Under Digital Realty’s new Clean Start programme, which is available under its international portfolio, clients that sign a new qualifying lease will automatically receive renewable energy certificates commensurate with the electricity being used during the first year of the lease. The sustainability initiative is part of a broader effort by Digital Realty to encourage greener practices in the data centre industry incorporating a range of new programmes to be introduced in 2015.
“The Clean Start Program will redefine the way the data centre industry approaches sustainable energy” said Aaron Binkley, director of sustainability at Digital Realty. “Our goal is to give clients an effortless path to procure clean, renewable energy for their data centers, and to take a leadership role in reducing the environmental footprint for the data center industry.”
The global programme is available to clients who sign qualified leases with a term of at least 12 months for space in any Digital Realty location or or after January 21st 2015. It involves the procurement of renewable energy certifications (RECs) by the company on behalf of clients for one year at no additional cost. After the first year of the lease term, clients can choose to pay to continue receiving clean energy credits through the programme, or opt out.
RECs will be sourced close to data centres wherever feasible.
Mr Brinkley added that clients want cost-effective access to clean energy without the heavy lifting. The Clean Start programme will auto-enroll all clients signing eligible leases who will then receive access to RECs without any incremental cost. This covers clean power generated by wind, solar, geothermal and biomass power plants.
Digital Realty Trust Inc. supports the data centre and colocation strategies of more than 600 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centres, located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The company’s clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology services, to manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and consumer products.
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