Marking the first-year anniversary of its Global Data Center, Emerson reports that it has reduced power consumption across its data centers by more than 50 percent.
This is partly due to the transition of its IT operations to its new Global Data Center at its St. Louis headquarters facility last year and closing large data centers in Chicago and Cincinnati. The company also plans to close a legacy data center on the St. Louis campus.
The Global Data Center's 7,800-square-foot rooftop solar array produced an average of 11,400 kilovolt ampere hours (kVAh) per month during the first year, with a peak of 14,250 kVAh in July 2010. The data center also experienced zero unplanned downtime in its first year and has maintained 100-percent availability thanks to the implementation of products and solutions from Emerson Network Power.
The solar array and energy-efficient design and building practices, which diverted approximately 80 percent of construction waste from landfills, helped the Emerson Global Data Center earn LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and a 2009 Beyond Green High-Performance Building Award from the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council.
Companies across all industries are focused on redesigning their data centers as a key way to reduce energy consumption. As another example, Microsoft's latest sustainability report reveals that its data centers now consume 50 percent less energy than three years ago.
