eBay Data Center Runs Almost Entirely On Bloom Fuel Cells

[nationalize the fed]

Heather Clancy Forbes.com 10/02/2013

Bloom Fuel Cells

eBay is raising the bar (again) when it comes to sourcing power for massive data centers.

Its massive new facility in Salt Lake City – the main hub of technology powering more than $175 billion in annual e-commerce activity – uses fuel cells “servers” from Bloom Energy as the primary power source.

It is the first facility in the world to do so, and it’s not an insignificant amount of power. Of the 8 megawatts of power needed to run and cool the facility, 6 megawatts are being generated by five banks of Bloom Energy Servers (30 units in all). Natural gas is being used as the fuel source for the Bloom technology.

In a blog post describing the project, two of the eBay executives responsible for the project describe the rationale:

“This not only makes the commerce activity powered by this facility cleaner, but according to a new white paper released today by the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, it’s also expected to increase the availability and reliability of our infrastructure...
MORE: http://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherclancy/2013/10/02/new-ebay-data-center-runs-almost-entirely-on-bloom-fuel-cells/

A Cleaner, Greener Future

On September 26, 2013, eBay Inc. will open our newest and largest data center to date. Located in Salt Lake City, UT, the facility will be critical in achieving our target of enabling $300 billion in commerce volume by 2015. The data center houses some of the world's newest data center technology from partners like Dell and HP. And as the first facility of its kind in the world to use Bloom Energy Servers as on-site, primary power, it tangibly advances our vision for a more environmentally sustainable commerce future...
MORE: http://tech.ebay.com/

Introducing Our Salt Lake City Data Center: Advancing Our Commitment to Cleaner, Greener Commerce
September 26, 2013 / Green / Social Innovation / Technology

What do fuel cells, eBay Inc., and the Silicon Slopes of Utah have in common? They’re all a part of today’s exciting launch of our new state-of-the-art, environmentally minded facility!...
MORE: http://blog.ebay.com/introducing-our-salt-lake-city-data-center-advancing-our-commitment-to-cleaner-greener-commerce/

A Peek Inside eBay's Utah Data Center

#hydrogenclaptrap

[kysrsoze]

1. What's sustainable about running on dirty, fracking-sourced natural gas?

If it was running on hydro, like some other server farms, I'd be way more impressed.

[nationalize the fed]

2. Why

do so called Democrats like Obama and Hillary support fracking, not just in this country but in places like Ukraine?

Joe Biden's kid was given a seat on the board of Ukraine's largest fracking company, after getting kicked out of the navy for "drugs"- his daddy created the Drug Czar after all

[Nihil]

3. Because they are corrupt corporate partners (just like in Ukraine or any other "banana republic").

Sorry ... was that a rhetorical question?

[NickB79]

4. "Natural gas is being used as the fuel source for the Bloom technology. "

Yup, that's just what I expected.