The Cineca Data Center - at the Tecnopolo of Bologna - which houses the Leonardo supercomputer,LEED BD+C: Data Centers - Platinum Level, the highest recognition under the international LEED protocol. This is an extremely prestigious achievement, which makes us particularly proud, and which comes at the end of a path that has engaged us for several years, as project leader, together with DBA Group and ICM.
To date,only 11 datacenters in the world have achieved LEED BD+C: Datacenter certification by reaching the Platinum level, and of these as many as 3 are located in Italy, the only ones in Europe(source: usgbc.org). This achievement positions Tecnopolo Bologna as a center of excellence for high-performance computing and sustainable building, demonstrating how it is possible to combine computational power and environmental responsibility.
It is the third CED in Italy to achieve the highest level of certification with the specific LEED BD&C protocol: data center, after the DC at the Bologna weather center (ECMWF) and the DC4 in Rozzano (MI); there are only 11 worldwide.
LEED certification today is emerging as the new world standard for eco-friendly construction (it is now applied in 40 different countries). It allows the 'green' characteristics of buildings to be enhanced, giving them significant added value.
The Cineca Datacenter houses "Leonardo," one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, capable of reaching 250 million billion operations per second. This system, funded by EuroHPC JU and the Ministry of University and Research, will be a strategic asset for the Italian and European scientific community, offering unprecedented computing power for research and innovation.
"The value of this certification for us lies precisely in the fact that it is achieved only if one operates, continuously, according to very strict standards with a view to sustainability, efficiency, quality, and innovation. It therefore rewards a way of building, of carrying out even such complex works, in a sustainable way."
Massimo Milani,
Director of Cefla's Engineering BU
Daniele Spada, PM of the 'Home of Leonardo' redevelopment project at the Bologna Technopole
"The construction site saw the application of both the good sustainability practices of the LEED protocol and the CAM criteria with excellent results: 84% of the waste produced was sent for recycling and, thanks to the careful selection of materials, mainly products with Environmental Product Declaration were used, made with recycled material and free of substances harmful to both the environment and humans. In order to achieve these goals, training and information of all those involved in the construction phase, such as the staff dedicated to purchasing, subcontractors' contact persons, site managers and those responsible for construction design, has been confirmed as a fundamental activity."
Giorgia Lorenzi of Macro Design Studio, which supported Cefla in acquiring this certification