WHENEVER I'M INSIDE the Beltway (the 50 mile blast radius of the White House that incorporates the path I'm walking at left), I know I'm driving where more than 50% of all internet traffic in the US flows. By 2012, Dominion Power estimates that 10% of all electricity it sends to northern Virginia will be used by data centres. In the US, data centre power doubled between 2000 and 2006 and this kind of demand should double again by 2011. Conversations with my data centre brothers brings the issue of brownouts directly to the forefront. Ireland would be well below major contenders as a host for foreign direct investment if local authorities could not guarantee high levels of uninterrupted power. In the years after the current recession, power-hungry industrial parks will need to have their own substations and some will need their own (dirty) generators. On a related note, I wonder if I could recharge an Electric Mini for its annual commute schedule on the same amount of power used to power the servers in the South Tipperary County Council, one of the nodes in my weekday commute schedule.
Sent mail2blog from my Nokia E90 using free wifi services with O2-Typepad at Shannon Airport, Ireland.