AT&T Joins Green Grid to Promote Data Center Energy Efficiency

AT&T Inc. announced its affiliate, AT&T Services Inc., has joined The Green Grid, the global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems. AT&T also announced it will supply data center performance information to assist the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in developing a new ENERGY STAR rating for data center infrastructure.

Membership in The Green Grid and participation in the ENERGY STAR data center initiative underscore AT&T's commitment to minimize the environmental impact of its operations and to work collaboratively with industry organizations and suppliers to identify optimal solutions and best practices.

The Green Grid works to provide industry wide recommendations and best practices on metrics and technologies that will improve energy efficiency in data centers around the world. As a Contributor Member of The Green Grid, AT&T is taking an important role in cooperating with other leading companies to reduce energy consumption and related data center costs.

"The Green Grid is proud to welcome AT&T as a Contributor Member of the consortium," said Mark Monroe, a director of The Green Grid. "AT&T brings a breadth of knowledge and experience in the field of communications. The Green Grid is looking forward to collaborating with AT&T and leveraging its expertise to help further the organization's mission."

In an effort to improve energy efficiency in the data center industry, the EPA is developing an ENERGY STAR Data Center Infrastructure Rating. This new rating will help data center operators assess the energy performance of their buildings' infrastructure and identify buildings with the greatest opportunity for improvement, allowing them to capture the financial and environmental benefits of improved energy efficiency in their facilities. The initiative will ultimately enable data center facilities to earn ENERGY STAR certification for superior energy efficiency. To assist in the development of this rating, AT&T has committed to monitoring select company data centers and submit energy data to the EPA during the next 12 months.

"EPA is very pleased to have AT&T's support for the development of the ENERGY STAR rating for data center infrastructure," said Mike Zatz, manager of EPA's ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings Program. "It is only with the active involvement of industry leaders like AT&T that EPA will be able to provide the data center industry with the information it needs to most effectively improve the energy efficiency of these critical facilities."

"Data center electricity use has been growing rapidly in recent years, roughly doubling from 2000 to 2005," said Jonathan Koomey, Ph.D., staff scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories and consulting professor, Stanford University. "There's significant potential for improving energy efficiency in those facilities, and many large companies are starting to make the institutional and technological changes needed to capture that efficiency. In this case, businesses can save money and reduce pollution at the same time."

EPA Recognizes Combined Heat And Power

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week recognized three Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Awards winners for using CHP to reduce their energy use by more than 18%. CHP (also referred to as cogeneration) is an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single fuel source. By installing a CHP system, a facility can increase operational efficiency and decrease energy costs, while reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Those facilities receiving the award included:
Calpine Columbia Energy Center (Gaston, SC) for its combustion turbine-based CHP system that produces up to 500 MW of electricity and one million pounds of steam per hour. The local utility grid receives all of the generated electricity while an adjacent manufacturing plant productively uses the steam. The CHP system requires 30% less fuel than typical alternatives.

University of New Mexico CHP Project (Albuquerque, NM) for its natural gas-fired CHP system at the Ford Utilities Center. Part of a major energy infrastructure upgrade project, the CHP system supplies the campus with roughly one-third of its total electricity demand and produces steam to help meet the space heating, space cooling, and domestic hot water production needs of more than 25,000 students, staff, and faculty. With an operating efficiency of almost 65%, the CHP system requires 20% less fuel than typical alternatives.

Verizon Garden City Fuel Cell Project (Garden City, NY) for its fuel cell CHP system. Located at a Verizon call routing center, the CHP system is the largest U.S. commercial fuel cell installation of its kind. Hot water that would otherwise be wasted is recovered and used for the space cooling and heating of an office building that serves more than 35,000 telecommunication customers. With an operating efficiency of almost 60%, the CHP system requires 25% less fuel than typical alternatives.

About EPA's Combined Heat and Power Partnership
Since 1999, EPA has given the Energy Star CHP Award to recognize organizations and institutions that install exceptionally efficient CHP systems. EPA's CHP Partnership seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation. EPA works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other stakeholders to support the development of new projects that have significant energy, environmental, and economic benefits. The program plays a role in efforts to achieve a collaborative, public-private goal of doubling the capacity of CHP in the United States to 92 gigawatts (GW) by 2010.

US House Tries to Make Schools Greener

While the fallout from the Democrats race for the White House took center stage on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a $20 billion plan to help states renovate and build schools to make them better for the environment and more energy efficient.

The 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act passed 250-164 but still must be taken up by the Senate. The Bush Administration has threatened a veto, citing the cost of a new federal school building program.

The bill sets aside $6.4 billion for the 2009 budget year and similar amounts in the following four years. The goal is to aid school districts in modernizing facilities to help make schools more energy efficient, promote student and employee health, and improve the learning environment.

New projects would have to meet LEED, Energy Star, or Collaborative for High Performance Schools standards. According to the Associated Press, "Requirements for meeting the green standards would be phased in, but by 2013 90% of the funds would have to be used for green projects."

Supporters of the bill cited studies that "a green school uses 35% less energy than a conventional school, reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 40%, and uses 30% less water."

Bill opponents called the measure a "green scheme", warned that it could divert funds from federal programs for disabled and poor students, and saw the bill as "an intrusion into education matters normally under the jurisdiction of states and local governments."

Under the funding plan in place, no school would receive less than $5000.

Studies Confirm Superior Sale, Rental, And Occupancy Rates for LEED, ENERGY STAR Buildings

Two recently released studies, one by the New Buildings Institute (NBI) and one by CoStar Group, have validated what the green building community has known all along: third party certified buildings outperform their conventional counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price, and rental rates.

In the NBI study, the results indicate that new buildings certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED certification system are, on average, performing 25% to 30% better than non-LEED certified buildings in terms of energy use. The study also demonstrates that there is a correlation between increasing levels of LEED certification and increased energy savings. Gold and Platinum LEED certified buildings have average energy savings approaching 50%.

To download a PDF of the study, click this link:
NIBS.pdf

Energy savings under EPA's ENERGY STAR program are equally impressive: buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR label use an average of almost 40% less energy than average buildings, and emit 35% less carbon. But beyond the obvious implications of reduced energy use and reduced carbon emissions, the results from both studies strengthen the "business case" for green buildings as financially sound investments.

According to the CoStar study, LEED buildings command rent premiums of $11.24 per square foot over their non-LEED peers and have 3.8% higher occupancy. Rental rates in ENERGY STAR buildings represent a $2.38 per square foot premium over comparable non-ENERGY STAR buildings and have 3.6% higher occupancy. And, in a trend that could signal greater attention from institutional investors, ENERGY STAR buildings are selling for an average of $61 per square foot more than their peers, while LEED buildings command a remarkable $171 more per square foot.

The group analyzed more than 1,300 LEED Certified and ENERGY STAR buildings representing about 351 million square feet in CoStar’s commercial property database of roughly 44 billion square feet, and assessed those buildings against non-green properties with similar size, location, class, tenancy, and year-built characteristics to generate the results.