{"id":2446,"date":"2013-05-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/online-techs-michigan-data-centers-use-free-cooling\/"},"modified":"2013-05-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T00:00:00","slug":"online-techs-michigan-data-centers-use-free-cooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/online-techs-michigan-data-centers-use-free-cooling\/","title":{"rendered":"Online Tech\u2019s Michigan Data Centers Use Free Cooling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In many cooler geographical U.S. regions, data centers are looking at taking advantage of using the outside environment to cool their IT equipment.\u00a0 Although this free cooling concept has been in existence for more than 30 years, it has becoming more widely adopted during the past 2 to 3 years as energy prices continue to rise.<\/p>\n<p>With three <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/operations\/locations\/michigan-cloud-and-data-centers\/\">Michigan data centers<\/a>, Online Tech has been utilizing Michigan\u2019s cool air temperatures to help lower their data centers costs.\u00a0 \u201cWe naturally use less energy because it is cooler in Michigan,\u201d says Yan Ness, Online Tech Co-CEO.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MlWuRqq47eM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As<em> <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/blog\/michigan-the-next-cool-thing-for-data-centers\/\">Michigan \u2013 The Next Cool Thing for Data Centers<\/a><\/em> mentions, Michigan\u2019s year round cool climate is ideal for data centers.\u00a0 As Ness points out that Michigan\u2019s average heating day is 62 degrees and free cooling kicks in around 50 degrees.\u00a0 So, air conditioning units can take advantage of the environment, even in the spring and fall, about 90% of the time in Michigan. \u201cThis is why Michigan is a great place to have data centers.\u00a0 We should bring all servers all over the south up here and put them in our buildings,\u201d says Ness.<\/p>\n<p>Online Tech has been utilizing free cooling in their Michigan data centers for a few years.\u00a0 In 2011, Online Tech invested over $1 million dollars into the <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/operations\/locations\/michigan-cloud-and-data-centers\/\/locations\/mid-michigan-data-center\">Mid-Michigan data center<\/a> incorporating higher energy efficiencies.\u00a0 Old air conditioning units were upgraded to new units that were suitable for free cooling and more energy efficient.\u00a0 \u201cThe savings has almost paid for the equipment,\u201d says Ness.<\/p>\n<p>Online Tech\u2019s Michigan data centers not only incorporate free cooling to lower cooling costs.\u00a0 All of our Michigan data centers are designed using hot\/cold aisle containment and hot\/cold configuration.\u00a0 At the end of each row cabinets, a hidden plastic container directs all of the cold air into the center of the servers.\u00a0 This maximizes the use of the cold air to cool the equipment and lessen the amount of cold air escaping.<\/p>\n<p>Also, servers are organized in a hot\/cold aisle configuration.\u00a0 This hot\/cold aisle layout lines up servers racks in alternating rows with server hot air exhausts pointing in the same direction and improves airflow management.<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested in learning other ways to make your data center more efficient read <em><a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/blog\/investing-in-data-center-efficiencies-part-one\/\">Investing in Data Center Efficiencies &#8211; Part One<\/a><\/em> and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/blog\/investing-in-data-center-efficiencies-part-two\/\">Investing in Data Center Efficiencies &#8211; Part Two<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In many cooler geographical U.S. regions, data centers are looking at taking advantage of using the outside environment to cool their IT equipment.\u00a0 Although this free cooling concept has been in existence for more than 30 years, it has becoming more widely adopted during the past 2 to 3 years as energy prices continue to rise. With three Michigan data centers, Online Tech has been utilizing Michigan\u2019s cool air temperatures to help lower their data centers costs.\u00a0 \u201cWe naturally use less energy because it is cooler in Michigan,\u201d says Yan Ness, Online Tech Co-CEO. As Michigan \u2013 The Next Cool Thing for Data Centers mentions, Michigan\u2019s year round cool climate is ideal for data centers.\u00a0 As Ness points out that Michigan\u2019s average heating day is 62 degrees and free cooling kicks in around 50 degrees.\u00a0 So, air conditioning units can take advantage of the environment, even in the spring and fall, about 90% of the time in Michigan. \u201cThis is why Michigan is a great place to have data centers.\u00a0 We should bring all servers all over the south up here and put them in our buildings,\u201d says Ness. Online Tech has been utilizing free cooling in their Michigan data&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"other_category":[],"class_list":["post-2446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Online Tech\u2019s Michigan Data Centers Use Free Cooling | OTAVA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As energy prices continue to rise, take advantage of Michigan&#039;s naturally cooler climate by colocating your servers in a Michigan data center.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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