Data centers will be among the fastest government technologies to evolve next year, according to GCN.com.

Data centers will change dramatically and look quite different than they do now, even at a time when the demands made on them rapidly increase.

The biggest energy drain for most data centers beyond powering the computers themselves is cooling them.  More efficient ways to cool down computers is the goal, since heat slows down processing and can ultimately lead to hardware failure.

In the government arena, the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has built what could be the most efficient – and coolest – data center in the world. Its Golden, Colo., Energy Systems Integration Facility, which will start its first full year of operations in 2014, is designed for researching how to best use renewable energy.