Vodafone are investing over £5m on energy saving measures to further reduce the environmental impact of their data centres throughout the UK. This investment in projects managed by Green Building Design Consultants is set to pay back within 3 years through reduced electricity consumption.

Whilst Vodafone operates some of the most efficient data centres in the industry, this year’s enhancements will further improve performance by actively managing heating and cooling to meet fluctuating demands on a daily basis. Green Building Design Consultants have extensive experience in this area and have developed a unique design and build service, which Vodafone is currently implementing at 10 separate projects across the UK.

“These projects use proven techniques and reliable equipment. They have already been successfully installed in six data centres throughout the UK, including test installations for Vodafone. As well as reducing the electricity bill, energy saving is a major issue to Vodafone’s data centre customers, who can benefit from CRC tax savings when energy consumption is low.” said Peter Betts, Engineering Director.

Data centres house racks of file servers which require active cooling to maintain a safe operating temperature. Systems were originally designed with limited control for cooling, based on a theoretical load. Energy consumption is reduced by installing new control equipment to adjust heat transfer as required locally throughout the data centre.

Vodafone’s data centres are used by a wide range of companies on a co-location basis, benefiting from a low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) value of 1.25. This benefits users of the facilities with lower energy bills and CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) tax savings from reducing CO2 footprint.

To validate energy saving improvements, Green Building Design Consultants measure energy usage before every project and estimate potential cost savings. The company has been carrying out these projects for over 10 years and even though external temperature can affect results, the forecasts have been accurate to within a 10% margin.

For more information or to arrange a survey of your data centre, call Peter Betts or Simon Green on 01992 552 111.

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