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by rp3 1584 days ago
The stat about Virginia receiving 70% of all internet traffic seems to be often repeated: https://www.vedp.org/industry/data-centers

I can’t find where that stat comes from, however. As for everything else you said, it would be great to have sources. As far as I know, cooling is one of the major costs of running a data center. It would be illuminating to know why that’s now false.
2 comments
jeffbee 1584 days ago
The 70% thing came from a business development official in Loudoun County, a person whose job is to promulgate misleading boosterism. It doesn't make even a sliver of sense to someone who thinks it over for a moment.

Cooling is a major data center cost, but it's not 40% any more. All of the major datacenter operators claim a PUE of 1.11 or less. Facebook has been the most open and vocal about how they achieve this, for example at https://tech.fb.com/hyperefficient-data-centers/ (scroll down to "Systems").

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mr_toad 1584 days ago
> I can’t find where that stat comes from, however.

Similar statements were pretty common in the 90’s. If it was ever true it’s way out of date.

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