NCAR, Captain of the Green Enterprise (Awards)
There may be some debate over who was the best captain of the Starship Enterprise, but there is no doubt where the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) stands with the 2013 Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) awards.
The Boulder-based NCAR won the "Facility Design Implementation" category for its sustainable approach in designing and building the new NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC), which is also home to the Yellowstone supercomputer. H+L Architecture and RMH Group, an engineering firm, shared the award with NCAR for their role in the design of the facility and its systems.
The Facility Design Implementation Award recognizes superior excellence in cutting-edge projects that demonstrate energy and efficiency in a new, operational data center. NWSC not only uses energy and water efficiently, but it is adaptable to new technologies and utilizes sustainable and recycled materials. The building was built with over 510 tons of recycled concrete, 60 tons of recycled wood, 26 tons of recycled material and was also granted a LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. No word on how many recycle bins the center has.
Issued by the Uptime Institute, the GEIT Awards honor organizations that improve energy productivity and resource use through daring projects and innovations. The Facility Design Implementation Award recognized NCAR for their pioneering work on the NWSC.
"We are honored and pleased to receive this recognition for the NWSC," said Aaron Andersen, deputy director of operations and services at NCAR's Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, in a news release. "Nearly 10 years of planning and hard work went into designing this facility to be as sustainable as possible, and it is gratifying to have the facility in production use and be able to share what we've done. We hope this facility advances the entire industry."
Several groups helped to make construction of the now award-winning NWSC a reality. The National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored construction, and funding and governance was acquired via collaboration between local, state, and federal government entities. NCAR operates NWSC on behalf of the NSF and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
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