Data Centers CEO Gene Kern made the case for the $1.1 billion project that aims to deal with an avalanche of data that comes from sources ranging from social media to the Affordable Care Act.
Kern spoke late last week at a meeting of the Technology Forum of Delaware as the debate continues over the site.
“We will reduce the amount of energy used by data centers,” Kern says. “The way to be green is to be efficient.”
The Data Centers, a West Chester, Pa. start-up company co-founded by Kern, is pursuing a project that combines a natural gas-fired power plant with a data center, which consists of banks of computer servers that generate large amounts of heat and require large cooling systems.
The Data Centers can reduce the cost of storing that information through greater energy efficiency. The heat generated by the servers could also be used to generate electricity and could supply heat to Newark and the University of Delaware.
“The big issue is heat,” Kern says of the main by product of the banks of servers at data centers.
According to Kern, the Data Centers technology will result in 100 percent reliability. In acknowledging the opposition to the Data Center, Kern says the use of natural gas is the best way to fuel the plant. No other method of producing electricity on site is as clean or as safe, he added.
Kern also said that contrary to the claims of detractors, the goal of the project is not to produce electricity. Because the plant has built-in redundancy to ensure 100 percent reliability, it can produce extra electricity that could be sold.
Kern sees other opportunities to use the by products of the plant in areas such as hydroponics – growing plants in a solution that does not use soil.
Kern notes that the noise and pollution caused by diesel back up generators used at most data centers are much more objectionable to neighbors. Videos of the noise from data center, apparently from diesel engines, has been used by opponents in making their case.
The second speaker, Donna Manley, senior IT director at the University of Pennsylvania, focused on the big data need that would be addressed by the Newark project. Manley noted that regulations require records to remain available for as long as 100 years. This is creating massive growth in the amount of stored data.
The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) will create even more data, she said.
A big challenge is the lack of money required in the storage and retrieval of records, she said.
Manley citing figures from Gartner, said big data will create 4.4 million jobs. Many of these jobs will center around the analysis of data.
In another developments, the Technology Forum of Delaware will assist the Boys and Girls Club of Delaware in a ground-breaking effort to give children hands on experience in computers with coding.
The forum offers networking opportunities and a series of speakers who offer insights into technology issues in the region.
