Green Options » aea

Advanced Data Centers Has Built First LEED Platinum Data Center

Carol Gulyas — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:12:05 +0000

Data centers, the nerve centers for the computing world, use an estimated 2% of all energy used in the United States, and are also heavy users of water. At an AeA presentation I attended in May of this year, Microsoft’s Lewis Curtis shared the following:

In 2006, U.S. data centers consumed 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 5.8 million U.S. households, costing companies $4.5 billion
If this trend is unchecked, in 2011 data centers will use 100 billion kWh of energy at a cost of $7.4 billion, necessitating the building of 10 additional power plants

Attention has turned recently to how these centers can be made much more resource-efficient. Taking a leadership position in this effort is Advanced Data Centers (ADC) , who has just earned a LEED platinum certification for its data center in McClellan Park in Sacramento, California. ZDNet interviewed ADC’s Bob Seese on how the center achieved its LEED rating, summarized here:

The center’s site has some of the lowest power costs in California
ADC invested in its own electricity substation
Rain water will be recaptured from roof runoff and used for landscaping, tower cooling, and some bathroom fixtures
Outside air will be used for cooling 75 percent of the time — free
95 percent of construction debris will be recycled
Non-toxic chemicals were used for finishes and adhesives
Daylighting will be used for ambient lighting throughout the building.

U.S. Missing Opportunity to Recycle Vast Amounts of Energy

Carol Gulyas — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:14:02 +0000

On Wednesday I attended an event on Green Technology sponsored by the Midwest Council of the American Electronics Association. Vincent Albanese, SVP of Air Pollution Control at Fuel Tech, a company that produces air pollution control devices for large power generators and heavy industry, shared some startling information and insight:

Congress is missing opportunities to save energy because of its narrow focus on achieving carbon-emission goals thirty years in the future.
Older manufacturing companies have no incentive to clean up their plants because the EPA’s New Source Review rule requires that with any physical changes made, companies have to add all new technology.

New source review sounds good to us environmentalists, but in practice it makes rust belt companies avoid upgrades in their current operations that would save vast amounts of energy, because of the expense involved in completely revamping their entire operations.

Tech Companies Fight Global Warming by Going Green

Cassie Walker — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Some environmentalists feel strongly that companies should reduce their impact on the environment because it’s the right thing to do - going green because it benefits the bottom line somehow doesn’t count. Personally (and paraphrasing Oleta Adams) I don’t care how you get there, just get there if you can.

Business events like the AeA soponsored, “How Does Going Green Affect the Bottom Line?” further the cause. Held on March 20th at UCLA, technology companies discussed their successes along the journey to sustainability, and shared lessons learned related to different areas of greening.

A few key takeaways for companies interested in going green: