Data Center Design Book Release

In 2020, the faculty and students at the University of Washington (UW) conceived of a year-long joint study to be conducted in partnership with Google data center experts and two fellow academic institutions: the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and University of Arizona (UA). Each institution, set of instructors, and students focused on a different aspect of data center design, contributing to the body of knowledge on the topic presented herein – specifically, sustainability, climate analysis, and materials performance.

A book documenting the work of the joint study has been released.

Principal instructor/ investigator for this study, Julie Kriegh, PhD, AIA, LEED AP

See also:

• Metropolis Magazine PODCAST: The Carbon Footprint of the Metaverse.

• Metropolis Magazine ARTICLE: An online world that doesn’t destroy the real one.

• Fast Company Magazine INTERVIEW: The internet is killing the environment. These students came up with a brilliant design fix.  To reduce the carbon footprint of the internet, students partner with Google and Microsoft to rethink the world’s data centers.

• UW RESEARCH PORTAL: Launch a More Sustainable Data Center: sponsored by Google ($50,000) with the UW College of Built Environments (Kriegh, Lee, Whittington, Awad, Aviv, & Ida, 2021)