June 12, 2012 | June 12, 2012 | The UAMS Primary Data Center, opened in September 2010 to handle the campus’ growing information technology infrastructure needs, recently achieved high marks for energy efficiency – among the best in the nation for such facilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency in April awarded ENERGY STAR for Data Centers designation for the center based on its first full year of operations in 2011. The 15,000-square-foot facility was recognized for energy efficient operations while housing the computer servers that support critical operations such as electronic medical records, patient billing, email, human resources and many more.

“This is an exciting accomplishment for our team, which includes those who designed the many energy efficient features,” said Mark Kenneday, vice chancellor for campus operations. “The design focused on peak performance using energy efficient techniques in a facility that by its nature uses a lot of energy to support our information technology operations.”

The Primary Data Center was only the 22nd such facility to score higher than a 75 on ENERGY STAR scoring system and was the first data center to receive a label in the state of Arkansas. The UAMS Residence Hall was the first building in the University of Arkansas System to attain ENERGY STAR designation when it was recognized in 2010.

“The Data Center not only gave us much-needed space as well as room for future growth, it has given us the ability to partner with efforts such as Arkansas e-Link to expand their programs,” said Rhonda Jorden, assistant vice chancellor for technical operations in information technology. “Congratulations to the design team, information technology, campus operations and all involved in this project because this recognition is a true team effort.”

One of the biggest energy savings for the data center is the West Central Energy Plant that provides its utility service. The energy plant included high-efficiency equipment to allow better regulation on energy production and consumption.

The primary data center itself included many energy-saving design elements such as occupancy sensors for its lighting, a smaller, more efficient size of fluorescent light fixtures, water-saving toilets and an emphasis on using daylight when possible.

A special heat recovery system takes “used” heat from the building to heat air coming in through the heat system. A computerized building management system allows utility functions to be monitored in real time and controlled remotely.

Ed Tinsley, executive managing principal with the consulting engineer firm TME Corp. of Little Rock that designed the facility, praised those who operate the data center. “Designing a facility to be energy efficient is just part of the equation – maintaining it and operating it so that the energy savings are sustained over the life of the building is important too, so congratulations to UAMS for maintaining the building in an energy efficient manner,” he said.

The facility has previously recognized for system redundancy, reliability and performance by the Uptime Institute organization that represents data centers.