Ventilation is one of the biggest challenges facing data centre administrators today and with air-conditioning equipment affecting both running costs and carbon footprints many operators are now looking to use ambient air as a natural alternative.

Google is not alone in its green pursuits with Yahoo recently unveiling a data centre close to Niagara Falls whose design was inspired by henhouses. The centre has been built using louvered shutters instead of outside walls to enable wind to circulate within the areas housing computer hardware. This type of site is usually equipped with an emergency cooling system for the very hottest days, but neither the Yahoo nor Google centres have such backups and rely solely on fresh air circulation.

Weather forecasts suggest high temperatures for only 7 days per year

According to the specialist website ‘Data Centre Knowledge’, Google used the local weather patterns in Belgium as a determining factor in its data centre management strategy. Its Belgian site has been operational since the end of 2008 and it appears the regional climate will enable natural air cooling almost all year round. Google engineers estimate that the external temperature will only rise above acceptable ranges for an average of 7 days in every twelve months.

Centres deactivated as temperatures rise

It is thought that Google runs its data centres at around 26 °C, whereas temperatures in this region range on average from 18.8 °C to 21.6 °C in the summer months. If it does becomes too hot, Google will deactivate systems in this centre and transfer their workload temporary to another location.

Some experts wonder whether this ability to transfer workloads from one centre to another will lead to energy management strategies based on lunar movements, whereby operators could transfer processing from one centre to another throughout the day ensuring data centres only ever operate at night time.

Others have raised concerns over the ability to control the quality of ambient air. For instance, smoke particles from a nearby fire could damage hard drives and high levels of humidity could cause electrical problems. Meanwhile E-shelter, the company which designed Yahoo’s henhouse-inspired centre, is proud to be championing this type of green initiative but admits most companies are still unprepared to accept the associated risks.