Compass Datacenters has entered into a partnership with Foster Fuels to use Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil-based biodiesel (HVO) to fuel its on-site generators.
Foster Fuels will become Compass' preferred bio-diesel provider. Synthesized from vegetable oils, Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil is a type of biodiesel where hydrogen is added to the oil, creating fewer emissions than regual fuel.
"The Foster Fuels partnership is part of our overall strategy to reduce our Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions and will make our generators far more sustainable," said Adil Attlassy, Compass CTO.
"Based on our results to date, using HVO blended fuels is reducing our generators' Scope 1 GHG emissions by approximately 85 percent versus traditional diesel. Additionally, we are significantly reducing particulates and sulfides as compared to fossil fuels, eliminating diesel's dirty smoke plume."
Watt R. Foster, Jr., Foster Fuels President & CEO, added: "The initial rollout involves Compass' facilities in Northern Virginia, Arizona, and Texas. Our ultimate goal is to make HVO renewable diesel fuel available throughout the US."
Last year, UK-based Kao Data announced it was partnering with Crown Oil to replace the diesel for its backup generators with HVO. In January, Latvian data center operator DEAC said it would buy MY Renewable Diesel (also an HVO100 fuel) from Neste for its backup generators.
This February, Interxion turned to Total's HVO for its new PAR8 site.
"Our decision to adopt HVO-based biodiesel for generators is consistent with our previous efforts, such as CarbonCure concrete; both are focused on GHG reduction," Nancy Novak, Compass chief innovation officer, said.
"A truly holistic approach to sustainability includes power sources, but also needs to include the facility's design, the materials used, water usage, the supply chain and much more."
