Can outside air drive down the cost of data centers?

The Green Grid Consortium has come up with a new idea to help data centers save money. It's easy and it's also cheap. The new strategy uses fresh air to cool a data center--as centers get jam-packed with more and more small components and chips it has increased the demand for more and better cooling systems. The Consortium invites data centers to put their zip code into a database and then find out if the air surrounding it is too hot, too cold or too dry. By using these tools, IT personnel will learn whether the air is the right purity to pump into the center, according to an article in eWeek.

Roger Tipley, a Green Grid board member and an engineering strategist with HP, said the idea of using outside air to help cool a data center is just now getting attention. However, there are some ways around the temperature of the air if it is not the right temperature. If the air is too cold, he told eWeek. Hot air that is already being generated by the systems can be used to warm the air enough to use it. It makes sense that it is possible to mix outside air with internal air of varying temperatures to get the balance needed to cool a center.

For more on using fresh air to cool your data center:
- check out this eWeek.com article

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