The University of Michigan (U-M) is close to bringing online its brand new HP EcoPod, a modular data center HP claims to be the world’s most efficient data center, the university announced.

The module houses high-performance computing (HPC) equipment, cooling it with outside air for most of the year. Andy Palms, director of communications systems and data centers at U-M, said the EcoPod required running air conditioning for a “few months in the summer”.

“Rather than running what amounts to a very expensive air conditioner all year long, the MDC allows us to essentially open the windows during the colder months, and limit air conditioning to the few months in the summer when we really need it,” Palms said.

Laura Peterson, the university’s CIO, said expanding its capacity for compute-intensive research was a priority for the school. “It’s an important milestone for the university’s leadership in research, technology and sustainability,” she said about the EcoPod deployment.

HP announced the EcoPod, or Performance Optimized Data Center 240a, in June 2011. A standard unit delivers critical-power capacity up to 1.3MW, with room to house 44 standard IT racks.

The vendor pre-assembles EcoPods at a factory, also offering pre-integration of IT systems inside, before delivering it to the client. A fully functional data center can be deployed within about 12 weeks, HP said.

It is cooled by HP’s “self-compensating adaptive cooling technology,” which means it automatically optimizes between two cooling modes for best efficiency. The modes are economization (free air cooling) and direct expansion.