HGST – Dawnielle Tellez – 2016

Goals 

A global leader in the development of data storage solutions for customers worldwide, Western Digital (formerly HGST) wanted to evaluate energy use in various buildings at its San Jose campus that houses administration as well as engineering development and manufacturing. Having set a goal to reduce its energy use by 1% annually, the Operations team within Real Estate Operations team had already implemented a number of “behind-the-scenes” energy efficiency projects. Interested in going further, the head of Operations & Maintenance enlisted the assistance of EDF Climate Corps fellow Dawnielle Tellez, challenging her to help demonstrate the value of energy efficiency to internal customers and also gather data that would help optimize the HVAC system in the product development laboratories.

Solutions

Dawnielle interviewed more than 25 internal customers to gather data. She then categorized the labs’ functional characteristics and HVAC needs and prioritized them according to potential energy savings and payback. She created a matrix of the internal customer data as a way to ensure continual improvement of the building’s HVAC. Finally, to gauge employee attitudes towards practicing energy efficiency in the workplace, Dawnielle surveyed lab employees and created energy-related content for the company intranet. 

Potential Impact

Dawnielle uncovered more opportunities in energy and cost savings in the product development labs than originally anticipated. By analyzing only the “low-hanging-fruit” options in the building, she estimated that HVAC set-backs can save as much as 3,091,366 kWh and $314,082 annually. This would potentially result in a reduction of 1,432 metric tons of CO2 emissions, not only for Western Digital, but also for its Business-to-Business customers. With her help, the company should be able to continue to reach its annual corporate energy reduction goal and carry on the momentum for energy-related employee engagement.