Emerging Biogas Data Center

Methane is a gas produced by the decomposition of organic matter, which at first glance seems to be an energy source for the data center is not very appropriate.

But the more Internet companies are trying to use biogas as part of their data center's energy supply. This is determined by a number of factors, and you need to know about the emerging Biogas data center:

1. Where does biogas come from

Biogas is a kind of mixed combustible gas which is mainly composed of methane, which is produced by microbial fermentation and decomposition under certain temperature, humidity, ph and anaerobic conditions.

2. Is biogas a green energy source?

Many countries believe that biogas is a renewable energy source, because it is mainly methane gas, and can replace fossil fuels for heating, electricity and so on. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is being released into the atmosphere. In some countries methane has been certified to be a sufficient renewable clean energy source.

3. Which Internet companies are interested in biogas

The Apple Data Center in North Carolina State is one of the world's largest biogas data center projects. The first battery fuel system in the Apple North Carolina data Center will be ready for use by June and all six battery fuel systems will be ready for completion by November 30 of this year. These battery-fuel systems are made from bloom energy, biogas produced by biogas digesters made of biological metabolites, and four separate fuel pools can produce 24 to 200-kilowatt of the power.

Microsoft is planning to develop an independent, fuel-cell-powered data center called the Plant Data center, which will run directly from methane. Microsoft says it plans to set up a data center directly on a sewage treatment plant or landfill, and the data center will directly use its biogas production.

Google has also been studying and providing part of the funding for North Carolina State biogas projects. But Google has not specifically contacted a data center. ebay has a battery fuel system made by Bloom Energy, which uses biogas at its headquarters, but I don't know much about its data center.

4. How much biogas is produced and used in the United States?

According to the American Biogas Association, the United States has only more than 160 anaerobic biogas digester and more than 1500 sewage treatment plants. Only about 250 of the 1500 sewage treatment plants actually use biogas. Around the world, more anaerobic biogas digesters are being used, and hundreds of thousands of or even millions of biogas digesters may be used worldwide.

5. Why Internet companies are interested in biogas

Data center operators look at biogas as a way to reduce their carbon footprint and to build a green corporate image and control their energy sources. Data centers are rapidly being built across the United States, and large data centers consume large amounts of electricity. Companies such as Apple and Amazon have been criticized by Greenpeace for using coal to power their data centers. A new fuel cell powered by biogas is also a way to make their data centers greener.

Data-center operators are increasingly using fuel cells as distributed clean energy. Most fuel cells will use cheap and abundant natural gas, while small portions will use biogas.

As Microsoft's Data center Services general Manager Christian Belady said: "Fuel cells are a very reliable source of energy, and the pollution is small." Bloom Energy has recently focused on fuel cell data centers, which will increase the reliability of data center operators. Belady also said:

In addition to its cleanliness, fuel cells provide us with advantages such as mainframe, including increased average fault-free time intervals (MTBF), higher availability, flexibility of fuel sources, high power generation efficiency, and reduced reliance on traditional data center infrastructures, For example, five-minute ups and emergency diesel generators.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)