> 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.
