There’s plenty of cool air outside, why make my own?

More datacenter operators have been asking that same question as the cost of installing, maintaining and powering air conditioning equipment takes a toll on their budgets.

The Sacramento Bee has a story on a group that’s doing something about it. Advanced Data Centers plans to let in the fresh air at a McClellan Park location.

“Outside air is an absolute must now,” said Bob Seese, chief architect at Advanced Data Centers of San Francisco, developer of the McClellan project. “It never made any sense not to open the window.”

The windows in this case are 15-foot-high metal louvers that run the 300-foot length of the building, a former military radar repair shop. Inside, a parallel bank of fans will pull outside air through the filter-backed louvers, directing it down aisles of toasty computer servers.

The result: 30 percent energy savings.

Also check the informative illustration for one of the most spot-on graphics I’ve ever seen on air-cooled datacenters.