driving by every second of every day forever. If a diesel truck gets 
8 mpg (and that is being really nice), then that is the equivalent of 4,800 
trucks passing my place on a one mile stretch of highway. 

This isn't an argument of whether or not DC's are clean or not, it's a question 
of what the bigger problem is. 

Re: NJ impact

[Jeroen van Aart]

On 10/31/2012 12:24 PM, Alex Rubenstein wrote:

I had to summarize this recently for a news article I was interviewed for, so I 
figured I forward:

>

Of our three datacenters, this is what we saw:

Parsippany 1 (OCT) - The worst we saw here was several sub-second power hits. 
UPS's held without problem, and we did not transfer to generator at all yet.

Parsippany 2 (WBR) - Transferred to generator at about 7:55 PM EST Monday as a 
precautionary measure due to ongoing utility power hits. However, shortly after 
transfer, utility voltage went to 0 on all phases; around 10p power returned, 
but abnormally high (seeing about 550 volts on 480 volt bus). We retransferred 
last night as utility voltage settled down.

Cedar Knolls 1 (MMU) - Briefly transferred to generator around 7:10, then back 
to utility. We then force transferred to generator around 8pm and stayed until 
this morning. Returned to utility and all systems are normal.


I would be interested to know how the power outages due to the storm 
have negatively affected air pollution and the smog problem in the area. 
Due to generators burning huge amounts of diesel, generators which 
undoubtedly have no meaningful air pollution control to speak of.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/technology/data-centers-waste-vast-amounts-of-energy-belying-industry-image.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

"Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an 
incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online 
companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the 
clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 
percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found.


To guard against a power failure, they further rely on banks of 
generators that emit diesel exhaust. The pollution from data centers has 
increasingly been cited by the authorities for violating clean air 
regulations, documents show. In Silicon Valley, many data centers appear 
on the state government’s Toxic Air Contaminant Inventory, a roster of 
the area’s top stationary diesel polluters."



Greetings,
Jeroen

--
Earthquake Magnitude: 4.6
Date: Monday, November  5, 2012 13:07:59 UTC
Location: western Xizang
Latitude: 28.4112; Longitude: 86.2001
Depth: 65.60 km