Microsoft on Monday announced it would be partnering with the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the University of Wyoming to build a new wastewater-powered data center near a water treatment plant in the city.
As Microsoft’s Josh Henretig explained in a blog post:
The data center will operate from energy generated from biogas, which will be used to power fuel cells made by Connecticut-based Fuel Cell Energy. The biogas used to power the facility is a byproduct of waste from the water treatment plant…
Henretig also wrote that the new data center would be “the first zero carbon data center that will be completely independent of the grid and will not rely on natural gas.”
The move comes on the heels of a similar biogas-powered data center project from Apple and Google’s support, via carbon offsets, of hog waste biogas power from Duke University. Microsoft’s project is clearly more of a direct involvement.
H/T: Winsyde
