Vantage Data Centers now offers access to renewable energy options at each of its North American and European campuses to help customers reduce their carbon emissions. The company has also hired two experts to lead its global environmental sustainability commitments.
Four of the company’s campuses are currently powered by more than 99% renewable energy (hydro, tidal and wind) through Vantage’s utility partners, while the other campuses provide access to green power purchases and renewable energy credits through local utility partners, the company said.
“Vantage is working collaboratively with our customers, investors and utilities to invest in sources of renewable energy and to set goals in all areas of sustainable development in order to make a positive impact in the communities where we operate” said Sureel Choksi, president and CEO, Vantage Data Centers.
Vantage, which targets the wholesale and hyperscale data center market, expanded its IT capacity by 90 percent in 2020, while doubling the number of markets it serves. As the company pursues a major expansion across European markets, Vantage now has a presence in 14 campuses across seven countries. Once these campuses are fully developed, Vantage expects to provide customers with more than 1 gigawatt of capacity across 7 million square feet of data center capacity.
The Vantage commitment comes as data center customers and stakeholders are demanding accountability on climate impact, pushing sustainability near the top of the agenda in selecting
sites and providers. A recent survey from 451 Research found that almost a third of multi-tenant data center (MTDC) representatives said all their customers want contractually binding commitments to efficiency and sustainability, while another 44% said it is true for most of their customers.
Expanding its Sustainability Team
As part of Vantage’s expanded focus on environmental goals, the company named Amanda Sutton as senior director of sustainability to lead Vantage’s global sustainability program to lessen its environmental impacts worldwide. Neal Kalita will join the company and serve as the director of power and sustainability with a focus on the company’s European campuses.
“Vantage is approaching sustainability from all angles,” said Sutton. “While energy efficiency and access to renewable energy are major focus areas, we are also investing in resources to reduce our carbon footprint, decrease water usage and be a good community partner. We want to ensure our campuses strengthen the communities where we operate while providing beautiful, comfortable and healthy spaces for our customers and employees to do their best work.”
A growing number of data center providers are taking a holistic view of data center design and operations, as they work to deliver environments that work for customers on every level. An example of this is Vantage Data Centers’ VA11 facility in Northern Virginia, which the company describes using phrases like “A Data Center You Love to Be In” and “Sustainable by Design.”
The outdoor lighting at VA11 is mounted on 19 poles that are each equipped with a rotary windmill on top a small solar panel, illuminating the parking area and building exterior with clean power. The light poles provide nearly 4,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year of renewable energy. A multi-tier “solar tree” array of photovoltaic panels provides 4,788 kilowatt hours of clean power annually for the building’s office areas. The front parking area includes multiple charging stations for electric vehicles, with a choice between solar or utility power.
Some of the additional sustainable achievements and features on Vantage’s campuses include:
- Eliminating water usage from cooling by standardizing on air-cooled chillers featuring a closed-loop system, which takes advantage of water-side economization.
- Using Energy Star certified, high-efficiency, double-conversion UPS systems delivering an annualized power usage effectiveness (PUE) under 1.3.
- Obtaining certifications for environmental design, construction and operations from leading standards organizations globally.
- Recycling of construction materials and using sustainable building materials.
- Incorporating green roofs, solar facades and drought resistant landscaping at data center campuses.
