Digital Realty has announced that it ranks sixth overall on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Top 30 Tech & Telecom list of the largest consumers of green power. Digital Realty also ranks twelfth on the EPA's National Top 100 list of green power users. Digital Realty is using nearly 720 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which represents 25 percent of its total power needs. The EPA also included Digital Realty on its Long-term Green Power Contracts list, in recognition of the company's 12-year contract to purchase green power.
Digital Realty leads the data center industry in sustainability and energy efficiency and remains committed to its innovative green power initiatives. The company recently secured a utility-scale renewable energy wind farm to serve 100% of its U.S. colocation and interconnection electricity footprint. In addition, Digital Realty recently became one of the first REITs to issue a green bond for funding projects with a beneficial impact on the environment, raising $500 million of gross proceeds. The funds have been fully allocated across nine sustainable projects that have received LEED, BREEAM, or CEEDA sustainability ratings.
"We are honored to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for our industry-leading green power use," said A. William Stein, chief executive officer, Digital Realty. "Our sustainability initiatives demonstrate our commitment to environmental stewardship while also serving as sound business practices."
Digital Realty Director of Sustainability Aaron Binkley added, "Many of our customers, including some of the world's largest cloud service providers with whom we are pleased to share the distinction of the EPA's Green Power Partnership list, are also prioritizing the sustainability of their operations. Our ability to offer them renewable and highly efficient data center solutions sets us apart from our competitors."
Green power is zero-emissions electricity generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact hydro. Using green power helps build demand for the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide and helps users reduce their carbon footprints