Designed by embracing three LEED points like energy savings, water use reduction and sustainable materials and resources, including building reuse, the EMC facility has embedded sustainability into every facet of the practice.
Retrofitting a 450,000 square feet warehouse facility, the EMC Durham Center of Excellence has used various green elements in the construction. Several existing building components have been repurposed as part of the project.
The new materials contained up to 85% recycled content; more than 20% of the materials used have been locally-sourced; and 95% of construction waste has been diverted from landfills and incineration facilities and recycled back into the manufacturing process.
To arrange the space and provide systems that keep computer equipment cool, the facility has been designed with an optimum Power Use Effectiveness (PUE). The Center of Excellence is currently running at 1.26 PUE.
The facility is generating energy savings of more than 34%. To keep the place cool, the design of the facility has employed various cooling measures like cold-aisle containment, and high-efficiency humidification, a non-fossil-fuel based high-pressure reverse osmosis system.
The design team also achieved dynamic and uniform airflow throughout the space. Design components, such as large vertical and horizontal plenums, function as extensions of the mechanical system and provide unobstructed airflow paths serving the whitespace.
Other airflow design solutions included: High performance floor supply grills, perforated plates to uniformly distribute airflow, minimized differential pressure between under floor and data center and custom Air Handling Units (AHUs).
The issue of water use reduction has been handled by storing one inch of rain on the 450,000 square feet roof, which results in 280,000 gallons of potential water reuse. A system has been implemented, that captures, stores and reuses this water. The end result is a reduction in the use of potable water by 78%. This total is comprised of a 40% decrease owing to the rainwater collection system and an additional 38% decrease through use of low-water flow toilets, waterless urinals and no permanent irrigation system.
