SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Informa’s Data Center Efficiency Evolution Program (DEEP) today announces The University of Chicago has received a Gold certification for the sustainability and efficiency of its data centers.
The university’s data center operators sought out DEEP’s audit and certification services after discovering that their data centers’ overall power usage had increased enough to become the campus’ fourth-largest consumer of energy. The data center team wanted to see if they could not only improve their overall efficiency, but to more aggressively and successfully pursue the university’s sustainability initiatives.
The university has six data centers spread across three buildings. After the team completed a pre-assessment questionnaire, a representative from DEEP scheduled an on-site visit to evaluate the data centers’ utilization of DEEP’s 70+ best practices for sustainable operations.
DEEP’s holistic framework assists data center operators and managers by identifying potential opportunities to reduce data center costs, carbon emissions, and operational downtime. The university’s data centers were assessed across four categories:
- Airflow Management
- Mechanical Systems
- Electrical Systems
- Processes
The certification process revealed a few key practices that set the university’s data centers apart. These practices include:
- Use of non-traditional mechanical systems, such as the adoption of rear door heat exchangers
for 100% of the equipment and space cooling, which yields reductions in cooling energy and
scope 2 emissions as well as exceptional uniform and thermal balance
- The treatment of raised floor space as a slab space, which reduces inefficiencies and
capitalizes on a creative opportunity to eliminate recirculation and net bypass air
- An early shift in voltage from 120/208 to 240/415, which generates a large amount of efficiency and allows data center operators to use smaller wire gauges and produce less heat off transformers
“With a DEEP Gold Certification, we are now able to show our leadership and administration that our data centers are doing the absolute best to remain a sustainable facet of the campus,” said Raymond Parpart, Director of Data Center Strategy & Operations at The University of Chicago and one of the initial contributors to the DEEP program. “Given our emphasis on sustainability, it is a tremendous point of pride for my team, and we are very pleased to closely align with the university’s green initiatives.”
“It was a pleasure to work with The University of Chicago data center team. We had never seen a data center put together as creatively and efficiently as their data center,” said Kevin Kent, Director of DEEP Assessments. “Additionally, based on our industry expertise, we were able to identify a few opportunities for the university to improve its metrics for both efficiency and sustainability, such as pursuing RECs to offset a carbon footprint, raising set points in two data centers to raise rack inlet temperatures and reach consistency with the other data centers’ set points, and finding methods to develop a 5MW chiller-less data center.”
To learn more about the Data Center Efficiency Evolution Program, visit www.datacenterevolve.com or contact Todd Piccuillo at todd.piccuillo@informa.com.
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