2Sustain

Data centers are notorious energy hogs. What's more, they emit enormous amounts of CO2. In fact, a McKinsey & Company report estimates that by 2020, the world’s data centers could surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter. Clearly, any comprehensive sustainability plan needs to include green data center initiatives, and that’s why I find myself forever on the lookout for companies that are finding ways to operate facilities like these more efficiently. (See posts here and here, e.g.) Earlier this week, news from California-based Fortune Data Centers caught my eye.

Fortune Data Centers, which provides wholesale data center space for corporate customers, recently commenced operations in a highly energy efficient, green data center in San Jose, CA.

In recent testing, the new data center achieved a PUE of 1.37 at full load, according to the press release. That’s much better than the industry average data center PUE of 2.0, and even exceeds the EPA's 2011 target PUE of 1.45 for state-of-the-art enterprise-class data centers. (PUE is calculated by dividing the total facility power by the IT equipment power. The lower the PUE, the more efficient the data center.)

How did Fortune achieve these energy efficiency improvements?

For starters, they changed traditional structural components and cooling methods. Typically, data centers are built on raised floors, under which there are fans that drive cold, cooling air up to the servers. In Fortune’s new data center, however, the server cabinets are mounted directly on the floor and cold air is supplied downward from an overhead plenum that includes insulated ducts for hot air return. Because this design takes advantage of the natural density of cold air (and the natural buoyancy of hot air), it significantly reduces power needed for air distribution. Fortune also reports that mounting the servers directly on the floor reduces installation costs, increases seismic stability, and removes weight constraints.

More details are available in the press release.