Articles from Earth & Industry

Measuring Data Center Energy Efficiency More EffectivelyEarth & IndustryThe broad acceptance of Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) as a measure for data center energy efficiency is to be welcomed. After all, if we don't measure it, we won't improve it. However, the limits of PUE are widely ...and more » (Read Full Article)

Coal-fired electricity is still the cheapest form of electricity around, that is, if you don't count the environmental and social costs of emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury into our air and water. The right mix of cheap electricity, cheap labor, and proximity to raw materials and transportation arteries were key to determining the landscape of economic development in this country for the better part of a century. Yet as this country drifts away from a manufacturing-centered economy towards an information-centered one, with more data centers being built than manufacturing plants, the practice of locating energy-intensive businesses near cheap electricity remains. (Read Full Article)