San Diego’s largest co-location provider, American Internet Services, have detailed its year-long efforts to improve energy efficiency through the adoption of some standards based technologies. While the information doesn’t yield any breakthroughs in their design and implementation, it does show how existing data center facilities operators can generate significant power savings by adopting some standard technology upgrades.

Interestingly, AIS’ efforts were not focus on the passive infrastructure of the facility, such as the flooring, aisle coverings, or door seals, but instead involved active components such as storage drives, UPS and the actual air conditioning units.

According to AIS, the first thing it did was install Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) on a wide array of equipment throughout the data centers. “With VFDs installed, each unit operates at a speed based on the amount of demand being placed on it, instead of operating at full load all the time. This phase of the project produced considerable savings in both operating loads and the associated cooling costs per device,” the company said.

The second phase involved the replacement of an aging Teledyne UPS plant with a newer, more efficient, and modular GE-S Series UPS configured to produce 1.35MW of N+1 power. Replacement of this unit alone produced a 35% power savings over the older unit due to improved power handling. In addition, the unit runs cooler (requiring less HVAC), and requires considerably less floor space than its predecessor.

It’s not the sexiest video, but the clip below details clearly AIS’ process of upgrading its UPS

The final phase of this particular project involves the replacement of all existing CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) units with new, ultra-efficient CRAH (Computer Room Air Handler) units. “This initiative scores big on the “green” scale by increasing energy efficiency up to 76% per unit. With well over 50 of these CRAH units in operation at any given moment, AIS is expecting to see a dramatic increase in operating efficiency as well as improved HVAC performance and capacity,” the company said.

“Going Green is no longer a choice,” says Karen Poirier, Director of Data Center Operations, “with the rising cost of energy and the increasing density of computer hardware, our management team understands that these initiatives are critical to maintaining the company’s competitive advantage in the coming years. Not to mention, it’s the right thing to do for our planet!”

The company’s was awarded first place in an Energy Conservation Awards for 2009 by the local utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, for saving 3.9 million kWh or power.