scope:

Sustainable design, global warming, depleting fuel reserves, energy use, and operating cost are becoming increasingly more important. These issues are even more important in datacom equipment centers for reasons such as the following:

• Large, concentrated use of energy (can be 100 times the watts per square foot of an office building).

• Operations running 24 hours, 7 days a week, have about 3 times the annual operating hours as other commercial properties.

The intent of this publication, as part of the ongoing ASHRAE Datacom Series, is to provide the reader with detailed information on the design of datacom facilities that will aid in minimizing the life-cycle cost, and to maximize energy efficiency in a facility to align with ASHRAE's stated direction (from the 2006 Strategic Plan) to "lead the advancement of sustainable building design and operations."