Facebook’s Fancy New Server Farm Will Be Cooled Naturally By Arctic Air

What the inside of the facility could look like.</a> Facebook <a href="http://inhabitat.com/facebook-to-launch-new-energy-efficiency-app-in-2012/" target="_blank">has been taking steps to green</a> its empire lately and now it has announced another eco-friendly plan for a fancy new server farm. Instead of using a ton of energy to cool the new <a href="http://inhabitat.com/facebook-shares-multimillion-dollar-specs-behind-its-new-energy-efficient-data-center/facebook-prinevilleopencompute/" target="_blank">server farm</a>, the internet giant has decided to just locate the facility in a place that is naturally freezing cold - the Arctic! Located in Luleå, Sweden, the state-of-the-art server farm will be cooled naturally by the Arctic chill. We "Like" it!

All of our writing on walls, status updates and pokes cause Facebook’s busy servers to work hard- and produce a lot of excess heat.

Most server farms must also include complicated, and expensive, air conditioning systems to prevent self combustion from over heating! Relocating a server farm in cooler temperatures <a href="http://inhabitat.com/greenpeace-reveals-the-internets-biggest-secret-dirty-coal/" target="_blank">helps to alleviate the waste heat</a>.

Since Facebook has become such a giant worldwide conglomerate, their <a href="http://inhabitat.com/adobe-installs-a-dozen-bloom-boxes/" target="_blank">server farms</a> are nothing to laugh at- spanning almost 175,000 square feet over three buildings.

Luleå is in Northern Sweden, and borders the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/denmark-is-trying-to-develop-the-arctic-for-its-oil-and-gas-reserves/" target="_blank">Arctic Circle</a> by under 100 miles. It is as close to the North Pole as Siberia, and averages a chilly 35 degrees Fahrenheit year round. The giant data center could easily be cooled naturally with fans and just proximity to such frigid weather.

To run the Arctic air cooling system will cost a cool $75 million a year, one can only imagine how much the cost would be in a warmer climate! The Swedish server farm will also enjoy the benefits of the nearby Luleå River, which provides green and affordable <a href="http://inhabitat.com/us-government-signs-memorandum-to-give-a-boost-to-hydropower/" target="_blank">hydro-electric power</a>.

The byproduct of a hot server farm is warmer air. The Facebook farm may not have a giant impact on <a href="http://inhabitat.com/climate-change-skeptic-scientist-leader-richard-muller-admits-global-warming-is-real/" target="_blank">climate change</a> by warming up the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/inflatable-research-lab-rolls-across-the-arctic-tundra/" target="_blank">Arctic tundra</a>, but if other businesses become attracted to the area, it may be something to monitor.