
Awaits obligatory "Microsoft have been making crap for years, now....." comment.
On a non-Microsoft hating note, if they can make use of something that would previously have gone to waste then good on them.
Microsoft is spending $5.5m to build a data center in the Wyoming hills that's powered by methane created from the waste of its nearby residents, and sees a lot of opportunity for mixing computing and crap. The methane produced by decomposing waste at sewage farms has traditionally either been left to float off into the …
Are they really making use of something that would previously have gone to waste? If MS wasn't using it in their data centre the power could be used for other purposes.
Poo powered leccy is nothing new and is often put back into the grid. For example, the Christchurch (NZ) waste water treatment plant generates enough electricity for its whole operation plus a surplus.
That said when it comes to *reliability* "biogas" beats the pants off PV and Wind, even tidal and wave (I'd say only geothermal matches it but that technology is *much* less mature).
And you can could even pass the CO2 into a greenhouse as a bonus.
Power, cooler servers, lower emissions and fresh vegetables too.
What's not to like?