LEED Platinum® certification, now the highest rating offered by the U.S. Green Building Council® (USGBC), is awarded to companies that demonstrate sustainability and environmental responsibility in the design, construction, operations and maintenance of their buildings.

One company that was recently awarded LEED Platinum certification is Infomart Data Centers, for its Infomart Portland facility. Infomart became the first data center in Oregon to take home this prestigious award. In fact, only a handful of businesses in the U.S. have received LEED Platinum certification.

“Achieving the highest LEED distinction reinforces Infomart’s leadership in building and operating sustainable data centers, including one of the most efficient facilities in the world in Infomart Portland,” stated John Sheputis, President, Infomart Data Centers. “Every facility we have built since 2008 has been LEED Gold certified. Achieving LEED Platinum certification in Oregon demonstrates our increasing commitment to sustainability and making responsible choices about energy procurement — even when the cost is more than the higher-carbon alternative. We’re proud to continue meeting our customers’ environmental and IT performance goals through choice, openness, data transparency and collaboration.”

The principal tenant for the newest phase of construction that received LEED Platinum certification is LinkedIn. LinkedIn staff worked closely with Infomart and the organization’s contractors including McKinstry, DPR Construction,  Rosendin Electric, and Jackson Main as the project architect, to deliver the project.

The Portland-based facility received LEED Platinum certification for integrating solutions and strategies aimed at achieving high performance in water savings; sustainable site development; energy efficiency; materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Infomart Portland also uses Direct Access rights to source power from the Bonneville Power Administration, which is the leading producer of hydro-electric power in the U.S. As a Direct Access power buyer Infomart selects the suppliers and energy mix for its data center, allowing it to achieve a 96 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions compared to the national utility average. This also gives customers low-carbon power at rates well below local utility tariffs.

“Achieving LEED certification is more than implementing sustainable practices.  It represents a commitment to making the world a better place and influencing others to do better,” explained Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO of USGBC. “Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection and the central role of the building industry in that effort, Infomart Data Centers demonstrates their environmentally conscious leadership through their LEED certification of Infomart Portland.”

One of the most efficient data centers in the United States, Infomart Portland has a 99 percent efficient Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating of just 1.16 in full economization mode, 100 percent aisle containment, and natural cooling infrastructure to run the facility at least 70 percent of the year.

Infomart Portland was the first data center where the landlord and renter collaborated to achieve Uptime Institute’s Efficient IT Certification. The facility also holds the Uptime Institute Management & Operations (M&O) “Stamp of Approval,” which places Infomart’s critical facilities management among the best in the world.

To learn more about Infomart, click here.