"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data," author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said. If it's data you're interested in, look no further than the following DPR data center projects in the news:

• The Facebook Prineville Data Center was featured in an article by Information Week called, "Facebook's Data Center: Where Likes Live." Selected by ENR as Editors' Choice & Green Project of the Year in 2011, Facebook's data center complex--according to the article--has the best energy efficiency rating of any major data center in the world. The article details how data on "likes," comments and other Facebook activity, is stored inside one of two 330,000-square-foot data halls in a complex outside Prineville, Oregon. With a massive 901 million users, this data complex was built to a whole new scale and was the first that Facebook designed, owned and operated. Facebook is unique in publishing the details of its designs and specifications. In April 2011, Facebook founded the Open Compute Project, where it makes available as open source information the designs for its servers. DPR's Andy Andres is quoted in the article, saying: "Facebook has taken the lid off the secrecy about how to bring power and cooling into a modern data center." Follow the project on Facebook. Check out DPR's Lulea, Sweden and Forest City, North Carolina data centers as well.
  
  
  Photo courtesy of Facebook
  
• In other news, EMC's Center of Excellence in Durham, North Carolina, achieved LEED Gold – Commercial Interiors certification for Phases 1 and 2 of its 450,000-sq.-ft. data center. Sustainability was a primary design criterion for EMC with efficiency innovations such as: a rooftop water collection system; free air cooling for much of the year; and flywheel technology that eliminates the need for battery storage in the uninterrupted power supply systems. Highlights of the sustainable features include: 34 percent in overall energy savings; ability to utilize “free cooling” 57 percent of the year; reduced potable water use of 78 percent; and reduced carbon footprint of nearly 100 million pounds of CO2. Read more about the project here.
  
  
  Photo courtesy of Mindy Gray