Celebrating Earth Day from the Emerald Isle

By John Dwyer – International Datacentre Manager

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is a very appropriate time to reflect on the aggressive sustainability objectives that Microsoft has for the Dublin datacentre and the great progress we’ve made so far. As you will recall, the facility went into production on July 1, 2009, and with its free air cooling design is one of the most energy efficient facilities Microsoft has designed and built so far. Beyond the dramatic reduction in power consumption, the removal of traditional cooling systems negates the need for a chiller plant, allowing us to avoid the typical consumption of around 18 million litres of water each month.

Microsoft’s Dublin datacenter server Pods utilize fresh outside air year round

In the 9 months since we moved into the production phase of the facility, the two initial server rooms have seen rapid growth in the number of operational systems in place as we have replaced less efficient systems that previously served the European market. Our engineering and operations teams are also continuing to partner closely to assess and drive the implementation of new strategies for further efficiency optimizations. Our determination and commitment to running highly sustainable datacentres is as firm as it has ever been and I look forward to sharing more on our progress over the coming year.

Microsoft is working hard with our partners, customers and suppliers, as well as with governments and leading environmental organizations, to help address this critical environmental challenge. You can read more about our corporate commitments and Earth Day perspectives via our Microsoft Environment web site.

As always, I welcome your questions and feedback.

Cheers

JD/