The General Motors Enterprise Data Center in Warren, Michigan recently received Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, putting it among the fewer than 5 percent of data centers in the U.S. to achieve such certification. This marks the company’s fifth LEED-certified facility.
GM says it achieved a 70 percent reduction in energy use at data center by switching from a battery-based Uninterruptible Power Supply to one powered by mechanical fly wheels and a diesel engine. Used in less than 2 percent of the world’s data centers, this reduces emissions, noise pollution and fuel consumption. By avoiding the use of the equivalent of 12,000 car batteries, GM says it eliminated the heating and cooling systems required to keep the batteries at their optimal temperature.
“We set out to consolidate our global IT infrastructure from 23 data centers to two, which is helping improve application performance while reducing operating costs and energy use,” said Randy Mott, GM senior vice president and CIO. “We’re not only gaining efficiencies from insourcing, but we’ve incorporated world-class energy-saving technology into the facility itself.”
The facility’s design includes aisles of technology equipment that feature in-row cooling to contain heat in a smaller area, which results in less air being moved and reduces electricity consumption. Leveraging Michigan’s cooler climate, the site pumps water outside to chill it naturally, allowing the servers’ cooling system to power down three-quarters of the year.
GM says it also is distributing power at higher voltages, eliminating energy-draining transformers that generate heat to convert power to the appropriate voltage. This resulted in a 17 percent reduction in power loss.
To optimize efficiency, GM says the facility continually measures and analyzes its power use in real time. The data center, and a mirror facility under construction in Milford, Mich., will eventually serve as dual nerve centers integrating all aspects of product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and other business applications around the world.
The data center’s construction followed GM Green Construction practices, which resulted in the recycling of more than 99.7 percent of onsite materials, including 8,700 tons of asphalt, cardboard, concrete, metal, plastic and wood. GM also reused more than 86,000 cubic yards of soil for nearby landscaping and walking paths.
GM claims it uses LEED design and construction practices when building or upgrading facilities, and all of its North American construction sites adhere to GM Green Construction practices.
In June, GM and BMW AG engineers conducted a successful test on DC “Combo” Fast Charge stations that allow an electric vehicle to take on an 80 percent charge in about 20 minutes. The stations are expected to roll out in the coming months.
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Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Sep 15, 2013 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST