Living in Colorado I have always wondered about the need for AC units in data centers and labs to cool down all the computers. I think it is a great idea for something like this. Now if only companies would start implementing it.

Also wonder if they could just dehumidify the air in certain places - but this might be done with AC units I don't know. In CO we probably wouldn't need to since our air is pretty dry anyway.

in the standard data center failure rate 3.x%
in the DX cooled center failure rate 2.x%
in the ventilated center failure rate 4.x%

DX center and ventilated center were using end-of-life equipment.

Production datacenter was using new equipment

i.e. new equipment will have a roughly 3.x% failure rate.
after three years, the probability of failure decreases to 2.x%.
If you do not properly cool your equipment, there is a 2x greater chance of equipment failure as demonstrated with the end-of-life equipment test.

Therefore, if the new equipment were subjected to the same conditions, you can probably expect a 6.x or greater failure rate.

Is a >6% failure rate in your datacenter acceptable?

Have a nice day!

Intel picked the site because the climate is extremely dry. Albuquerque averages about 8" (400mm) of rain/snow and < 20% relative humidity and is at 1700-2000m elevation with excellent conditions for radiational cooling. That is not the real world. So unless everyone is going to relocate server farms to places like the Chihuahua Desert or the Tibetan Plateau this smacks more of publicity stunt than reality. Mold and mildew would kill this in most climates.

I think that in the future, big datacenters will be placed up in high elevation mountains where the air is cold even during the middle of summer.

For an in-depth presentation of optimizing HVAC (heating, ventiliation, and air-conditioning), see "Optimization of Unit Operations", by Bela Liptak. One of my process control bibles.

Sounds like Intel actually hired a real process control engineer. Good for them.

But nothing new at all, the same principles can and are applied to building HVAC system. Somebody made the miniscule leap to figure out this would work for data centers, also. I'm glad the computer industry is SO creative.