Energy Efficiency  -  June 25, 2018

Sabey Data Centers surpasses energy goals

Sabey Data Centers set a goal of improving its energy performance by 20% by 2024 from a 2014 baseline—and announced on June 21 that the goal has been surpassed, as the company has improved its energy performance across its more than 3 million square feet of data center space by 24% percent from a 2014 baseline. The goal was set by Sabeys as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge.  

According to the DOE, the project has exceeded Sabey’s expectations, cutting infrastructure energy intensity by 57%. These savings translated into more than $200,000 in reduced annual energy costs.

A majority of the data center locations operated and maintained by Sabey are multi-tenant colocation facilities, where each customer may have varied needs, including different server enclosures and non-standard IT equipment, making it difficult to implement facility-wide energy-efficient designs and technologies. To overcome these challenges and achieve its energy productivity goals, Sabey incorporated several energy conservation measures, including implementing indirect evaporative cooling computer room air handlers (CRAHs) and segregating uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries to reduce electrical energy required to cool the data center. Sabey also selected a highly-efficient UPS system and utilized variable speed drive (VSDs) fans to control fan speed and match server load requirements.

"Through the DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge, data centers like Sabey’s are using energy more productively," said Kathleen Hogan, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at DOE. "We applaud Sabey for sharing its results and best practices with other companies."