The EMerge Alliance– an open industry association leading the rapid adoption of safe direct-current (dc) power distribution standards for commercial buildings – today announced during the Smart Grid Electronics Forum in San Jose, California, that it has formed a new technical standard committee for data and telecommunications centers and added 11 new members as part of the groupâ??s planned expansion to address building-wide opportunities for reduced power consumption.
In response to the ongoing need for improved reliability and energy efficiency in data centers, along with a growing interest in the benefits of dc power distribution, the EMerge Alliance is developing a 380Vdc power standard for inclusion in its hybrid alternating current (ac) and dc microgrid platform. This open architecture focuses on reducing or eliminating inefficient ac to dc conversions that occur between power sources and digital devices in commercial buildings by converting and distributing power in dc form. More than 70 organizations have now joined the Alliance in support of this approach, and membership continues to grow.