So what does a multi-billion dollar tech company do after releasing yet another browser into a world filled with browsers? Apply for a patent on ocean-going data centers, that's what.Engadget tells me today that Google has applied for a patent for floating data centers (which apparently isn't such a new idea) using the water as a coolant and the waves as a power supply. The diagram submitted with the patent application shows some kind of ocean-going vessel with a cable system and floating bits and pieces. I guess the servers are onboard the ship as salt water doesn't do good things for electronics.
The cooling thing is pretty obvious but check out the video (below) on how the "Pelamis Wave Energy Converters" work (they're the sausage looking things coming out the back of the trawler in the diagram above/left).
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, have said for a long time now that they'd like to reduce the power consumption, or at least the carbon footprint, of their massive data centers so I guess this is a step in that direction. Let's see if this becomes a reality or if it's just Google doing their thing.
