US Companies are trying to adopt innovative measures to reduce energy consumption in data centers. A research study by HP argues that using biogas may significantly reduce the energy requirement of data centers across the country.

Researchers at HP’s Labs have done a study that proposes using cow manure from dairy farms and cattle feedlots and other "digested farm waste" to generate electricity. The report was presented to American Society of Mechanical Engineers in a conference that took place recently.

It has been estimated that a hypothetical farm of 10,000 dairy cows can easily power a 1 MW data center or 1,000 servers.

Even though this is still an idea, no demonstration has been panned as yet. But HP researchers received positive responses since presenting these solutions.

It may be noted that organic matter is already being used to generate power through a process called anaerobic digestion. The process produces a methane rich biogas. HP engineers have looked at the same process and it can be used to run a data center.

Various Companies are building facilities in rural areas to utilize the cost advantage offered by these locations. But there are still some problems which need to be resolved.

But having so many cows at one place would not be an easy task. An average dairy farm in the U. S. has less than 1,000 cows.