TechWeekEurope: Europe’s Data Centres Hit By US Shale Gas Prices

Data centres could move from Europe to the US, thanks to low cost energy from shale gas, according to research from 451 Research. Cheaper energy could also dampen interest in efficiency measures for large cloud data centres, the report warns.

The US will have cheap electricity and prices will be stable for some time, thanks to the large-scale exploitation of shale gas. This means that data centres, which can use several megawatts of electric power, will be cheaper to run in America. It will also make data centre owners less likely to invest in energy efficiency measures designed to bring down electricity costs and reduce the carbon footprint of the data centres, the report’s authors warn.  MORE