Data centers are booming in the United States. From California to the Carolinas, massive structures are being erected, containing the hundreds of servers and routers required to run Zoom meetings, financial transactions, and Netflix shows.
These data centers consume a lot of energy—about 3% of the world’s total electricity—and one of the industry’s most pressing challenges is increasing the efficiency and sustainability of their operations.
Sabey, a major international player, did just that when it installed solar lighting at its new 430,000-square-foot data center campus in Austin, TX. The new parking lot lights allow the company to pivot away from carbon-emitting electricity and toward a renewable source while providing reliable, quality light that keeps site personnel and visitors safe.
From the outset, Sabey knew that conventional lighting, which uses grid power derived from natural gas, oil, coal, and nuclear, wasn’t an option. The company has an ambitious climate pledge to achieve net-zero carbon by 2029, and grid-powered lights didn’t fit the plan.
Solar did. And Sol, with its 35-year record of delivering robust, reliable solar lighting solutions at scale, was an attractive choice. What sealed the deal was the fact that Sol could integrate the Lithonia DSX0 fixture, which Sabey had used and liked before, thanks to their partnership with Acuity Brands.
Sol analyzed the project location and produced a lighting layout recommending 29 high-power EverGen-M solar lights. Each system came equipped with two PV panels, three gel batteries, and the specified 56W DSX0 fixture. Proper sizing calculations ensure the lights will operate as expected year-round, and being off-grid makes them immune to the power outages that are becoming increasingly common in the area.
In addition to bringing Sabey closer to achieving its climate goals, the new lights are entirely autonomous and free to power, providing significant operational savings. Solar solutions also have far lower maintenance requirements than conventional lights and selecting a Tier 1 fixture—the DSX0 has an expected service life of over 100,000 hours—only augments this.
Sabey’s Austin Data Center is a model for data centers looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Together with Acuity and our partners at Spectrum Austin, Sol provided a lighting solution that is efficient, reliable, and resilient—and the client could not be happier.
