US-based colocation company CyrusOne, which has 17 facilities across the US, has received LEED Silver Certification for its West Houston data center.
It is the first data center in the region to receive the US Green Building Council rating, which recognizes environmentally friendly design principals, including energy efficiency measures.
The West Houston data center has used high-efficiency glazing, occupancy sensors and high efficiency air-cooled chillers and high-efficiency HVAC systems. The design also improves the thermal envelope of the data center, and reduces its interior lighting power density.
The ground was first broken at the 200,000 sq ft greenfield data center site in 2009, and construction of the data center was complete in six motnhs.
It has a 2N architecture and can support power densities of at least 250 watts per sq ft.
Cyrusone said its data center had to be hurricane resistant, and sit outside of the FEMA 500-year flood plain. It features hurricane shutters, concrete walls and a reinforced roof.
It was designed by were Duane Bradshaw Architects and Chuck Prichard Consulting, while Kirksey Architects carried out its LEED certification.
US Green Building Council founding chair and president Rick Fedrizzi said the project overall was seen as an innovative building project.
"The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,"Fedrizzi said.
"The work of innovative building projects such as the CyrusOne West Houston data center campus is a fundamental driving force in the green building movement."
CyrusOne was acquired by Cincinnati Bell in June 2010.
Cincinnati Bell said its data center sales had gone up 75% in its fourth quarter last year, mostly as a result of its acquisition.