Leading electrical contractor to showcase LEED design/build expertise at celebration of new energy-efficient vantage data center campus
In recognition of Earth Day, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Rosendin Electric participated in the Smart Data Center Revolution, a showcase event organized by Vantage Data Centers to celebrate the company’s new energy-efficient data center campus, which is the largest LEED Platinum candidate data center project in the United States. The event included a tour of the first of three data center buildings to be built on the former Intel Corp. campus, presentations by David Gottfried, founder of the U.S. Green Building Council; Fujitsu; GE Intelligent Platforms; Symantec; and VMware, as well as a demonstration to show that data centers can be green as well as cost-efficient.
Rosendin Electric, the nation’s largest private electrical contractor and a 100% employee-owned company, has been working closely with Vantage Data Centers on the design/build of the electrical systems for this $300 million, 18-acre data center campus. The first 60,000+-square-foot building to be showcased at the event was completed at the start of 2011 after only five months of construction. The other two buildings are scheduled for completion later this year. Once completed, the campus will have 195,000 square feet of data center space.
As part of the electrical design/build, Rosendin Electric has incorporated a number of features to conserve energy and promote greater efficiency. The data centers include high-efficiency uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to assure ongoing operation with minimal energy requirements. These units are 25% more energy efficient than most double-conversion UPS modules in widespread use in the industry. The building cooling systems are installed outside and use air-side economization, pumping cooler external air into the building; a real power saving since most data centers consume enormous amounts of energy to power air conditioning. High-efficiency lighting with automatic lighting controls is also used throughout the complex, so only those areas being occupied are lighted. All the lighting in the complex, both inside and out, is California Green compliant for lower power consumption as well as low light pollution, falling well below the Title 24 requirements set forth in the California Energy Efficiency Standards. Plus the campus has its own on-site electrical substation with a 37MW IT load capacity.
“This is the third data center that Rosendin Electric has designed and built in the United States that is worthy of LEED Platinum certification,” says Steve Emert, director of mission critical engineering for Rosendin Electric. “Increasingly, data center customers are seeking out LEED-certified facilities, not only because of environmental concerns, but also because of cost savings. Users can save about $1 million per year in energy costs for a 3MW data module.”
As part of LEED certification, data center construction included reuse of existing materials. The campus is built on the former site of the Intel Corp. campus and the electrical system was constructed from scratch using existing wires and materials.