SMALL STEPS, BIG ENERGY GAINS

HEADNOTE

Here's how one data center found efficiency opportunities with quick paybacks

When master improvement programs are developed for data centers, the recommendations often target ways to improve reliability and detail a plan to implement current

industry best practices. Today, master improvement plans are being broadened to address energy efficiency as well. That approach makes sense. Steps to improve energy efficiency can also bolster reliability - for example, when evaluating and optimizing air distribution.

A case in point is a 30,000-square-foot data center for a Fortune 500 retailer. The data center, located in the Southeast, does not have a Tier certification, but it would fall between a Tier II and Tier III facility, approaching the latter. Facility executives and their engineering team looked for energy efficiency opportunities among systems, equipment, controls and GG equipment most common to many data center operations. The goal was to find improvements with a payback of three years or less.