A research paper from electronics company Hewlett Packard shows how the manure output of 10,000 dairy cows could fulfill the power requirements of a 1MW data centre — and still have enough power left over to support other needs on the farm. The paper, from the company's research arm HP Labs, was presented this week to the ASME International Conference on Energy Sustainability in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dairy farms and data centres may appear to be unexpected partners. However, HP Labs shows that the specific needs and challenges of both can be aligned to create a sustainable life cycle, using technologies readily available today.
In this process, the heat generated by the data centre can be used to increase the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of animal waste. This results in the production of methane, which can be used to generate power for the data center. HP says that this symbiotic relationship allows the waste problems faced by dairy farms and the energy demands of the modern data center to be addressed in a sustainable manner.
In its presentation, HP Labs says that the average dairy cow produces about 55kg of manure per day — approximately 20 metric tonnes per year. The manure that one dairy cow produces in a day can generate 3kWh of electrical energy — enough to power television usage in three typical US households per day.
A medium-sized dairy farm with 10,000 cows produces about 200,000 metric tonnes of manure per year. Approximately 70 per cent of the energy in the methane generated via anaerobic digestion could be used for data center power and cooling, thus reducing the impact on natural resources.
Hewlett Packard says it is working to transform the way in which businesses and societies organise and operate by changing the way energy is consumed and produced, thereby creating more sustainable ecosystems — and HP Labs is committed to designing data centres that are substantially more efficient and use local, renewable energy resources.
“The idea of using animal waste to generate energy has been around for centuries, with manure being used every day in remote villages to generate heat for cooking," says HP Labs. Tom Christian. "The new idea that we are presenting in this research is to create a symbiotic relationship between farms and the IT ecosystem that can benefit the farm, the data centre and the environment.”
