Here’s an article on how our Facebook Overlords have build their newest datacenter in Lulea, Sweden. This is largely due to their having an average temperature of less than 30F degrees, which allows Facebook to utilize outside air for cooling, which can save a bundle of money. Apparently many companies have been locating datacenters in Lulea for this reason.
I’m not an Environmentalist — I try to do my part, but am more of a lazy recycler — but the first thing I thought of was: How is this likely to impact the environment around Lulea. A few years ago, I read an article if a study on how large cities like Phoenix and Dallas are slowly humidifying the surrounding desert by the number of lawns and other plants that their citizens water daily (not to mention pools!), increasing humidity via evaporation and affecting the variety of plants and animals as far out as 50 miles from these cities.
So I wonder if the extra heat being released from datacenters into or around Lulea will ultimately have a similar effect on their local climate?
slashdot.org/topic/datacenter/facebook-saves-datacenter-costs-with-frigid-arctic-wind/
via facebook.com/AlienSpilcer/