Organisations that operate their own data centres are likely to be aware of the impact maintaining such a facility can have on business energy consumption.
Serving a round-the-clock customer base through websites and managing an ever-increasing data burden can combine to put substantial demands on the
business energy supply.
However, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for data centres could help to combat the levels of power consumed in businesses nationwide.
The newly published standard aims to overcome the issue of data centres' disproportionate consumption of business energy - often ten times that of general office space, according
to BRE chief executive officer Carol Atkinson.
She says: "We estimate that by designing and building a data centre to BREEAM Excellent standard, energy use can be cut by more than half compared to a conventional new-build facility."
In order to achieve an Excellent rating, however, organisations must ensure that their data centres adhere to the latest operational thinking and design in what BRE says is a "rapidly changing sector".
The standard incorporates both the specific aspects of data centres and the holistic approach to saving energy that other BREEAM standards use, in order to give the best likelihood of improving the sustainability of facilities.
In the development of the standard, BRE worked with a number of real-world data centre operators, including the Digital Realty Trust, which has committed to ensure that its future schemes work to meet the requirements of the framework.
"We are committed to building all future projects to BREEAM standard in Europe," says Digital Realty Trust chief technical officer Jim Smith.
Adding that the organisation is proud to be able to offer its support to BRE in its latest endeavour, Mr Smith also points out that the Digital Realty Trust was the first recipient of a BREEAM Excellent rating for a data centre anywhere in Europe.
