The green data center movement provides a major rural economic development opportunity for the State of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation’s Eastern Agency.  This industry is likely to experience major growth.  New Mexico and the Eastern Agency have assets that can capture some of this growth for this area. Navajo Technical College has worked with Sandia Laboratories, the State of New Mexico, the University of New Mexico, plus a number of national partners to position Eastern Navajo as a potential player in green data center development  The design is based upon Navajo Tech’s ability to work with Sandia Laboratories and UNM as well as TeraGrid and other national experts in green data centers as an educational center for training highly skilled workers with expertise in computational science as well as advanced server and alternative energy technologies.  It has also identified Thoreau, NM as a site for a center based upon the availability of land, the dark fiber bundle that runs along I 40, and the availability of underground water and energy in the area.

 

Strategic Engagement LLC will be designing and facilitating a planning charrette on December 3-4, 2008, and April 9-12, 2008, in Albuquerque NM. Featuring the work of scientists Jack Mizner and Phil Pohl from Sandia National Laboratories, the charrette will feature LEED design criteria and industrial ecology solutions.