With demand for data centers accelerating to support rapidly-growing digital applications, H5 Data Centers is expanding its renewable energy and sustainability initiatives by purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset 100% of the energy consumption at its Cleveland data center.
Through this purchasing program, H5 will reduce the environmental impact of its energy use and support renewable energy projects throughout North America. The RECs, sold in blocks of kilowatt-hours (kWh), are a blend of wind, solar, biomass, landfill gas, geothermal and hydroelectricity.
The REC purchase adds to H5’s 478-kW solar array that was announced earlier this year.
H5 Data Centers is one of the leading privately-owned data cen nearly 2 million square feet under management, the company says. The company now owns data centers in Ashburn, Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, and Seattle.
The data center industry, responsible for protecting mission-critical functions, carries a large carbon footprint and is experiencing rapid growth, pointed out Navigant Research in a white paper released last year. Advanced microgrids will begin to turn to new technologies like microgrids to reduce their carbon footprints and improve uptime, Navigant suggested.