A side view of Google's proposed floating data center design.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Google (www.google.com) has been given a US patent for its floating data center that is powered by the ocean to generate power and cooling, as first reported by SEO by the Sea.
The patent application, which can be detailed here, was originally filed back in February 2007, published in October 2008 and then just saw approval on Tuesday.
In October, US investment bank Morgan Stanley also announced it is planning a £250 million to £300 million off-grid data center in northern Scotland directly powered by tidal energy from Atlantis Resource turbines using the power of waves.
In the patent application, Google explains that the floating data centers would be located 3 to 7 miles from shore, in 164 to 230 feet of water.
If the technology is perfected, it would allow Google to construct 40MW data centers that are free of real estate costs or property taxes.
Incorporating wave energy machines, the floating data center would use ocean surface waves to generate electricity to form “wave farms.”
The patent also details a cooling system based on sea-powered pumps and seawater-to-freshwater heat exchangers.
Google was awarded a patent for “a floating platform-mounted computer data center comprising a plurality of computing units, a sea-based electrical generator in electrical connection with the plurality of computing units, and one or more sea-water cooling units for providing cooling to the plurality of computing units.”
The patent lists the inventors as Jimmy Clidaras, David Stiver and William Hamburgen.
Many industry experts are skeptical as to whether or not Google will actually build these data centers.
Data Center Knowledge‘s Rich Miller plays devil’s advocate, posing the question, “Does Google have any intention of actually building these floating data centers?”
He also voices the concerns of others in the industry: “Many in the data center community are deeply skeptical about the concept, and find it difficult to believe that Google would ever pursue such a project.”
