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In addition to looking for affordability, many data center planners are looking at power sources that don't consume fuel, or otherwise have a low carbon footprint.

For example, is cranking up a "carbon-neutral data center" in Iceland -- currently scheduled to go live November 2011 -- powered entirely by a combination of hydro-electric sources and geothermal sources, according to Lisa Rhodes, VP Marketing and Sales, Verne Global. (About 80% of the power will come from hydro-electric.)

Power in Iceland is also abundant, Rhodes points out: "The current power grid in Iceland offers approximately 2900 Megawatts (MW) of power capacity and the population of Iceland is roughly 320,000 people. Their utilization of the total available power is thought to be in the range of 300MWatts. Aluminum smelters are currently the most power-intensive industry in Iceland, leaving more than sufficient capacity for the data center industry."