Maryland Energy Administration Nominated for 2018 Data Center Industry Initiative of the Year Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jahmai Sharp-Moore | 443-694-3651

Baltimore, MD – Maryland’s Data Center Energy Efficiency Grant (DCEEG) has been named as a finalist for a 2018 Global Data Center Award, presented by DatacenterDynamics, an international business-to-business media and publishing company. Maryland’s DCEEG was selected from over 200 global entries as a finalist in the Industry Initiative of the Year category.

“We are elated that Maryland has been recognized as a world energy technology leader for our efforts to sustain the State’s growing IT infrastructure,” stated Mary Beth Tung, MEA Director. “Data centers are modern economic drivers, creating high-paying jobs; however, data centers consume 100 to 200 times the amount of power as a standard office. Investing in data centers, reduces energy usage and operating costs which improve competitiveness, and drives innovation for Maryland businesses.”

The DataCenterDynamics Awards, now in its twelfth year, recognizes exceptional contributions, projects, and people in the data center industry. Previous award winners include companies and non-profits such as UBER, CERN, Facebook, Microsoft, Visa, Toyota, and the University of Cambridge.

Launched in October of 2016 by the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA), the DCEEG was the first of its kind program in the U.S. advocating energy efficiency measures for data centers from a state energy office. The DCEEG supports the robust and growing information technology sector within the State by providing grants on a competitive basis to encourage the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency technologies in Maryland data centers. With the explosive growth of streaming video, artificial intelligence, and internet connected devices the energy use of data centers is expected to continue to grow 9.6% annually through 2020. In 2013, the US used 91 billion kilowatt hours of energy to run data centers, equivalent to the energy output of 34 large coal fired power plants. Maryland is making the investment today to make the future of data centers more efficient and more sustainable.

The DCEEG is open to any commercial or state/local government data center within Maryland with an overall facility size of at least 2,000 square feet. Grant awards range from $20,000 to $200,000 per eligible project, subject to funding availability. Examples of eligible efficiency measures include server virtualization, air flow optimization, aisle containment, lighting, controls, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), motors and variable frequency drives, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) upgrades, and building insulation and envelope improvements.

Applications for the current cycle of the DCEEG are due December 22, 2018. For more information on this and other programs, please visit here.

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Maryland Energy Administration
On behalf of Governor Hogan the mission of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is to promote affordable, reliable and cleaner energy for the benefit of all Marylanders.  To achieve its mission, MEA advises the Governor, General Assembly on matters relating to energy policy.  MEA administers grant and loan programs to encourage clean energy technologies in all sectors of Maryland’s economy: Residential, Commercial, Agricultural, and Transportation. For more information about the Maryland Energy Administration, visit www.energy.maryland.gov and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.