Crosby will generate its own power, from
the data centre site itself, using a combination of
fuel cell technology, wind turbines and solar panels.
Matt Wilson, Managing Director, said: “It takes
a lot of energy to run a corporate data centre. Estimates
vary, but most sources agree that a typical data centre
uses anywhere between 10 and 40 watts of electricity
per square foot. For a large corporate data centre that
means a significant annual energy cost. With fuel prices
on the rise, it does not take a genius to figure out
that an energy-efficient data centre means budget savings.”
For this reason, as well as for general environmental
concerns, energy efficiency is on a lot of people's
minds. New technologies are cropping up everywhere to
increase efficiency and environmental friendliness in
the data centre. These span everything from more energy
efficient HVAC systems to completely solar powered buildings.
Choosing energy efficient equipment, as well as an efficient
HVAC and a well thought-out UPS load distribution, is
pure common sense at this point for Crosby. According
to Matt: “ The sheer price of implementing fuel
cell, wind and solar energy was once a major roadblock.
It used to be that it would take years for such an investment
to pay off.”
Plus, with a combined fuel cell, wind
and solar energy system there is a one-time investment
that guarantees a supply of energy for years to come.
He concludes: “After implementation you've just
purchased 20 years or more of electricity at one fixed
price. Knowing what your electric bill will be in 2030
has an appeal to many financial managers when they look
at the price trends of conventional energy.
When our fuel cell, wind and solar energy
systems are at peak generation, we could end up over
generating electricity at times and sell it back to
the electricity board, which has great commercial advantages
for us by putting green power back into the UK national
grid.”
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