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Fresh from late July鈥檚 Data Center Investment Conference in Washington, DC, CH2M HILL VP & Global Director of Sustainable Solutions Jeff Cross is seeing how global changes in the booming data center marketplace 鈥� including green energy and clean energy initiatives 鈥� are poised to play to Oregon鈥檚 favor.

Some of the biggest Internet companies have already built data centers in Oregon, such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.聽 Another project is underway 鈥� conversion of a former Hynix semiconductor plant in Eugene into the new Eugene Technology Center, a mega data center offering nearly a million square feet of space.聽 This project exemplifies the 鈥渟ustainable repurposing鈥� trend of refurbishing aging science and technology buildings to achieve lower cost and environmental impact than building new structures would entail.

Jeff cites other evidence of this green wave around the country — 鈥渟ustainable technology parks鈥� targeting data center development:

• , a 640-acre development combining clean fossil fuels, renewable energy, alternative energy, smart grid and energy storage targeting research facilities and cloud computing data centers.
• , offering an unusual blend of on-site renewable power including geothermal, solar, wind, and energy storage on a behemoth 10,000+ acre site.
• In June Microsoft broke ground on a new data center site in Cheyenne, Wyoming, just 18 miles from Niobrara, to tap into the region鈥檚 $1.2 billion in economic activity including power creation, data centers, natural gas plants and more.
• In May Apple announced that its new 20-megawatt data center in Maiden, North Carolina will feature on-site renewable energy production to produce 60 percent of its power onsite.

Progressive projects like these synch up with Oregon鈥檚 reputation for environmentally responsible economic development.聽 We also have a climatic advantage over many other regions.聽 Our moderate temperatures are ideal for using outside air to cool servers, which offer potentially huge energy savings for data center operators.

As the data center market heats up, the talk among industry leaders at the Data Center Investment Conference reminded Jeff of surfers comparing notes on their endless quest to catch that 鈥減erfect wave.鈥�

In the data center business, the green wave is increasingly looking like the one to catch.聽 With the right focus, it鈥檚 a wave Oregon is well positioned to ride.