How AISO Is 100% Solar Powered

A lot of people wonder and even speculate how AISO can be 100% solar powered. Well we have taken a lot of steps that normal hosting companies don't, to make sure we can make such a claim true. We built our data center, network and servers from the start to use the lowest amount of energy possible using the latest green design techniques, no other hosting company can do what we do without starting from scratch. We have gone beyond just making sure our electricity is environmentally friendly.
 

First off, we redesigned our data center to be environmentally friendly along with allowing us to save as much electricity as possible. We built our new data center and office completely using steel except for the door frames. We felt this would be the most responsible construction method keeping with our green philosophy. Next we used several layers of environmentally friendly cellulose (recycled paper) insulation to give us an R-value equal to R 50. This high R-value keeps the cool air in and the hot air out with a usual 20 degree or more difference between inside and outside air temperature, therefore reducing the amount of energy necessary to run our data center. Then, so we don't have to run lighting during the day, the building is complete with over 7 solar tubes, which bring in natural light from the outside. To save energy during low light hours and at night, we use LED lighting instead of Compact Fluorescent or Fluorescent Light Bulbs. This reduces electricity usage and they contain no mercury. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs and regular Fluorescent Light Bulbs contain mercury which becomes a concern at landfills and trash incinerators where the mercury from many bulbs can escape and contribute to air and water pollution. We also installed a custom power saving device which reduces the amount of power drawn by storing electricity that would be otherwise lost electricity (watts) caused by inductance (motors) in our cooling systems, data center and office. The technology applied by this special power saving device supplies stored electricity back to the inductive loads, thus causing a decrease in demand for electricity of up to 30% in reduced consumption. We are also in the process of designing a green roof for our data center. The green roof is a layer of dirt 3 to 4 inches thick with drought resistant plants. Once the new green roof is finished, it can reduce our cooling requirements by up to 50%. When finished, AISO will be the first and only public data center in North America with a green roof.
 

Next to reduce electricity, we installed cooling systems that are built by a company called Freus, Inc and are energy star compliant. We have also made a custom cooling exchanger that brings in the cool air from outside when the temperature drops to below 50°F degrees. This exchanger sucks in the cool air from the outside and then blows it back onto the data center without the need for the Freus air units to run. Only 3 amps of power are being used for the energy efficient blower to run on cool nights. The Freus systems are water-cooled air conditioning systems, that based on test results are nearly twice as energy efficient as conventional air-cooled systems that normal data centers have. To see more information on how our energy efficient cooling systems work, click here.

Then to reduce electricity even further, we have gone with a solution from Sirius Computer Solutions, NetApp, IBM, and VMWare that allows us to run hundreds of virtual servers only on a dozen physical servers. Most data centers experience "server sprawl" because every time they get a new application, they run it on its own server. So in the average data center, the servers are running at 4 percent to 8 percent capacity. AISO saw this issue and purchased a solution to stop it. Now, instead of assigning each server an application or a task, virtualization lets us put individual physical servers into their own "virtual machines," increasing the physical servers efficiency and shrinking our data centers' server footprint. Many of the old servers, assigned to an individual application or dedicated customer, were being used at only 5 percent to 10 percent capacity. "I want them spinning, not sleeping," says Phil Nail, Director of Technology for AISO. "The goal is 70 to 75 percent utilization." Through this virtualization process, AISO has cut their physical server count over 95 percent. "A very big part of this project's return on investment [ROI] is energy and cooling," Nail says. "The biggest projected savings is to avoid buying more servers. Power was No. 2 on the ROI list, he explained. "Each old server chewed up 400 watts of power. The new IBM servers might consume 625 watts, but I am replacing 30 of the old servers with one of these."

We also purchase IBM BladeCenter servers, which consume less then half the power. Fourteen of the regular 625 watt servers consumes 8,750 watts, where as fourteen comparable blade servers only consume 3,990 watts, that is 285 watts per server. Using blade servers also results in less heat, and therefore, less power spent on server-room cooling. For more information on the blades and the IBM BladeCenter with AMD processors AISO uses, click here.

After AISO retires the old servers we take them down to a local EWaste Center to be disposed of properly, showing AISO is committed to environmental conservation.


To find out more about how our servers work, click here.

To find out more about how we are committed to helping the environment, click here.