Emerson Climate Technologies has high hopes for its new 35,000-square-foot corporate data center in St. Louis, including LEED certification.

The new facility features, plumbing, lighting, building power and fire protection systems that meet Emerson’s business needs and incorporates Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design principles for sustainability and building efficiency.

The facility is being evaluated by the U.S. Green Building Council against its LEED-gold certification standards, which will make it one of only a handful of gold-certified data centers in the country, according to Emerson.

The expected LEED certification is a result of the facility’s design and efficient technology infrastructure, making the data center 31 percent more energy efficient than traditional data centers.

“Our entire organization is committed to helping our clients meet their sustainability goals through more energy efficient means,” said Alan Abramson, president of Clive Samuels and Associates, which designed the facility’s mechanical and electrical infrastructure with a host of environmentally sustainable attributes. “We are truly excited to have contributed a design that helps Emerson achieve new levels of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.”

To enhance the efficiency of the HVAC systems, a computational fluid dynamics model was run to simulate space loads within the data center, and air devices were located to ensure optimal system performance. The data center’s lighting-control system, which accounts for both artificial lighting inside the facility and daylight available outside the facility, dims the data center’s artificial lights when sufficient natural light is available, reducing the facility’s electricity consumption.