As modern life becomes inextricably tied to technology, data centers are becoming essential to doing business.
Data centers house computer systems. They store the kind of things that are now key to our daily lives – photos on Flickr, videos from YouTube and articles from Wikipedia. Our need for large data centers will continue to explode as we become more and more reliant on electronic information. Data centers are crucial to nearly every sector of the U.S. economy, including financial services, high-tech, media, universities, and government institutions
Storing all this information takes up a ton of energy. By 2006, data centers were consuming more than double the electricity they had in 2000. A report by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 estimated that data centers accounted for 1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption, for a total cost of about $4.5 billion. That’s more than the electricity consumed by every color television in the country. The same report stated that federal data centers alone consumed $450 million’s worth of electricity annually.
We need data centers, and we need them to be green. Here in Massachusetts, we are on the forefront of building data centers that house essential electronic information while remaining highly sustainable.
Green data centers aren’t just good for the environment – they’re good for business. When planning green buildings, we often encourage our clients to think in terms of a building’s life cycle. Extra sustainable measures may require an additional upfront investment, but they often pay off in the end. This is true not just in terms of the environment, but also in actual dollars saved, often in energy costs. The same applies to green data centers, a lesson with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is learning with its Springfield Data Center.
The Springfield Data Center (SDC) will save the Commonwealth approximately $3 million a year in energy costs when it becomes fully operational in early 2013. The SDC will serve as a secure housing facility for the state’s electronic records and data systems, while also providing critical backup for the Commonwealth’s existing primary data center. The $110 million facility will use cost-competitive energy sources with a green edge.
It will capture and re-use rainwater and take advantage of natural sunlight for staff area. It also re-uses a portion of an existing historic building – the former Technical High School, which closed in 1986 – in construction. The SDC will feature energy efficient data center infrastructure, including fresh air-cooling, EnergyStar servers and an advanced energy management system. By building from the ground-up with highly sustainable measures, the SDC will be among the most energy efficient data centers in the country and may serve as a national model for green technology.
Economic Boon
But green data centers aren’t just a money-saving boon to their owners: They’re good for local economies, too. SDC construction, which began in June, will support as many as 200 jobs in Western Massachusetts over the next two years.
Utah’s economy recently experienced a similar boost from eBay’s new green data center outside Salt Lake City. At Topaz, eBay optimized its cooling by installing systems that allow it to use outside air – as opposed to chillers – to cool its center. The result is 5,000 hours a year of mixed and full-free cooling.
Throughout the data center, eBay uses 400V power distribution, which eliminates a layer of transformers, increasing power supply efficiency. Topaz also includes a 400,000-gallon cistern that collects rainwater from storm runoff used for irrigation and cooling. Recycling was also a major factor for eBay – more than 20 percent of the facility’s building materials were recycled and regionally-sourced.
Green data centers are the cutting edge of technology – they create jobs, save money, and contribute to a healthier planet. These are the reasons the state is building its own green data center in Springfield, making Massachusetts a pioneer and creator of a standard every state will be living up to in 10 years. That’s exactly where we want to be.
Paul Hewins is general manager and executive vice president for Skanska USA’s New England region.
