NumNuts said: Actually ice simply isn't a big thing here hence the lack of ice machines in hotels generally. It's not very hot...20C is rare, which is why the place is attractive for data centres. Pubs will give you a pint (twice those 8oz) of ice, no problem.
So just put a mess of solar pan... oh wait. The British Isles you say? Oooh. Tough break.
Too true. However, there is possibly even more wind in Ireland than rain, particularly in Galway where the data centre is to be built, though with Galway it would be a close call as there is a lot of both, so the favourite pointless form of renewable occasional energy production here is wind turbines. Over the last 3 years I have made 8 trips to Dublin. There is a wind farm adjoining the motorway I use. On two of those trips the blades have been stationary. Once because there was no wind and once because there was too much wind so they were feathered. The wind farms near me certainly wouldn't be generating anything at the moment as not a leaf is stirring.
I spotted a news item Honda with their hydrogen powered car should probably take a keen interest in. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have come up with a cheaper catalyst for reducing the energy needed to split water via electrolysis. If the energy efficiency improvement is great enough, this could mean that energy generated from intermittent renewable sources, like solar and wind, could be used to 'store' the energy generated by producing hydrogen which could be used to generate electricity (or used to fuel cars) when the wind isn't cooperating or the sun has gone down.
It would be really nice if Apple could provide the funding necessary to commercialise this discovery and construct a wind farm with an adjoining hydrogen generation and fuel-cell facility to power this new data centre. They could even form a company and make a lot of money making and selling such facilities.
Germany make the world's largest wind turbines. Fat monsters almost the height of the Dublin Spire (turbine is 112M). Huge!! 50 of these would be required for 300 megawatts. That's an awful lot of renewable energy required. I'm kind of wondering where you fit those 50 gigantic turbines for this job. Apple should do a deal with our corrupt government to build 60-70 of these way out in the sea off the coast here and give the other 15 or so as a present to Ireland as they use the other 50 to power the data centre.
It would be really nice if Apple could provide the funding necessary to commercialise this discovery and construct a wind farm with an adjoining hydrogen generation and fuel-cell facility to power this new data centre. They could even form a company and make a lot of money making and selling such facilities.
Does it really make sense to be serving most of Europe from a small island?
could be because Galway is just a bit south of where the "Emerald Express" 40Tbps underwater network cable connects from USA to Europe. Which on first glance, seems to be the biggest one spanning the North Atlantic gap. Theres also a 16Tbps "Arctic Fibre" that connects to Ireland but it's in the south near Cork.
Does it really make sense to be serving most of Europe from a small island?
Data centres consume a lot of energy. This one supposedly 300 MW. A lot of that energy ends up as heat, which is why cooling is one of the highest operating costs for data centres.
Ireland's average annual temperature is 10° C, so you can actually cool a data centre here without resorting to refrigeration, just by opening the windows. A lot of large companies are siting their Europe serving data centres in Ireland because of the very large energy cost savings possible.
Does it really make sense to be serving most of Europe from a small island?
Ireland has very low corporate tax rates. Everyone is there - Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Accenture etc. Having staff and data centres there gives some legitimacy to the whole scam rather than just an empty office
Does it really make sense to be serving most of Europe from a small island?
Ireland has very low corporate tax rates. Everyone is there - Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Accenture etc. Having staff and data centres there gives some legitimacy to the whole scam rather than just an empty office
Apple's European headquarters has been in Ireland since ~1980.
Ireland's average annual temperature is 10° C, so you can actually cool a data centre here without resorting to refrigeration, just by opening the windows. A lot of large companies are siting their Europe serving data centres in Ireland because of the very large energy cost savings possible.
So yes, it does make a lot of sense.
Gut instinct your opening the windows point seems off.
Ireland's average annual temperature is 10° C, so you can actually cool a data centre here without resorting to refrigeration, just by opening the windows. A lot of large companies are siting their Europe serving data centres in Ireland because of the very large energy cost savings possible.
So yes, it does make a lot of sense.
Gut instinct your opening the windows point seems off.
Your gut is ill-informed. The window comment was a joke. You are as humourless as DED.
Google is to invest €150 million in a new data centre in west Dublin. ...
Ireland's naturally cool climate is a draw for data centre operators, because it saves them money on energy costs.
Google's new data centre is the latest example of a tech company
taking advantage of this, following announcements by Apple and Facebook
earlier this year.
Microsoft building 4 Data Centers in Ireland ... We understand Microsoft decide to work build its data centers in Ireland due to the country’s colder climate.
Zuckerberg shows off plans for Irish Facebook data centre ... Clonee Data Centre will be one of the most advanced and
energy-efficient data centres in the world,” Zuckerberg said. “It will
feature the latest server, storage and network designs developed through
the Open Compute Project, and will be powered by 100pc renewable
energy.”
Continuing his post, Zuckerberg admits that, while the Irish
temperate climate is one of the reasons that the centre has established
itself here in Ireland, its location isn’t absolutely perfect.
“One interesting engineering detail is that we’re cooling the
facility with outdoor air, but because this is near the Irish Sea we’ll
be using an indirect air cooling process to filter the salt from the
air,” he said.
In the case of Facebook, they obviously will be using recirculated air cooled by outside air using a heat exchanger, the others may actually do the same but if the air isn't salt-laden, they might actually be able draw in outside air using fans rather than the more prosaic opening of windows. If they do use outside air directly, they certainly won't need to expend energy on humidification, which can be a cost in some data centers.
