Construction Magazine February 2020 | Page 29

manufacturer – the CACTUS ,” reveals Coleman . “ The chiller itself runs predominantly on 100 % outside air when conditions allow ( when dewpoint is low and temperature is in the right range ). It ’ s not until we see adverse conditions , which are not consistent annually , that we activate the adiabatic cooling in the chiller , which does not run all the time .” Coleman notes that adiabatic cooling runs for a fractional number of hours a year compared to the outside air . “ When dewpoint becomes an issue or humidity is a little higher and adiabatic isn ’ t effective , we do have a traditional cooling system that can kick in as well , so we really have all conditions covered .” He maintains the system is designed to run on 100 % outside air as much as possible and that reduced energy and water consumption is driving the industry-leading 1.15 PUE that Aligned operates at .
Aligned typically partners with the top five contractors in the U . S . data centre market , drawing on the technical expertise of those who have heavily invested in the talent needed to support mission-critical projects . “ Very often , we ’ re partnered with a large general contractor to establish the original building ,” confirms Coleman . “ The other reason is the pace that we build at , nine or even six months in some cases , requires enormous cashflow efforts , and a very large workforce . We have a handful of both capital and construction partners capable of supporting that . Once the site is established and you ’ ve got iterative work , whether it ’ s multiple additional buildings on the site or additional build down to the shell , we ’ ve developed partnerships locally . The local MEP contractors and subcontractors are
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