Opera Plans Containerized Data Center In Iceland

1sockchuck writes "Iceland's supply of renewable power has gained a high-profile international data center customer. Web browser developer Opera Software was announced today as the first customer of the Thor Data Center, which will house Opera's servers in data center containers that can use fresh air cooling, rather than chillers (a strategy also used by Google). The Thor Data Center is located in Hafnarfjorour, to the west of Iceland's ash-spewing volcano. Iceland's data center operators insist their location represents no operational risk from volcanic activity."

Comments

Sounds to be nice location

[XnR'rn]

Good for them. Renewable energy. Lower cooling bills.

I wonder how large the datacenter needs to be to have a significant ecological impact?

Re:Sounds to be nice location

[K. S. Kyosuke]

As I wrote, there is such a thing as a law of conservation of energy. If you heat the water with the waste thermal energy from circuits powered by the potential energy of the same water, how does that differ from letting the water simply fall down from mountains and heat up in the process, in terms of the temperature rise?

They don't produce much geo energy really

[flyingfsck]

A few other countries, including the mean old USA, produce much more geothermal energy than Iceland. Iceland has very few people - only some 300,000 - about the size of a largish town anywhere else in the world.