Where Do All Those Facebook Photos Go?
On the outer boundaries of the Arctic Circle lies a massive construction project funded by Facebook: the future home of thousands of server farms
- By Mark Strauss
- Smithsonian magazine, July-August 2012, Subscribe
With 900 million members worldwide and growing, Facebook is building its first European data storage facility—60 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Lulea, Sweden. The reason: natural air conditioning. Some Internet “server farms” spend as much to cool the machines as power them. Facebook’s Nordic operation—which will eventually expand to three 290,000- square-foot buildings, each housing tens of thousands of servers—will save millions of dollars on electricity. Plus, the buildings are designed to capture some heat from the servers and use it to warm employee offices. The estimated cost of building the facilities is more than $700 million. Sweden hopes that construction subsidies and other incentives, including the promise of clean hydropower, will attract more digital companies to a region now being marketed as the “Node Pole.”
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Comments (2)
I'm older, first time on the Internet, I have nothing but respect for Facebook and what you're doing. The Internet is helping the new generation realize how important nature is. Thank you, also, texting is helping guard against waves that maybe damage the brain. Took awhile, but love texting. Nature heals. Now it's time for man to return the favor. Keep up the good work, you're amazing.
Posted by Carol Manthei on December 8,2012 | 08:36 AM
While building server farms near the Arctic Circle appears to be a very innovative and conscientious idea, I am wondering about the effect this will have on the Taiga Forest. The rendering of Facebook's new facility appears to place it right in the thick of the Taiga, a forest that encircles the globe and plays an enormous part in regulating the oxygen levels of our atmosphere. Will there be any regulations to building there, or will the Taiga be trampled - literally - beneath the march of industry?
Posted by Kenyon on July 17,2012 | 10:36 AM