Nominee
Meta Data Center
Category
Innovative Project
Description
Facebook's parent company, Meta, is doubling the size of their Dekalb campus data center using Ozinga's sustainable concrete. This 2.4 million square foot facility is double the size of the original building plan announced back in 2020. In addition to Ozinga's CarbonSense® mix designs, this data center also features 100% renewable energy and will meet the standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for construction sustainability upon completion. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and IBM's Watson division, Meta was searching for a solution to drive down the carbon emissions of the concrete without compromising on strength or performance. The impetus for this project’s use of low carbon concrete stemmed from their corporate goal to reach
net zero emissions in their value chain in 2030. Having already achieved net zero operational emissions,
Meta is now focusing on the carbon footprint of its value chain, which includes the embodied carbon in
the materials and products used to build its data centers. Concrete accounts for approximately a third of
Meta’s data center embodied carbon footprint based on a whole building life-cycle assessment
performed by Meta’s Sustainability team, which accounts for emissions from raw material extraction to
manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and decommissioning. An effective way to
lower the carbon footprint of concrete is to reduce the amount of cement used in the mix and/or replace
it with lower carbon cementitious materials, as cement is the most carbon-intensive ingredient in
concrete. This project effectively lowered the carbon footprint of its concrete mixes by replacing cement
with substitutes such as slag. Meta wanted to test the AI-generated concrete formulas in the field and selected their data center in
DeKalb, IL as an ideal location, given its proximity to UIUC. The resulting formulas were shared with
Ozinga, who further refined them based on the company’s expertise as a 94-year old industry
practitioner, local material availability, and the need to enable adequate strength gain under the cold
weather conditions expected at Meta’s data center location. Ozinga used its industry knowledge and
certified research and development laboratory in Chicago, IL to evaluate the proposed mixes.
Evidence
The use of slag cement allowed Meta to pour at scale and also deliver against their carbon reduction
goals. Pilot tests proved successful, and meeting required specifications provided confidence to move to
large scale production. The standard mix design used on this project already started out with a robust
replacement level of 18% with additional mix designs created with higher replacement. All the mixes
achieved the specified compressive strength by the 28-day mark (if not sooner). Due to slag cement’s
properties, it allowed for a more homogeneous mix providing a quality high-performance product/mix,
met thermal resistivity requirements and maintain speed and schedule of the project. Incorporating slag
cement in mix designs also helped to alleviate raw material availability concerns during large scale
production. Additionally, 11,000 CY poured with 43% fly ash replacement for duct banks resulting in a 33% Carbon
reduction. These statistics account for pours to date and do not include future planned pours. The mix
also utilized CarbonCure™ technology at 0.3% by weight of cement, realizing a 5% reduction in carbon
intensity. Meta’s data centers are not just a place for business. They view them as engagement points with the
community at large. They have partnered with the local community organizations and schools to
advance STEM education in the Dekalb area and invest in the surrounding Dekalb area in various ways.
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