Apple acquires a 3-3.5MW Hydroelectric Power Plant for Prineville DC, no Dam required

News is starting to spread on Apple’s acquiring a hydroelectric power plant for its prineville data center.

Apple acquires hydroelectric project near its Prineville data center

 
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The first of two, 338,000-square-foot Apple data center buildings in Prineville, shown last year when it was still under construction. The company says it will power the facility with renewable energy. (Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian (2013))

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details that the data center crowd cares about are here.

Under the proposal, the 45-mile Hydroelectric Project will not have a dam. EBD Hydro plans to divert water from the irrigation canal, run it through turbines and generate enough electricity to power between 2,100 and 2,450 homes.

The pipes and turbines will be located about two miles north of Haystack Reservoir, several miles east of Culver, according to documents filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Power generation will only take place when water is running in the canal. Except for stock runs, most irrigation districts shut off irrigation water in the winter months.

EBD Hydro began the process more than two years ago, Gordon said. While it has been difficult, the company appreciated the support the project received from the governor, state and federal lawmakers.

The Rural Energy for America Program offers funding to help rural businesses with renewable energy projects and those that increase energy efficiency, according to the news release.

I’ll be in Bend at the of the month for the kids ski race.  i’ll see if I make a run to any of the spaces, but most likely not.  If anything I am going to the Bend, OR breweries

Some of my favorites are Deschutes and Boneyard.

Deschutes

Deschutes BreweryEst. 1988, Bend – The one and only “original craftster” brew pub, formerly known as Fish Brewing! Stop by  the now two-story pub, aptly  named “Brew 1”, that started the craft brew industry in Bend. Woot! Visit the Deschutes Brewery page.

 

 

 

 

Boneyard

Boneyard Beer CoEst. 2009, Bend – When Tony Lawrence launched his brewing company, he went straight to the “boneyard.” In different jargon, you might say he went to a used-car lot searching for a classic vehicle. Them bones are tasty! Read more on theBoneyard Beer Co page. Cheers!

 

 

What Happened to NxGen Modular? Website is Unavailable

There are two places I know of that have NxGen Modular Data Centers.  Each of these was driven by specific individuals who I doubt would claim to be the decision maker in choosing NxGen Modular.  

What is the problem?  How about the NxGen Modular site is unavailable for a week and looks like it has vanished from the data center landscape.  The current page says only this. http://www.nxgenmodular.com

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Thanks to Google you can see the page was last live on Apr 4, 2014.

THIS IS GOOGLE'S CACHE OF HTTP://WWW.NXGENMODULAR.COM/. IT IS A SNAPSHOT OF THE PAGE AS IT APPEARED ON APR 5, 2014 21:42:33 GMT. THE CURRENT PAGE COULD HAVE CHANGED IN THE MEANTIME. LEARN MORE
TIP:

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Wonder how much longer the NxGen Modular installations will last give the company has disappeared and the people who choose NxGen have moved on as well.

Washington hit with 911 outage, what was cause?

Here is something you don’t hear about too often.  911 outage.  Washington state had an outage that lasted for hours.

Washington state 911 restored after overnight outage

by KING 5 News and Associated Press

Posted on April 10, 2014 at 5:57 AM

Updated today at 7:54 AM

 

 

SEATTLE  -- 911 service has been restored in Washington following a statewide outage Thursday.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Kerry Zimmer says it's unknown if the problem was caused by computer hacking or an equipment problem.

Zimmer says it began about 1:30 a.m. Thursday at Sheridan, Ore., and service in Oregon was also affected for a time.

All service was restored just after 7 a.m.

Veterans in the DC continue to grow, Uptime joins the efforts

People with military experience are all over the data center industry, but what hasn’t existed is a proactive effort to give veterans a clear path to work in the DC industry.

Veterans in the Data Center initiative has Lee Kirby to thank and the following companies who joined early.

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The latest to join is Uptime Institute.

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About Uptime Institute Veterans’ Initiative

The catalyst for the Uptime Institute Veterans’ Initiative was at the Uptime Institute Network meeting in spring of 2013.  Lee Kirby, who at the time was CEO and Founder of Salute Inc., presented what he was striving to accomplish for military veterans within the data center industry.  His unique approach to proving the value of veterans caught the attention of Uptime Institute and its Network Members and a subcommittee was developed to address the personnel shortage in the data center industry and how to better target and attract Veteran applicants. Founding members included representation from Compass Datacenters, Bayer, and General Electric, among others.

Beyond building the job forum within this website, the subcommittee is establishing a foundation of training for veterans whose military specialty did not include technical training and will assess and recommend human resource polices.

If you are interested in participating or learning more about the initiative please contact us:
+1 206 706-4149
veterans@uptimeinstitute.com

See 40 years of Wind Power in the USA

Fast Company has a post showing 40 years of Wind Power in the USA.  Thanks to Google’s investments in wind power, we take it for granted Wind Power is a renewable energy source for data centers.

Watch 40 Years Of Wind Farms Spreading Across The Country

We've gone from one small collection of turbines in 1975 to nearly 1,000 wind farms--capable of generating enough electricity for 15 million homes.

Recent NASA studies on the effects of climate change have been rather harrowing, highlighting the need for alternative energy sources. NASA climate scientist Dr. Drew Shindell stated that “it's more clear than ever that we need large, rapid emissions reductions to avoid the worst damages from climate change.”

Reducing our overall energy usage is obviously a big part of curtailing emissions. But renewable energy sources are also a key piece of the puzzle. So it is somewhat heartening to play watch this .GIF of wind-farm growth from the Department of Energy.

The map starts with one tiny wind farm in southern California in 1975. From there, wind farms continue to spread throughout California for the next two decades. Then in 1994 the first wind farm outside of California appears. From there, they quickly spread across 39 states by 2012 (the most recent statistics available). You can play with an interactive version of this map here.

Here is the original source of data for the graphic from energy.gov. There are a bunch of other cool maps.