Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - The orange of Syracuse University and blue of IBM, have teamed up to make green. Today, Syracuse University opened up a brand new environmentally friendly computer center unlike anything else in the world -- and one that may make it less expensive to operate your computer at home.
To understand this story, you must first understand this: your computer uses a lot of electricity, and creates a lot of heat.
When it comes to data centers like the one at your place of work or school, the problem grows tenfold.
But with the snip of a ribbon today, Syracuse University took a big step in solving that problem. SU's new green data center is very atypical because of how little energy it uses. “As computers have gotten more powerful they use more energy, 3 percent of the world's energy. This data center uses half of that as a typical data center,” said Dr. Eric Spina, SU’s Vice Chancellor.
Along with using half the energy, it actually makes it's own using these generators. The servers themselves are cooled much like your car radiator cools the engine. The heat is recycled back into the building to keep it warm when the weather turns cold. It's all part of an effort between SU and computer giant IBM. “We started with a blank page, many blank pages. And it turned into a fabulous piece of work,” said IBM Vice President Vijay Lund.
The Green Data Center will also be used for research, in part, developing ways to make your home computer more energy efficient, costing less money to run. Right now, this is a one of its kind facility, but IBM says there will be more soon.
