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Energy Efficiency google data center cooled by ocean water

Published on May 26th, 2011 | by Zachary Shahan

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Google Data Center in Finland to be 100% Cooled with Ocean Water {VIDEO}

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May 26th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan 


This is pretty cool. You can get much of the story from the video above. But, in summary, by pumping sea water through an existing sea water tunnel (that was put in place by the paper mill that used to live there). The Hamina, Finland site was acquired in 2009 and, from the beginning, Google’s team was very excited about using the unique features of the site to design a more eco-friendly data center — that’s what makes Google great (one of the things).

Of course, beyond helping the environment, this is going to save Google some good money. Efficiency makes business sense.

Related Stories:

  1. Google’s Clean Energy Projects (7 Big Ones)
  2. Data Center Infographic (+ Opportunities for Efficiency Improvements)
  3. Look Inside the Biggest Websites’ Data Centers {INFOGRAPHIC}
  4. Data Center Under Helsinki to Warm Residents Above
  5. “Cleanest” and “Dirtiest” Internet Data Centers (Yahoo & Google Rock! Apple & Facebook.. not so much)

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About the Author

spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.


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  • Taisto Leinonen

    Firstly, the link leading to this issue is incorrect. The Google server site is in Hamina, a smaller city about 200 km to the east from Helsinki.
    Secondly, the Baltic Sea at its bottom is steadily at the temperature of about +8 oC Centigrade (summer) to +4 oC  (winter).
    In the winter from December to March the sea is entirely frozen, last winter even so thickly that icebreakers had hard times to keep ships going.
    So, pumping heat from a server plant has no effect whatsoever to the temperature of the Baltic Sea.
    (I should know, I was shivering in wind at -10 oC Centigrade 5 AM on a December night in 1959 after skiing 10 km to a remote island south of Hamina with 30 kg of telephone wire coils on my back and a rucksack on my chest. Why, just a standard drill in the Finnish Army. Age 18 yrs and now still kicking.)

    • Anonymous

      not sure what you mean by “the link leading to this issue is incorrect” but thanks for all the extra info — interesting! :D

  • Pingback: Google’s Energy Efficient Data Centers {VIDEOS} – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views

  • Mac

    This is neither “Green” nor sustainable, folks. The oceans are already warming; this strategy will hasten the process. The place for Green creativity is not on the remediation side. It’s on the demand side. Show me a data center that cuts the *need for cooling. 

    • Anonymous

      I agree with you on some of the general points, Mac. But, as a note, they
      cool the water back to a normal temperature before re-releasing it into the
      sea.

      • Mac

        Point taken :-) Unfortunately, the heat is still there, still added to the system. Hence my original comment. On a planetary scale, these are tiny increments. But we’ve already seen how quickly such tiny increments add up.

        • Anonymous

          good point

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