One of the largest worldwide suppliers of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centers, colocation, and interconnection solutions, Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), has announced the expansion of its use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), a renewable fuel that can be used in generators in place of traditional diesel fuel, at locations in California and Oregon.
Building on its successful implementation in Europe, where HVO is in use at more than twenty of its data center colocation facilities, Digital Realty is now extending its HVO rollout to the United States. With this expansion, the firm will use HVO for the first time in the United States and across seven other regions, accounting for roughly 15% of its worldwide operational portfolio.
Three Digital Realty data centers in the U.S. are now using HVO, which may be combined with regular diesel to power generators already in place: Digital Realty’s PDX12 plant in Hillsboro, Oregon; SC1 in Santa Clara, California; and LAX12 in El Segundo, California. By installing HVO at these locations, Digital Realty says it will be able to save over 12,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
Achieving Measurable Reductions in Carbon Emissions
According to Digital Realty, in France, the use of HVO fuel in its data centers has reduced the company’s fuel-related lifecycle carbon emissions by 90%, all while maintaining operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Since then, Digital Realty has deployed the fuel among a number of locations in Madrid and Amsterdam.
“By extending the HVO implementation to the United States, we are strengthening our commitment to sustainability and achieving measurable reductions in carbon emissions while maintaining operational excellence,” said Aaron Binkley, Vice President of Sustainability at Digital Realty. “This marks a critical turning point in our efforts to find solutions for data centers’ backup generators’ negative environmental effects. We are happy to be adopting HVO for data centers in the United States and to be setting a new standard for data center sustainability worldwide.”
This expansion would be consistent with Digital Realty’s continuous dedication to achieving its worldwide sustainability objectives. The firm committed to reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions (direct and indirect corporate emissions) by 68% and Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions in the value chain) by 24% by 2030 when it joined the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2020. The embodied carbon of the fuel used in diesel generators would be greatly reduced by using renewable diesel fuels, which helps to lower Scope 3 emissions.
