The National Science Foundation has awarded $525,000 to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), at the University of Colorado at Boulder, to reduce the data center’s carbon footprint. NSIDC will modify its computing center to become one of the most energy-efficient data centers in the United States.
The project includes a 25-kilowatt rooftop solar array and a more efficient physical layout. Indirect evaporative cooling will replace energy-intensive traditional air conditioning. Together, these changes will cut power needs for cooling by more than 90 percent. Cooling of computing facilities is essential to prevent equipment shutdown or damage.
NSIDC supports research into Earth’s frozen regions, currently archiving and serving more than 91 terabytes of Earth science data to researchers around the world. The data center also provides related services such as data processing and scientific programming.
