Tomorrow's World
Geothermal Data Centers There was a time when a data centre was simply a warehouse full of humming servers and enough air conditioning to keep penguins comfortable. Those days are apparently over. The data centre of tomorrow has loftier ambitions. It no longer wants to borrow electricity from the local utility or ask politely for municipal water. Instead, it arrives complete with its own reservoir, geothermal wells, solar farm, wind turbines and enough backup generators to keep a small nation running. If the marketing brochures are to be believed, the only thing missing is a private weather system to guarantee uninterrupted sunshine. Politicians have embraced the idea with great enthusiasm, standing beside oversized ceremonial shovels to promise thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in investment and a future where prosperity magically appears because an enormous warehouse full of computers has chosen their community. Questions about where all the electricity and water will come from ...
