Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal — Green Buildings — August 31 - September 13, 2012 — 19A
www.marejournal.com
G reen B uildings
Creating the perfect environment
he data center market has been considered, in many areas, to be a By Michelle Berliner, Brookfield RE Opportunity Fund Improving energy efficiency in data centers T Greening your HVAC System
• MEP Design • Sprinkler Design • Commissioning • Energy Conservation and incentives
demand. According to the DOE, im- proving energy efficiency in data centers can have many benefits including: reducing business risk, lowering utility bills, reducing carbon emis- sions, and helping steer a com- pany on a road of social respon- sibility. So what are some ways that developers and property own- ers can “green” their data centers? At Brookfield’s Convergence, in Whippany, NJ, one of green features includes LED lighting and lighting control systems. According to the DOE, the adoption of LED lighting in the U.S. over the next 20 years would reduce electricity con- sumption by 25 percent, save an accumulated $120 billion in energy costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 246 metric tons of carbon. And while tenants are al- ready seeing results in cost savings with LED lighting, Convergence has also been able to reduce maintenance costs associated with replacing old halogen light bulbs throughout the campus. Look Toward the LED Light
The cost to both heat and cool an entire office campus can be astronomical and will certainly have an impact on the bottom line for your tenants, especially if you’re using an antiquated HVAC system. Instead, con- sider using water source heat pumps like the system installed at Convergence. Water heat pumps have four times the heating and cooling carrying capacity than other systems more typically found in other office buildings. While the cost to install may be a bit more, water source heat pumps have already proven lower operating costs for Convergence. Another issue that a quality green HVAC system can ad- dress is indoor air quality for tenants. The more fresh air in a building, the better. Consider installing independent ventila- tion units within each building. This will also provide free sea- sonal cooling. At Convergence, the use of unitary water source heat pumps promotes multiple zon- ing, system redundancy, en- ergy efficiency, and individual comfort levels. The campus is continued on page 21A
bright spot in the commercial real estate industry as more and more properties are being converted to accommodate data centers. While this trend is fill- ing the need for more mission- critical facilities, it also poses a challenge from a sustainability perspective because these fa- cilities consume a large amount of energy. According to the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2006, U.S. data centers used approximate- ly 61 billion kilowatt-hours, ac- counting for about 1.5 percent of all U.S. electricity consump- tion. More recently, a 2009 paper from the DOE stated that the annual source energy use of a two-megawatt data center is equal to the amount of energy consumed by 4,600 typical U.S. cars in one year. As the number of data centers increases, so will the demand for energy. The DOE has been working in cooperation with other agen- cies and the private sector to set energy efficiency measure- ments, metrics and reporting conventions for data centers to find potential solutions that will still meet this growing
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