Advanced Micro Devices – Neelam Bhatia – 2009

Goals

Neelam Bhatia spent her summer as a Climate Corps fellow in Austin, TX at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. A MBA student from Cornell University, Bhatia evaluated energy efficiency opportunities such as lighting retrofits, energy management software and thermal energy storage at the company’s Lone Star Campus building and data center.

Solutions

As part of her fellowship, Bhatia examined AMD’s use of energy during peak and off-peak hours. By using thermal energy storage tanks, which store energy in the form of ice during the off-peak hours for use during peak-hours, Bhatia calculated that AMD could capitalize on lower off-peak energy rates to potentially save thousands of dollars every year.

She also discovered rebate opportunities from Austin Energy that could reduce the upfront costs and payback periods of AMD’s energy efficiency investments. Bhatia’s diligence allowed AMD to capitalize on a rebate worth more than $50,000 for cooling equipment that had been installed at AMD a week before the internship began. Over the course of the summer, Bhatia identified several hundred thousand additional dollars in potential rebates for various projects she had recommended.

Potential Impact

In total, Bhatia identified opportunities that could save AMD up to $1.3 million over the life of the projects. In addition, the opportunities could save up to 3.5 million kWh of electricity annually.