Core77

Yahoo's new "Chicken Coop" server farm is a building that breathes

By Rain Noe - September 20, 2010

in Tech

On a heavy Core77 blogging day, my laptop will become uncomfortably hot. And that's just one machine; you can imagine what kind of blistering heat a server farm must kick out.

Today Yahoo is opening a new data center in upstate New York, and the facility has been innovatively designed to deal with the heat problem. (It looks rather like a physical storage facility, but those aren't roll-up garage doors, they're louvers. Read on.) Most data centers require massive cooling systems, which in turn suck up electricity like nobody's business, but Yahoo's new "Chicken Coop" configuration lacks chillers entirely. How is that possible? The CC design makes the entire building "breathe," drawing in fresh air through a system of louvers and dampers, then recirculating it throughout the facility for heat, or venting it out through the top of the building, depending. Additionally, the server racks themselves are designed with space between them to allow air to pass, and the building was sited in a location chosen for wind access.

"With the Yahoo! Chicken Coop design, we are spending less than one cent for cooling for every dollar spent on electricity," said David Dibble of Yahoo. "Significantly reducing our electricity usage is not only good for the environment, but also good for our bottom line...."

...Yahoo says the Lockport data center will save enough energy to power more than 9,000 New York state households annually, and save enough water in one year to provide drinking water for 200,000 people.

via data center knowledge

o

Favorite This
Q
6

Comment

Comments

ammre

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

While the turbines at the top would be a nice idea they could also add another layer the heat has to pass through before escaping, trapping it in just a little more.
!Report as spam
p.j. doran

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

i rarely comment, but i looked ans saw the same thing and thought " i 'm probably missing something here, but why aren't they re-using that resource- the heat?!!!)" i agree with all the above comments... can someone explain why they aren't?
!Report as spam
Hank

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Or just forgo the chickens entirely and install a few wind turbines perpendicular to the flow of exhaust air. Maybe they could even be used to help vent the air on windless days.
!Report as spam
joe

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

las comment was hilarious, if there was a plus button, I'd press it
!Report as spam
daniel erwin

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I agree with andrew - at first when I saw the photo, I assumed they'd be raising chickens with the heat they're generating. Feed those to the yahoo programmers, and you've got a real ecological cycle!
!Report as spam
andrew muir wood

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

can they not do something with the waste heat instead of venting it out of the top of the building? seems like half a solution.
!Report as spam