There is no such thing as infinite resources. Because BisNow reports that Silicon Valley is facing tough decisions how best to use remaining land. “Real estate is an issue in the Valley,” says one consultant. “There isn’t really real estate out there. And there is only so much power that you can actually provide. There is only so much water available too.”
Can Silicon Valley Accommodate More Data Centers?
Therefore city councils and regulators are facing tough choices regarding remaining open land. Does Silicon Valley want to be a data tech hub, or a dormitory suburb for colocation centers with less employees?
“It’s going to be a challenge to build more data centers in the existing environment,” a local bank spokesperson says. Moreover, there are other areas in the country with more open land, abundant water and cheaper power. Siting some data centers in Nebraska, for example, can be a great way to distribute the risks associated with extreme weather events.
Will Storage Batteries Be Able to Support Larger Data Centers?
New technology in Silicon Valley is making data centers denser on account of greater computing power. Now doubts are emerging regarding the ability of the Valley to meet energy and cooling needs in the future.
“Because nobody thinks about batteries until a catastrophic event happens, and the battery is not able to support the infrastructure.” The bank spokesperson says “Thus we need to be able to look at every single element in that environment. Let’s first start measuring batteries and performance life cycle.”
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a local version of the European Union’s GDPR to regulate personal data mining. Companies can no longer afford to be their own backup carriers, increasing the need for infrastructure-as-a-service. Because centralizing computer power necessitates larger battery backups.
Protecting company data is no longer as simple as it was. Climate change is the biggest threat and Silicon Valley is now only beginning to feel its way towards it.
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