海角大神

The second-most visited website in the world is building another data center, this time in Fort Worth, Texas, Facebook . This will be Facebook鈥檚 fifth data center, following ones in Oregon, North Carolina, Iowa, and Sweden.

Facebook says that, like its Iowa one, this new data center will run on 100 percent renewable energy, powered by wind turbines only 90 miles away. To further cut the data center鈥檚 emissions, the company鈥檚 stacks of servers will be cooled using natural air, mitigating the need for air conditioning units.

Additionally, Facebook will be taking its designs open source for the Fort Worth Data Center through its .

Many see this as a bright move for the company that鈥檚 trying to reduce its carbon footprint since it . The company has its servers to optimize efficiency and flexibility.

And there鈥檚 a reason for this move: data centers draw huge amounts of power 鈥� . Each row and stack of servers represents information, processes, and foundational data that the company needs intact. With computers running 24/7, and fans that make sure the hyper-clocking servers don鈥檛 melt everything, the electric bill can run up a doozy. , data centers worldwide run an estimated 30 billion watts, or the output of 30 nuclear power plants, each year.

And without changing the way data centers are run, that power usage is only expected to increase. With more information hosted in 鈥渢he cloud,鈥� the search for servers is only .

When designing its data center in Altoona, Iowa, last year, Facebook decided to think about its hardware and software separately, leading to that improved operating efficiency. By distributing computing power, Facebook found that its data centers didn鈥檛 heat up as quickly, and could be more easily cooled without expending much resources. By implementing natural air cooling techniques, the remaining electricity is due to the multitude of computers running and to backup cooling systems.

And so there has been a firm level of intrigue over the company's new Texas data center and its 17,000-acre wind farm.

While some praise its environmental focus, it is important to ask why a fifth data center is being built. The company has been expanding rapidly through other ventures, and highlights that much of its purpose has to do with the company鈥檚 Internet.org venture.

With the company planning to add another billion users, it鈥檚 likely that this data center won鈥檛 be the company鈥檚 last.