Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) latest initiative to target cooling efficiency helped reduce energy consumption and emissions at 24 of its U.S. data centers.
By leveraging energy management systems from Vigilent, Verizon said it was able to achieve three goals: it turned off 40 percent of computer room air conditioners, a process that it says will help it save over 55 million kilowatts annually; reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 66 million pounds of CO2; and decreased average temperatures by two degrees Fahrenheit throughout the data centers.
So how does it work? By installing hundreds of wireless temerpature sensors at each data center that are connected through a mesh network to on-site servers leveraging energy management software, Vigilent's system can provide real-time data about environmental conditions throughout each facility, then provided analysis and recommendations for optimal configurations and performance.
While it did not specify a timeline, Verizon said it plans on leveraging the Vigilent system at additional U.S. data center sites.
In 2010 alone, Verizon reduced its reduced CO2 emissions by more than 297.5 million pounds, an improvement of 15 percent in the rate of emissions per terabyte of data.
For more:
- see the release
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