Google’s most efficient data center runs at 95 degrees

As a general rule, if you want to keep a computer running without issues then you need adequate cooling for the major components. That means a CPU fan, GPU fan, and case fans too. If you scale that up to the data center level, cooling is implemented on a massive scale and costs a small fortune in electricity and equipment.

Google is always trying to make its servers more efficient and eco-friendly in a bid to save on running costs, and its St Ghislain data center in Belgium is now classed as the most efficient. The reason? It only uses fresh air cooling, which means no air conditioning units burning through electricity every day.

Such efficiency comes at a price, though. The servers in the facility run incredibly hot, so hot in fact that humans cannot go near them for extended periods.

The peak operating temperature Google’s Belgium data center reaches is 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It is governed by how hot it is outside, and when it reaches those temperature staff can no longer remain in the same areas as the servers. By comparison, a typical data center runs at temperatures as low as 68 degrees.

It’s also telling that Google released the video below in May of last year and talked about turning the temperature up to 80 degrees. Less than a year on and they have turned it up a further 15 degrees, showing you the improvements in efficiency continue to happen and that temperatures will probably continue to increase.

Source: Data Center Knowledge