by Shane Henson — September 7, 2011—Vantage Data Centers, a wholesale data center owner, developer and operator, recently announced that its V3 building, a 60,000-square-foot facility in Santa Clara, California, has been awarded LEED Platinum status by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
In addition to the LEED Platinum Certified project, V3, the campus also contains two LEED Registered projects, V1 and V2. Upon successful certification of all buildings, the Vantage site would become the largest LEED Platinum data center campus in the United States, says the company. The site has more than 300,000 square feet of space supported by a 50 MW dedicated substation.
According to Vantage Data Centers, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification of its V3 building was based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact both the project itself and the broader community. As part of the LEED certification effort, the project incorporated responsible site development practices, water-saving strategies, energy-saving design measures, efficient material selection and low-toxic building materials.
The LEED Platinum rating was also awarded, in part, due to V3’s energy efficiency. The lighting design is a 41 percent improvement over the minimum standard of the Title 24 Energy Code; furthermore, advanced lighting controls earned points in the Energy and Atmosphere category. In addition, Vantage was able to divert 91 percent of the construction waste and use over 40 percent recycled content (post-consumer and one-half pre-consumer) in the construction project.
The V3 data center also earned credits for complying with ASHRAE 55 and for addressing regional environmental concerns. A water-efficient landscape design has reduced the demand on the local water supply for irrigation, and the parking lot features preferred parking for both carpools and hybrid cars to encourage alternative means of transportation to and from the data center.
As a result of the diligence of the design and construction teams, facilities personnel working in V3 will likely benefit from the sustainable features that secured its LEED Platinum status as they take steps to ensure the building becomes as energy- and water-efficient as possible and to ensure the optimization of its design plan.
