Facebook to Build Server Farms in Arctic Circle [Facebook Looking to Minimize Server Cooling Costs & Will Build Server Infrastructure at the Edge of Arctic Circle]

Posted on TFTS by J. Angelo Racoma on Wednesday, 26. October 2011 under: Green Technology, Internet Highlights, Social Tech

Facebook wants to save on cooling costs for its server infrastructure, and is building a server facility at the edge of the Arctic Circle.

Energy-consciousness is the name of the game for technology companies, and businesses are scrambling to be among the greenest. Among these is Facebook, which announced plans to build its datacenters at the edge of the Arctic Circle to save on electricity costs for cooling.

The server farm facility will be established in the small town of Lulea, North Sweden, and will be Facebook’s first ever data center built outside of U.S. soil. Facebook is encouraging other companies to follow suit, in an effort to turn the place into a so-called “Node Pole.”

Statistics show that for the past 50 years, the temperature in the city has not exceeded 86F (30C) for more than 24 hours. The average temperature in the region is about 35.6F or 2 degrees Celsius — quite near the freeezing point of water.

Facebook plans to build three football field-sized facilities that will house three server halls, and cooling will rely mostly on air from the environment. The facility’s servers will still require about 120MW of power, though, which will be supplied by hydroelectric power from the nearby Lulea river. Aside from the cool climate, Facebook engineers were said to have been attracted by Sweden’s high penetration of residential fiber, and is a good place for the company to establish a foothold on European nations like Finland, Russia and most of Europe.

Facebook will be running a press conference sometime this week to further detail their plans for the Arctic data center.