SAN JOSE, CA — Fortune Data Centers' San Jose facility earned the prestigious LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council last week, six months after opening the green facility.
With the certification, Fortune Data Centers has joined a very small number of LEED-rated data centers; the company estimated that it is one of only five such buildings in the United States.
The eight-megawatt data center can also brag a gold-star tenant: internet phenomenon Facebook confirmed that it is leasing some of the floor space in the facility, part of an ongoing expansion for the website, all of which has gone to green data centers, according to Data Center Knowledge.
Fortune Data Centers' facility earned kudos from not just the USGBC: San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed also lauded the company for helping the city meet its Green Vision goals, which include building 50 million square feet of green buildings, reducing the energy used per capita by half, and switching the remaining energy used to renewable energy by 2022.
Among the features of Fortune Data Centers' San Jose facility that helped it earn LEED certification include:
• a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio of 1.37 at full load, far lower than the industry average of about 2.0;
• Diverting 96 percent of construction waste from landfill, leading to the recycling or reuse of over 1,100 tons of materials;
• Setting energy efficiency guidelines for procurement of uninterruptible power supplies and other hardware within the building.
"We believe companies shouldn't have to pay extra for energy efficiency, rather they should realize a reduction in costs," John Sheputis, CEO of Fortune Data Centers, said in a statement. "Fortune and our tenants are collaborating to maximize efficiencies, and our tenants receive 100 percent of the cost savings that result from saving energy."
Fortune Data Centers previously made news for earning a $900,000 rebate from its electric utility for the energy efficiency of its facility. The award came as part of an incentive program from Pacific Gas & Electric's High-Tech Energy Efficiency program.