“DATA CENTERS AND THE RACE TO ZERO: HOLISTIC STRATEGIES TO REACH NET-ZERO BY 2030”
The International Energy Agency estimates that 1% of all global electricity is used by data centers and that by 2025, data centers will consume one-fifth of the world’s power supply. Since 2007, when the US EPA published its Congressional Report on Data Centers, significant improvements have been made in energy efficiency from IT equipment through to facility operations. However, the largest energy consumers (hyperscale facilities) continue to trend upward and recognize not only the need for continued efficiency improvements but also significant reductions in their carbon emissions as well as other sustainable development targets. Each of the five major hyperscale providers have stated intentions to be net-zero by 2030. This presentation will consider current strategies being implemented successfully to help reach this goal.
“CURRICULUM VITAE”
Dr. Vallejo is a mechanical engineer with over 10 years of modeling and design experience on a variety of integrated sustainable engineering projects, including advanced technology and mission critical buildings. She has contributed her experience on projects throughout the US, as well as on international projects involving innovative approaches to sustainable, efficient design. Marianna is responsible for serving as a sustainability and decarbonization subject matter expert. She provides energy and resource modeling for holistic systems efficiency improvements, collaborates with multi-discipline teams to develop sustainable system solutions, and interfaces with client sustainability, facility, and operations teams to develop an integrated design solution. As a Ph.D. candidate, her research focused on sustainable site and system selection for data center facilities. Dr. Vallejo’s research continues to consider holistic, integrated design approaches for improved energy efficiency and minimizing carbon and water impacts of large-scale mission critical buildings. She serves as Adjunct Professor at Portland State University and the University of Texas at Arlington. She is a member of ASHRAE Technical Committee 2.8, 7.1, and 9.9 and has contributed to the publication ASHRAE Green Guide since 2012. Dr. Vallejo received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (2010) and Ph.D., in Mechanical Engineering (2015) from the University of Texas at Arlington.