Dachser wins GreenIT Best Practice AWARD 2010
The internationally operating logistics provider Dachser was one of 13 nominees invited to Berlin on Wednesday where it was awarded the GreenIT Best Practice AWARD 2010 in the category "energy-efficient IT systems".
Dachser received the award for combining various different innovative concepts to produce a sustainable and effective overall solution:
1. Energy-efficient data center
Dachser’s new data center offers several innovations: In case of fire an argon fire protection system removes the oxygen from the air; this has no adverse impact on the environment as the inert gas argon is in any case a normal component of the mixture of gases that we know as "air". In addition, the data center is only cooled to 75.2°F rather than the usual 68°F, reducing energy consumption by 15%. For high-performance servers the logistics provider uses water-cooled racks. The energy-optimized data centre is configured to have separate warm and cold aisles and was constructed with a 40 inch-high raised floor with flow ducts, noticeably improving cooling efficiency.
2. Use of Network Clients (NCs)
The data center was only needed in the first place because when traditional work stations were replaced there was a move away from Personal Computers towards Network Clients. Today Dachser has around 7,000 NCs in use. These compact devices only require a tenth of the energy consumed by a PC. This saves the company 920,000 kWh of electricity and at the same time significantly reduces the amount of waste generated from electronic and electrical equipment.
3. Use of waste heat for new office building
Thanks to two heat exchangers, the waste heat from the data centre is collected and used to heat the office building completed in 2010. This contributes 300 kW, which is up to 50% of the energy required to heat the entire building. The remaining 50% is harvested by Dachser using geothermal probes. The result for the logistics provider is an annual saving of USD 33,000 on the cost of heating from fossil fuels and a reduction in its annual CO2 emissions of 144 tonnes.
'Sustainability is firmly enshrined in Dachser’s corporate values', says Michael Schilling, managing director of European Network Management & Logistics Systems at Dachser. 'By combining various different techniques we have been able to generate both environmental and economic benefits for the business, in the interests of sustainability', says Stefan Selbach, manager of Dachser’s Information Technology division.
