eBay To Power DCs With Renewable Energy

eBay Inc said it plans to build a datacentre powered by startup Bloom Energy’s renewable energy fuel cells, a more environmentally-friendly alternative to drawing power from the mostly coal-based electric grid.

The U.S. online auction sales group will use 30 Bloom Energy servers that use biogas derived from renewable organic waste and will only use the grid as a back-up source of power.

Last month, Apple Inc said it was buying equipment from SunPower Corp and Bloom Energy to build two solar array installations to power its main U.S. datacentre.

Concerns about the ever-expanding power consumption of computer datacentres have mounted in recent years, as technology companies build enormous facilities housing servers to cater to an explosion in Internet traffic, multimedia use and enterprise services hosting.

“eBay is raising the standard for the entire industry. It is 21st century infrastructure for the industry needs of the 21st century,” said KR Sridhar, Chief Executive of Bloom Energy said in a statement.