Sabey Data Center Properties has announced that the company has been designated as a Gold-level 2019 Green Lease Leader by The Institute for Market Transformation and the U.S. Department of Energy Better Building Alliance. The certification positions Sabey as an industry leader in its efforts to create and foster landlord/tenant partnerships for sustainability.

Representatives of Sabey Data Center Properties received the award together with other members of this year's cohort of Green Lease Leaders at the 2019 BOMA International Annual Conference in Salt Lake City.

“Our business model is based on working together with our tenants, on an on-going basis, to achieve greater energy saving efficiencies. We partner with them in sharing the expense to procure the best, most sustainable equipment, services, and practices, and then we share in the savings that result from them,” said Robert Rockwood, president, Sabey Data Centers.

“Our lease transactions are statements of a shared green vision, reliance and commitment between landlord and tenant,” he added.

To achieve Gold-level standing, Sabey Data Centers had to meet rigorous criteria. Among other requirements and prerequisites, Sabey had to include cost recovery clauses for energy efficiency upgrades that benefit tenants. The company also had to prove its commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption, via tracking with Energy Star Portfolio Manager software, in addition to disclosing each property’s Energy Star score to tenants.

Sabey also instituted energy and sustainability training to all in-house leasing professionals.

As prerequisites, Sabey demonstrated its innovation in leasing by designing facilities that reduced energy use through efficient cooling of tenant server equipment. Specifically, all Sabey facilities use hot aisle containment, allowing the use of higher temperature supply air to servers; in addition to using different forms of economizer cooling, requirement for tenants to use blanking plates on their server cabinets to reduce bypass air, and the use of controls which modulate fan speed to reflect airflow demand by tenant IT equipment, thus reducing fan energy use.

On its website, the non-profit Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Market Transformation states, “Each year, U.S. buildings use more energy than most countries, and Americans spend more than $400 billion to heat, cool, and power the places where they live and work. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings not only helps owners, occupants, cities, and utilities save money, it would also increase property value, create jobs, reduce harmful pollution, and create healthier spaces.”