Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1464345
62 I ICT TODAY Location and Transportation Sustainable Sites Water Efficiency Energy and Atmosphere Materials and Resources Indoor Environmental Quality FIGURE 2: LEED impact areas. LEED has four certification levels (Certified, Silver, Gold, Platinum) that are achieved by scoring points in six main impact categories: Location and Trans- portation, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality (Figure 2). LEED building design and construc- tion for data centers is unique in how it approaches many sustainability strate- gies, but primarily in its approach to energy, water, and data hall spaces. In a typical LEED new construction project, nearly all energy savings are achieved through efficiencies in lighting and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment regulated by ASHRAE 90.1. In a data center, up to 90 percent of the energy use may be due to IT equipment and not defined by ASHRAE 90.1, leaving the team to explore IT energy savings to achieve their savings targets. Due to how data centers use energy, power usage effectiveness (PUE) is used as the metric to determine overall efficiency. As a ratio of total energy consumption divided by IT energy consumption, the closer the PUE value is to the number one, the more efficient the data center is consid- ered to be. This varies from the energy use intensity (EUI) metric, which compares standard commercial buildings by the amount of energy they use per area over a year of operation. This is important, as data center projects are designed and built to meet a certain computational need, not a specific square footage as is typical with commercial and residential buildings. Thorough commissioning and metering are also a key part of LEED for a data center's energy reduction strategy. Due to the high-water consumption needs of some data centers, LEED also puts a greater focus on process water efficiency, as opposed to the efficiency of water fixtures that make up only a small portion of data center water consumption. Finally, LEED creates a distinction between data halls and administrative areas, providing some exemptions to indoor environmental quality requirements in data hall spaces. Energy Star, Arc, and TRUE waste certifications are an excellent starting point for teams looking to pursue a narrower range of sustainable construction impacts or looking to level up their current approach in a specific impact area. Certification can either be pursued in-house or with the support of a sustainability consultant. A whopping 600 million tons of construction and demolition waste are generated in the United States annually.