eBay to open solar-powered data center

eBay plans to open a new data center that will run on clean energy from alternative sources.

The data center will open in 2013. Its capacity is 6 megawatts. The data center will be connected to the power grid for data backup.

The company plans to install fuel cells several hundred meters from the data center itself, eliminating energy loss.

The new data center will address previous criticism from environmentalists that internet companies are not environmentally friendly because they consume electricity generated by burning fossil fuels.

The company plans to use this data center to process transaction data for the online auction site ebay.com and the PayPal payment system.