The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently recognized its Better Buildings Challenge partner, Sabey Data Centers, for the energy productivity achievements of its Intergate Quincy multi-tenant data center. As a partner in DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge, Sabey committed to improving its energy performance by 20% over a 10-year period, and to sharing the results and strategies with other companies. The company surpassed its original goal of 20% by 2024, improving energy performance across its more than 3 million square feet of data center space by 24% from a 2014 baseline.
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. This can make 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.
Ultimately, 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.
"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."
