No matter which way the wind blows, the tide turns, or the sun shines, somewhere in Europe, Interxion’s (News - Alert) data center customers will enjoy the benefits. On December 12, Amsterdam-based Interxion Holdings NV announced that, as of this month, more than half of the power it provides at its 28 carrier-neutral co-location data centers for customers is from solar, wind, geothermic, tidal, or hydro energy sources.
Power from renewable energy sources is available to Interxion’s 1,200 customers in 13 cities across the company’s 11-country European footprint—and the company’s operations in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are 100 percent powered by renewable energy sources.
Interxion data center chiller units (Photo courtesy of Interxion)
The provision of power from renewable sources to drive down carbon emissions is one of a range of energy efficiency, emission, and waste reduction initiatives from Interxion. The company pioneered modular architecture for data centers in 2000 and has since driven its PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) down year-on-year through a mix of design, procurement, and operational measures—including:
To minimize energy waste, alternative cooling sources—such as sea-water cooling—also are deployed wherever practical, and Interxion is in the process of implementing closed-loop energy recycling systems, in which the heat generated in the data centre is recycled for use elsewhere.
“Over half of the power we provide comes from sustainable sources, in order to offer a choice of renewable energy to our customers, many of whom are among the global leaders in addressing corporate social responsibility issues and the environmental impact of their ICT infrastructure,” said Peter Cladingbowl, Interxion senior vice president, Engineering & Operations Support. “We are among the industry’s leaders in terms of energy efficiency, but as a business, we believe that sustainability, rather than pure energy efficiency, should be our long-term objective—and this is one of a number of initiatives we are implementing to achieve this goal.”
For its sustainability measures, last May in London, Interxion received “IT Operator of the Year” recognition at the Green IT Awards. Designed to highlight and reward the excellent work being done in this vital area, the importance of the evening was underlined by the presence of Catalina McGregor, Green IT liaison officer at the United Nations. The winners of each category were decided by a judging panel and the votes of the readers of Green IT Magazine, published in Kent, England.
Commenting on the win, Greg McCulloch UK MD, Interxion, commented, “We are thrilled to have been recognized…With the growth in data and the increasing uptake of third-party data centers, we are under greater pressure than ever to increase efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint. Interxion looks forward to continuing its work with organizations such as The Green Grid and Uptime Institute, to establish efficiency metrics and drive forward the green agenda.”
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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
