Chris Crosby has a post on Detroit as a data center location and brings up the folks in Iowa with Facebook. Detroit. The Data Center Capital of America Life is good in Altoona, Iowa. With the coming of Facebook, servers will quickly outnumber the community’s 15,000 residents and the city is poised to become one of the country’s leading data center destinations. The citizenry of Altoona are, of course, ecstatic at their good fortune. The economic benefits alone are too numerous to consider. The police department is contemplating adding a second car, the country club might add nine more holes so members can play a full 18, and there’s a rumor going around that Krispy Kreme might be coming to town. 

The research arm of the US based technology giant Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) has unveiled new architecture for a data center that requires no net energy from traditional power grids. Cullen Bash, Distinguished Technologist, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) said, “Information technology has the power to be an equalizer across societies globally, but the cost of IT services, and by extension the cost of energy, is prohibitive and inhibits widespread adoption. The Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) Net-Zero Energy Data Centre not only aims to minimize the environmental impact of computing, but also has a goal of reducing energy costs associated with data-center operations to extend the reach of IT accessibility globally.”

The N.C. Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved a 4.8-megawatt fuel cell generating station, the nation’s largest private installation, at Apple’s $1 billion data center in Maiden. Fuel cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel, usually hydrogen, into electricity through a chemical reaction. Apple’s 24 cells will run on hydrogen extracted from natural gas. Apple will sell the electricity generated to Duke Energy, the commission order says. The utilities commission approved a 20-megawatt solar farm for Apple’s Maiden complex last week. Apple followed that by announcing it would build a second solar farm of the same size. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/23/3262888/briefly.html#storylink=cpy