Yahoo's New Data Center Is Lean And Green
"Yahoo is serious about sustainability and is leading efforts to address climate change," said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz in a statement. "That's why we believe in creating highly efficient data centers that minimize the impact on the environment."
The Lockport, N.Y., facility's design is known as the "Yahoo Computing Coop" but is jokingly referred to as "the Yahoo Chicken Coop" because of the long, narrow design of the buildings. By mimicking a chicken coop with a long and narrow structure, natural air flows throughout the building, resulting in less than 1 percent of its total energy consumption being used, on average, to cool the data center.
According to the company, the design will result in cheaper electric bills: It projects spending less than 1 cent on cooling for every dollar spent on electricity.
The best-in-class, energy-efficient design was recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) this year with a sustainability grant of $9.9 million.
According to Yahoo, its Lockport data center is among the most efficient buildings of its type in the world. The company expects it will use at least 40 percent less energy than conventional data centers and claims the amount of water saved could power more than 9,000 New York state households annually. Further, it is estimated to use at least 95 percent less water than other data centers.