Sept. 26, 2008 - Microsoft has flipped the switch on a top-of-the-line computing facility in San Antonio, Texas, that the computer giant is calling its "most power-efficient datacenter to date."

The facility incorporates a range on green features, including a cooling system that cycles in up to 8 million gallons of graywater a month from the San Antonio wastewater system.

Designers of the site were also able to save dozens of old oak trees on the perimeter of the 44-acre site, which will help shade the 470,000-square-foot building and reduce cooling costs.

Microsoft says there are still plenty of opportunities for green improvements to the site. Plans include making use of availability of wind as part of the power mix in Texas and capturing abundant sunlight with solar panels.

The new datacenter builds on the discoveries from the company’s facility in Quincy, Wash. "But a lot of incremental improvements have been implemented simply because Microsoft has learned through the process how to design the center more efficiently," said Michael Manos, the datacenter team’s general manager, in an interview with MySanAntonio.com.

Microsoft is now turning its attention to a new computing facility in Dublin, Ireland, where the cool climate has attracted a string of new datacenter constructions. IBM, for example, is spending $45 million to build a new datacenter at its Technology Campus there.

To download a video of Microsoft’s approach to green datacenters, click here.