CyrusOne’s Sustainability-standout Chandler campus has landed another accolade – a 2022 Salt River Project (SRP) Champion of Sustainability Award.

Specifically, CyrusOne was the top winner in the Decarbonizing Local Industry category.

The Arizona water and power utility’s awards recognize its commercial customers that participate in its Business Solutions programs and are standouts for their commitment to sustainability and innovation as they serve their customers and the community. The ninth-annual awards in 2022 recognized 19 businesses and organizations in seven categories.

Chandler has participated in SRP’s Business Solution Program for the past six years. SRP encourages customers, like CyrusOne, to take advantage of partial funding and a maximum annual rebate of $300,000 to launch Energy efficiency projects. CyrusOne received the maximum rebate several times and has focused on equipment optimization at Chandler to improve its sustainability practices.

The impact is notable and laudable – Chandler has reduced its energy usage by nearly 22 million kilowatt hours and now pulls 1.3 megawatts less per hour from the utility, the equivalent of more than 2,050 average-size homes.

“This shows collaboration between CyrusOne and the utility to achieve a common objective,” said Eric Hoegger, CyrusOne Director of Power and Energy. “It’s always interesting that an electric utility is one of the few businesses that tries to incentivize customers to buy less of their product to help the environment. And that is the case with Salt River Project, which is the utility for our Chandler and soon-to-be Mesa locations.”

And there’s more to come at Chandler in partnership with SRP, including the installation of additional LED lighting fixtures.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Salt River Project on additional rebate opportunities and future renewable energy purchases,” Hoegger added. “We currently have a portion of green power through a program we’ve subscribed to with SRP. We like SRP’s approach to renewables and I hope we can expand that program. We will continue the partnership and do good things.”

SRP Associate General Manager of Customer Operations & Chief Customer Executive Jim Pratt thanked the winners.

“Since 2014, we have come together as a corporate community to celebrate the achievements of our commercial customers who, regardless of the size of their business or organization, are saving energy, reducing costs and taking advantage of SRP’s many different rebate programs,” Pratt said. “We are thankful to the winners for being valued partners. Their strong commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability is driving meaningful change and demonstrates what’s possible when we work together to keep the Valley and all of Arizona growing and thriving for generations to come.”

CyrusOne’s Chandler campus is no stranger to accolades for its sustainability efforts, which go beyond power usage and carbon reduction.

In 2021, Chandler won the Environment + Energy Leader Award for becoming our first net water positive facility (and the first of its kind that we know of in the world).

The Chandler campus is in an extremely high water-stress region. So, we significantly cut the facility’s water intake by using our water-free cooling design, using only small amounts for humidification, facility maintenance, and domestic water. We also teamed with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and the Arizona Land and Water Trust to restore water flows to the region using Water Restoration Certificates, which are generated by helping local farmers switch to high-efficiency irrigation systems that allow more water to stay in natural waterways. Through these credits, we restored 40% more water than we used in 2019.

The project represents a win for our customers by reducing embodied water in their supply chains. It’s also a win for the local communities, who have more water supply in their regional watershed, and a win for the local habitat by protecting the San Pedro River, the last major free-flowing river in the American Southwest. Today, Chandler restores more water than it withdraws, making our local presence a net benefit to the community.

Also in 2021, Chandler generated high marks in the ENERGY STAR rating system, garnering a ranking of 82 at Chandler V and 92 at Chandler VI. They joined Chandler I, II and III with rankings of 84, 83 and 85, respectively. The ENERGY STAR ratings show how efficiently Chandler operates. It’s not only a good practice as part of operating sustainably to improve the environment, it also means a lower operating costs for customers. While a data center may be constructed to be efficient, with efficient cooling and lighting, it must also be operated properly to be efficient.

And earlier in 2022, Chandler won the Green Building Initiative’s (GBI) One Green Globe Building Designation for demonstrating “a strong commitment to resource efficiency, reducing environmental impact and improving occupant wellness.”

For more on our sustainability efforts, please read our 2022 Sustainability Report.

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