[TriLUG] A rare look inside a Google Datacenter

[matt at noway2.thruhere.net]

What really caught my attention was the picture of their chiller plants. 
On one side you can see the row of split case chillers all tied together
in a common header, along with their color coding (condenser: green,
yellow), evaporator (pink, blue).  What I found interesting is the row of
plate and frame heat exchangers across from them that is also tied into a
pipe header, with the same color scheme but with more intense colors and
also pumps on the red lines.  I am curious as to the function of the heat
exchangers?  Are they using them for hydraulic isolation, conversion from
glycol to water, or are they using what is commonly called "free cooling"
where they can use the cooling towers to directly provide cold water
through the heat exchanger?  Seeing as the one facility was in GA, I doubt
that they get much of a time period where they could use the atmosphere
for
"free" cooling as it requires temperatures of about 45F or less.

Also interesting was the Finland pictures, where such a system could be
really beneficial.  At that facility, it also looks like they have a power
plant at the facility too.

> I liked the pretty pictures in Wired, but when I read that Google gives
> away Gmail for free because they're just so darn energy efficient, I
> laughed and closed the tab.
>
> --bak
>
> On Oct 17, 2012, at 7:57 AM, Michael Rothwell <michael at rothwell.us> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 10:53 AM, Aaron Joyner <aaron at joyner.ws> wrote:
>>
>>> In case you missed the media coverage this morning... Google did
>>> something very unusual today.  They invited Steven Levy (author of "In
>>> The Plex") and CBS This Morning to the Lenoir Datacenter, and gave
>>> them a tour of the server floor.  They also published photos of the
>>> server floor, video off the offices, and Street View imagery that
>>> allows you to walk right onto the datacenter floor.
>>>