Nuclear Power Plant to Be Converted to Green Data Center

November 12, 2008
by Jaymi Heimbuch, Central Coast, California
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/nuclear-power-plant-converted-to-green-data-center.php

A green data center is going to get a new, unlikely home in Hanau, Germany. 1&1 has chosen a never-used nuclear fuel facility as its newest location for an enormous data center, which will be one of Europe's largest.

The center will be run on renewable energy, and will feature quite a few tricks for keeping the electricity bill down.

"The new data centre in Hanau will further optimise the operational efficiency of our Internet services," said Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet Ltd. "The geographical distance from our existing European data centres is an important aspect of our business continuity strategy, and the new facility will further bolster our pan European backbone" adds Mauss.
The newest data center, set to open in late 2009, will be able to house over 100,000 servers. It will utilize energy-saving coolers that use the outside temperative for cooling, and the servers all have low-energy components. With the rush for data center providers to switch to renewable energy and up their PUE, 1&1 is keeping abreast with the rest of the industry with this addition. Of course, using such an interesting site for a data center run on renewables is certainly good for PR, too.