VMWare Responds To “Green” Hydroelectric Criticism

Virtualisation specialist VMWare has responded to criticism from environmentalists for its use of hydroelectric power in a new facility that it claims has set “the gold standard” for green data centre design.

Earlier this week, VMWare announced that it had opened a US data centre in Washington State. The virtualisation software maker claimed that by making use of hydroelectric power generated from dams in the area it will save around $4m a year on energy costs and a further $1m a year on “local consolidation costs”.

VMware chief information officer Mark Egan said that the company decided to practice what it preaches with its latest data centre. “VMware was running out of data centre capacity to support the rapid expansion of our research and development facilities. So, we decided to practice what we preach, and create the gold standard for a green, energy efficient datacenter that combines sustainable hydroelectric power with virtualisation and other best practices,” he said.

But US environmental group International Rivers opposes the construction of new dams and the use of hydroelectric power generally and said that VMWare’s views on hydropower were not accurate. “We would say that VMWare is very poorly informed about the impacts of hydropower,” said Patrick McCully executive director of International Rivers. “Hydro can not be generalised as “green” given the great harm it causes to river, floodplain and estuary ecosystems, as well as to the many people who depend upon rivers.”

McCully added that the dams in the area where the data centre is located had impacted salmon stocks and the Native Americans who depend on them. “The destruction of salmon runs has caused great harm to the regions’ Native Americans for whom the salmon is a key source of sustenance as well as a keystone of their culture,” said McCully.

Responding to the criticism from International Rivers, a spokesperson from VMWare confirmed that the data centre, in East Wenatchee, Washington State, used hydroelectric power generated from the Wells, Rock Island, and Rocky Reach dams (pictured below) located nearby. “All three of these dams utilise fish ladders which allow for spawning fish to make it past the dams,” the spokesperson said. “We believe that hydro power from the Pacific North West produces much less green-house-gases than fossil based generation, which was an important factor in determining the location of the data centre.”

International Rivers also states rotting organic matter in dam reservoirs produce greenhouse gases. In some cases, especially in the tropics, reservoirs can produce more greenhouse gases than even the dirtiest fossil fuel power plants, the group said.