This is why APPL needs to make an Mac OS X server running on an A-series chip. Probably won't happen unfortunately because it will not be an APPL priority.
This is why APPL needs to make an Mac OS X server running on an A-series chip. Probably won't happen unfortunately because it will not be an APPL priority.
If Apple "needs" to do it then they'll prioritise it.
As folks from the USA, we sometimes don't realize the impact of power usage in places like Ireland. For example, most hotels do not have ice machines since making ice is so expensive. On a recent trip to Ireland, I would ask the front desk for ice and they would give me an 8oz glass of ice and they would hope that I would not ask for more.
So a data center that uses that much power...............Well good luck with that
What do you suppose is the cause of this issue in places like Ireland?
Any farms and houses downwind of that monster will be able to turn off their central heating and save a packet. Local climate change - ftw!
Just so you are aware: climate change caused by human activity is not the result of releasing too much heat, but by dumping particles into the air and increasing CO2.
"Human activities contribute to climate change by causing changes in Earth’s atmosphere in the amounts of greenhouse gas- es, aerosols (small particles), and cloudiness. The largest known contribution comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases and aero- sols affect climate by altering incoming solar radiation and out- going infrared (thermal) radiation that are part of Earth’s energy balance. Changing the atmospheric abundance or properties of these gases and particles can lead to a warming or cooling of the climate system. Since the start of the industrial era (about 1750), the overall effect of human activities on climate has been a warm- ing in uence. The human impact on climate during this era greatly exceeds that due to known changes in natural processes, such as solar changes and volcanic eruptions."
-NOAA http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/pd/climate/factsheets/howhuman.pdf
Using solar, wave or wind energy captures power without billowing clouds of greenhouse gasses into atmosphere (unlike burning trash or oil or coal or wood).
Unfortunately much of this isn't true or is misconstrued as to be scientific law instead of theory.
Local industries do in fact impact local climate, to what extent depends upon the industry. However cities are known to be warmer the surrounding country side.
As for aerosols, you really need to read up on the latest research. The reality is much is produced naturally. Please don't take hype and theory as fact, there are far to many unknowns to be blaming man for all that is happening climate wise.
This is why APPL needs to make an Mac OS X server running on an A-series chip. Probably won't happen unfortunately because it will not be an APPL priority.
Ehhh, the A series chips are great as they are custom designed to serve the iPhone and iPad. If Apple wanted to and they likely already do, they would design a custom chip to serve whatever server need they have. They would not use an A series chip.
As folks from the USA, we sometimes don't realize the impact of power usage in places like Ireland. For example, most hotels do not have ice machines since making ice is so expensive. On a recent trip to Ireland, I would ask the front desk for ice and they would give me an 8oz glass of ice and they would hope that I would not ask for more.
So a data center that uses that much power...............Well good luck with that
This is very much an European thing and I highly doubt that it has anything to do with the cost of making ice. I've traveled a bit through Ireland, Germany and a bit of France for work and the culture doesn't seem to like the idea of chilled drinks. In Germany it isn't uncommon to have your bottle of Coke servered to you room temperature. Similarly in Ireland ice is unknown in most establishments. What I'm trying to say is that it seemed to me to be a cultural thing.
As for the front desk, they probably labeled you an ugly American!
As folks from the USA, we sometimes don't realize the impact of power usage in places like Ireland. For example, most hotels do not have ice machines since making ice is so expensive. On a recent trip to Ireland, I would ask the front desk for ice and they would give me an 8oz glass of ice and they would hope that I would not ask for more.
So a data center that uses that much power...............Well good luck with that
What do you suppose is the cause of this issue in places like Ireland?
I really think it is cultural, I had the same problem in Ireland and Germany. On many occasions had Coke served to me room temperature. It feels very strange at first.
Comments
a US pint is 16oz, a Irish pint is just over 19oz
I spotted a news item Honda with their hydrogen powered car should probably take a keen interest in. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have come up with a cheaper catalyst for reducing the energy needed to split water via electrolysis. If the energy efficiency improvement is great enough, this could mean that energy generated from intermittent renewable sources, like solar and wind, could be used to 'store' the energy generated by producing hydrogen which could be used to generate electricity (or used to fuel cars) when the wind isn't cooperating or the sun has gone down.
It would be really nice if Apple could provide the funding necessary to commercialise this discovery and construct a wind farm with an adjoining hydrogen generation and fuel-cell facility to power this new data centre. They could even form a company and make a lot of money making and selling such facilities.
Ireland's average annual temperature is 10° C, so you can actually cool a data centre here without resorting to refrigeration, just by opening the windows. A lot of large companies are siting their Europe serving data centres in Ireland because of the very large energy cost savings possible.
So yes, it does make a lot of sense.
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2015/0821/722623-google/
http://news.thewindowsclub.com/microsoft-building-4-data-centers-ireland-84033/https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/2016/01/25/irish-facebook-data-centre-clonee-zuckerberg
In the case of Facebook, they obviously will be using recirculated air cooled by outside air using a heat exchanger, the others may actually do the same but if the air isn't salt-laden, they might actually be able draw in outside air using fans rather than the more prosaic opening of windows. If they do use outside air directly, they certainly won't need to expend energy on humidification, which can be a cost in some data centers.