Open Compute Wants To Make Biodegradable Servers

1sockchuck writes "The Open Compute Project has challenged students at Purdue University to develop a biodegradable server chassis. Although the steel used in most server chassis can be recycled, the OCP says it wants to "explore designs that retain the needed resiliency but push the boundaries of sustainability," even allowing a chassis to be composted. The project aligns with Facebook's goal of separating the technology refresh cycle for CPUs and other components from the surrounding chassis and racks. The Purdue students will tackle this issue next semester, but Slashdot readers can brainstorm the issue now. Is a biodegradable server chassis viable? If so, can it be affordable?"

Comments

That's all well and good

[viperidaenz]

But the steel in the chassis is probably the most environmentally friendly part of a server.

Re:That's all well and good

[Anonymous Coward]

This. Isn't there no limit to the number of times steel can be recycled? Also, chassis shouldn't be replaced that often, no? Why are we wasting effort on the longest lasting, most sustainable portion of the computer?

Re:That's all well and good

[jdray]

Because someone had a "brilliant" marketing idea, no concept of the technical viability, and no interest in doing proper research. Instead, they get something up on Slashdot and let us tell them whether it's a good idea or not.

Re:That's all well and good

[Servaas]

How is Open Compute Project funded? Does anyone know? Ideas like these are good case for cutting said funding.

Re:That's all well and good

[CastrTroy]

Just as stupid as bamboo and cardboard bikes. There's nothing wrong with using steel or aluminium for your bike frame. If you treat it right, it will last 20+ years, at which point it can be recycled into a new bike. Even if you leave it out in the rain, the frame will most likely still last 10+ years, its the rest of the components that really don't like rain that much.

Re:That's all well and good

[LWATCDR]

Yep Steel is 100% recyclable. It is also "biodegradable" as well. Steel changes into iron oxide which is the same as iron ore. It will enrich the soil with iron which is a nutrient. Boom a steel enclosure is already fits all the requirements.
 

Re:That's all well and good

[Derek Pomery]

From chatting with someone who was working on the bamboo bike project, my understanding is that its advantages in no particular order were:
1) Much lighter than steel, although of lower durability
2) Novelty
3) The epoxies used to hold the bamboo together and reinforce the bikes could be cheaply shipped in quantity to bike shops in Africa where bamboo was readily available but machined steel bike frames were not.

Presumably a steel frame, despite the weight, would last longer, but might be harder to repair in some areas.

I don't really know too much of the project, but I think the first world bamboo bikes were more about novelty.
I don't think the bamboo bike is even that much cheaper than a carbon composite bike since the shops aren't mass producing.

Make it from wood.

[Z00L00K]

And then you can make a nice little fire when the server gets too old.

Re:Make it from wood.

[Genda]

Actually some woods burn much better than others. Certain corks and barks are terrible at burning. One might also consider a composite, a laminate of wood and biodegradable plastics that would be light, very strong, and function well in a server environment. One would need to include a foil layer inside for noise isolation and conductive pads for grounding, but other than that, its doable.

One other possibility might be a wood/carbon fiber/polymer paste that can be cured into a super hard, light, biodegradable material. The cool part is that you could 3D print your computer chassis. Imagine all the cool (literally cool) exotic passive and active subsystems you could incorporate into a printed chassis. This would be a very exciting possibility. Hmmm maybe I just came up with this summers Maker Project!

It actually seems like a bad idea...

[Anonymous Coward]

These are servers. Making a quick-swap motherboard standard for them sounds like a win, but no reasonably priced competitive substance offers the strength and RF shielding of a steel box.

And why would we care about biodegradable when we have steel? It is reusable until obsolete and then recyclable into other useful steel objects.

Wrong order?

[nweaver]

If the goal is to make the chassis and CPU lifetime different, make the chassis strong and easy to upgrade. Which means the chassis has the potential to have the longest lifetime, so why make it degradeable?

The stench is strong with this one

[oldhack]

The stench of PR gibberish is overwhelming.

Re:The stench is strong with this one

[jdray]

That may be the decomposing server chassis. The heat generated by a rack full of them would probably start the composting process.

Manuel says "Fuego!"

[Ancient_Hacker]

I'm thinking there is some UL or ISO or Euro standard that makes it difficult to make server chassis out of flammable materials, and stack dozens of them in a rack, while running 240VAC through them and with lots of cooling air to fan the flames.

Bugs (literally)

[Dwedit]

I don't want insects and fungi eating away at a computer chassis while the computer inside is still operating. Recyclable materials sound like a better idea than something that prematurely falls apart and rots away.

Re:Who needs a chassis?

[dyingtolive]

When I was a poor college student, my linux box was my old computer parts zip-tied into an old shoebox. There's your biodegradable chasis right there. Tell me when you've figured out how to make the stuff that's actually harmful to the environment biodegradable.

what about making them more reusable?

[bzipitidoo]

The PC case really has not changed significantly since the 1980s, since everyone figured out that separate keyboards are better than integrated ones. Most of the differences are fairly trivial, but often just enough to make it more convenient to buy a new case. One thing I find surprising is that the size of the average desktop computer case hasn't changed much. I would have thought they'd all have shrunk to the size of a shoe box or smaller by now. Seems the driving force keeping the size constant is the need for heat dissipation.

We could do better. Still, we've done fairly well. The CD and DVD drives are the same size as the old 5.25" floppy drive. Hard drives also standardized on that size for a while, then moved to another standardized size, 3.5". We still see the AT style power supply space and mounting points. The physical expansion slot of the XT and the Apple ][ is still with us even though the underlying bus has changed dramatically. The old RS-232 serial port is still around in places, and where it has been replaced, it's with another standard, USB.

Re:Don't they call a biodegradeable server chassis

[boristdog]

No, they call it a skull.

not incosnsistent

[Immerman]

"Lighter but less durable than steel"
and
"More durable than steel"
are not necessarily inconsistent statements, depending on how you're measuring - dimensionally a 1" bamboo rod will be considerably lighter than a steel tube with the same cross-section, but will likely be less durable. On the other hand a 1lb bamboo rod may be considerably more durable than a 1lb steel rod since the bamboo will be much thicker to reach the same weight, not to mention its extensive organic structural reinforcements.

Note that I have no idea what the reality is, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that both claims are 100% valid. As for composites - well I can't say I'd be at all surprised if an organic structure micro-engineered at the cellular level were both stronger and more durable than the crude human-made composites, there's a reason bio-mimicry is an increasingly popular engineering strategy.