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Two New England energy efficiency technology groups are teaming up to tackle power usage in what are arguably the largest consumers of power and cooling: data centers.
Bluestone Energy Services Ltd. of Norwell has inked a deal with technology developer AdaptivCool of Milford, N.H., to offer data center operators a chance to cut power usage in nearly every aspect of the building’s infrastructure. Terms of the deal were not divulged.
AdaptivCool, a division of Degree Controls Inc., supplies a technology that directs cool air to hot servers instead of cooling the entire building, while Bluestone Energy offers energy-efficiency retrofits to commercial and industrial buildings.
Executives from both firms said the partnership will enable the companies to go after sweetened incentives for building owners to green up their infrastructure. Combining a specific technology with a project management specialist provides the best chance for bigger rebates, they said.
“We’re basically trying to go after larger projects. What we’re hearing is going forward there is more money for more comprehensive projects,” said Adam Fairbanks, vice president of engineering and business development at Bluestone Energy.
Data centers, with their continuous operation and high electric and cooling needs, are arguably the largest consumers of power among commercial and industrial buildings. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates data centers use about 1.5 percent of all power consumed in the United States, and usage is growing about 12 percent per year.
While IT vendors are promoting new technology, from server virtualization to electricity-sipping equipment, as a way to save power, building-efficiency providers say utility incentives for infrastructure improvements make such work attractive from a return-on-investment standpoint.
“The infrastructure is definitely a focus (for building owners) because it seems more like low-hanging fruit — it’s a lot easier to understand and the paybacks are there,” Fairbanks said.
The deal targets customers in territories of National Grid and NStar, which are mandated to expand their energy-efficiency incentive programs by the state Green Communities Act passed last year. Utilities contend that they could, in theory, make changes to the distribution network to provide more power to data centers, but popular attitudes are making that an undesirable option.
“The main focus going forward is how to lower energy consumption and therefore there is less of a need for upgrades (to the distribution network),” said NStar spokesman Michael Durand.
There are no specific incentive programs for data centers; many projects apply under the custom project program, which requires an engineering study to identify the building’s specific energy needs and program goals. For AdaptivCool, part of the Bluestone Energy partnership’s appeal is the company’s strong relationship with the utilities in doing the engineering work, said Rajesh Nair, founder and CTO of AdaptivCool.
How much a customer can get back in rebates depends on what type of work is done and how much it cuts power consumption, NStar’s Durand said, although most of the rebate money tends to go toward HVAC retrofits, as they are generally where most of the savings lie.
Bluestone estimates a project — which can involve both AdaptivCool’s airflow management technology as well as such traditional measures as replacing inefficient chillers and installing power monitoring software — can cut a data center’s HVAC consumption, typically 40 percent to 50 percent of the building’s power need, by between 20 percent and 40 percent. Those projects — which can cost several hundred thousand dollars or more — can qualify for rebates of up to 70 percent of the cost.
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