BP might be dumping toxic waste in its lake, but Chicago tops the list of greenest places to locate a data centre (in the US, that is). We suppose this might have something to do with the fact that it’s called the windy city.

Chicago barely beat out Quincy, Wash., for the top spot in the survey conducted by data center consultants Base Partners and engineering company Glumac. The survey looked at the carbon emissions generated by a hypothetical 135,000 square foot data center in 21 cities, and found that a Windy City location would result in the least amount of emissions over the course of a year.

Both Chicago and Quincy were far ahead of the other sites, either of them producing far fewer than the nearly 40,000 tons of CO2 emitted by the third-place location, San Jose, Calif.

“As we talk with enterprise users, we’re seeing a lot of pressure on costs and a new focus on internal sustainability programs,” Aaron Wangenheim, president of Base Partners, told ComputerWorld’s Johanna Ambrosio. “The data center is one of the biggest environmental offenders, because it’s one of the largest users of electricity. Our clients want to know what they can do to save money and do something good for the environment that’s not going to cost a lot.”

• Green certified homes sell faster, higher price