Emerson Data Center Earns LEED Gold Rating

Emerson Network Power has installed this 7,800 square foot solar array on the roof of its new St. Louis data center.

Emerson’s new data center in St. Louis has earned Gold certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program for energy-efficient buildings, the company said today. The 35,000-square-foot facility sports the state of Missouri’s largest solar power installation – a 7,800-square-foot rooftop array of more than 550 solar panels that can supply up to 100 kilowatts of power.

Emerson earned 40 out of a possible 51 points to receive LEED Gold certification.the U.S. Green Building Council. The company invested $50 million in the facility, which also features a high-voltage power distribution system using 240 volt power instead of 208 volt, uses Liebert XD high-density overhead cooling units,and follows Emerson’s Energy Logic guidelines throughout its design.

“The LEED Gold certification – a rare designation for a data center – is a significant validation of Emerson’s commitment to energy efficiency and environmental responsibility,” said Emerson Chairman, CEO and President David Farr. “The certification recognizes Emerson’s innovative approach and efficient technologies for managing one of the most vexing problems facing data center managers – energy consumption.”

The new data center is part of a broader consolidation in which the company will shift workloads from 100 sites into just four data centers.

More than 80 percent of the construction waste generated was diverted from landfills through recycling, and innovative design features enabled Emerson to save more than 2.5 miles of copper piping, minimizing the use of excess materials. St. Louis-based Fox Architects partnered with Emerson on the design of the data center and managed the company’s application for the LEED Gold designation.

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About Rich Miller

Rich Miller is the founder and editor-in-chief of Data Center Knowledge, and has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000. He has tracked the growing impact of high-density computing on the power and cooling of data centers, and the resulting push for improved energy efficiency in these facilities.