Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1464345
April/May/June 2022 I 61 Sustainability in data center operations has long been an industry focus, with data center construction only recently coming into the spotlight. Environmental experts warn that building construction will play a more important role than building operations in achieving the near-term 2030 goals set by the Paris Agreement, as shown in Figure 1. Beyond addressing direct energy consumption and costs for a client, a manufacturing company should first thoroughly reflect and define its internal sustainability commitments. This includes targets for improving health, safety, and performance in construction to create a more sustainable and equitable society. Pursuing a green building certification for data centers is a streamlined way to set goals for and ensure construction sustainability while simultaneously being externally recognized and touting third-party verification for the project's efforts. With or without a certification framework, teams should consider the individual impacts associated with the construction of their projects. These can include greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, waste creation, and human health impacts. Prior to discussing examples based on the paradigm from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design FIGURE 1: Energy consumption footprint of new construction building materials versus operations. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Building Materials Building Operations Source: ©2016 2030, Inc. / Architecture 2030. All Rights Reserved. Data Source: EIA (2011), Richard Stein, CBECS (2003), McKinsey Global Institute. % Energy Consumption Building Materials 90% 900 Billion Sq. Ft. Energy Consumption Footprint 2015-2030 (LEED), it is important to distinguish it from the inter- national non-profit infrastructure and structured cabling standards bodies with which ICT professionals are most familiar (e.g., ANSI/TIA, ANSI/BICSI, IEC, ISO, ITU). ISO, IEC, and ITU are the three largest and most well-established standards development organizations (SDOs) and have existed for over 50 years. The primary function of an SDO is to produce technical standards. BICSI, TIA, and IEEE are considered SDOs, but each provide other functions as well, such as serving as a trade organization for a particular industry. In BICSI's case, it serves as the training ground for credentialed ICT professionals. Therefore, it is highly recommended to follow the standards and best practices of ANSI/BICSI 002-2019, Data Center Design and Implementation Best Practices whenever possible for a data center's environmental and sustainability journey. ANSI/BICSI 002-2019 consolidates and updates the latest ASHRAE, LEED, ANSI/TIA, IEEE, and international standards in one publication. To be clear, LEED's for-profit status does not affect its value as an organization as credentialed BICSI designers, installers, and project managers will inevitably work with companies pursuing LEED certifications. CERTIFICATIONS FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE DATA CENTERS Green building certifications are a great place to start a company's sustainability journey. They provide a clear vision and framework for achieving the project's high-performance goals and are instantly recognizable to sustainability-minded stakeholders and clients. There are a wide variety of green building certifica- tion programs that apply to data centers, allowing for a customized approach based on company values, resources, and budget. Some certifications focus on a specific sustainability attribute, such as energy, greenhouse gas emissions, or waste, while others take a whole-building approach and consider a variety of attributes at once. LEED is one of the most well-known international whole-building sustainability certifications and has a specific pathway for data centers that accounts for the unique challenges that data center projects face. 1