NJ impact

Wed Nov 7 19:13:03 UTC 2012

> I would be interested to know how the power outages due to the storm
> have negatively affected air pollution and the smog problem in the area.
> Due to generators burning huge amounts of diesel, generators which
> undoubtedly have no meaningful air pollution control to speak of.

Well, that isn't really that true. Many machine are tier 2 compliant, and lots of new ones are getting catalytic converters.

> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/technology/data-centers-waste-vast-
> amounts-of-energy-belying-industry-image.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Well, if someone doesn't install something properly or get the proper permit, they should be fined.

> "Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an
> incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online
> companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock,
> whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or
> more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found.

It is more like 99%, converted to heat. That has been the same for 30 years.

> To guard against a power failure, they further rely on banks of generators
> that emit diesel exhaust. The pollution from data centers has increasingly
> been cited by the authorities for violating clean air regulations, documents
> show. In Silicon Valley, many data centers appear on the state government’s
> Toxic Air Contaminant Inventory, a roster of the area’s top stationary diesel
> polluters."

What is your actual question? I'd submit the following to you - for instance, one of our facilities consumed about 600 gallons last week over a 24 hour period. I am located adjacent to an interstate, which has much dirtier vehicles and trucks driving by every second of every day forever. If a diesel truck gets 8 mpg (and that is being really nice), then that is the equivalent of 4,800 trucks passing my place on a one mile stretch of highway. 

This isn't an argument of whether or not DC's are clean or not, it's a question of what the bigger problem is. 