To Help Its Data Center Customers Operate Sustainably, Rehlko Took A Hard Look At Its Generators

As building owners and operators feel increasing pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, a company that supplies power equipment to commercial real estate customers wants to demonstrate its own commitment to sustainability.

“We are experiencing unprecedented demand from our utility grid, which is not a local challenge but a global one,” said Ryan Baumann, vice president of sales, power solutions for the Americas at Rehlko, formerly known as Kohler Energy. “The boom in the AI and overall data center industry is not slowing down and requires a resilient power solution.”

Bisnow recently spoke with Baumann about Rehlko's plan for energy resilience and some strategies it has in place to help customers lower their carbon footprint in the world. 

Providing Data On the Environmental Impact Of A Product's Life Cycle

Baumann said one way the company, which is more than a century old, embraces the idea of energy resilience is through its environmental product declaration. The EPD provides data on the environmental impact of Rehlko’s KD series generators through their entire life cycle, beginning with raw material extraction, continuing through installation and use, and concluding with their eventual obsolescence.

Baumann said the EPD program has helped Rehlko focus on design improvements and strengthen its partnerships with suppliers and vendors, who are also part of the product life cycle.  

“We’re able to define a very calculated approach to move Rehlko ahead in our environmental strategies to better measure and reduce the impact of carbon emissions,” Baumann said.

Baumann said the company’s commitment to EPD will not only help Rehlko operate more sustainably but also offer the same benefits to its customers and peers.

“EPD, in combination with our KD series generators, will support more sustainable purchasing decisions and help end users implement low-carbon strategies while transitioning to net-zero,” Baumann said.

Through the EPD process, Baumann said Rehlko has designed and manufactured its K175 engines to be 94% recyclable. These engines represent its largest product family and are used by data center customers, who are increasingly concerned about sustainable operations. He said he hopes such efforts will inspire others to look more closely at the overall impacts of design and material and influence their own product choices and energy usage.  

“The document provides mission-critical generator customers with complete visibility about the environmental impact of Rehlko’s generators from KD2000 to KD4500, allowing them to make informed buying decisions as part of low-carbon strategies,” he said.

Conscious Care, A Maintenance Program To Help Reduce Carbon Footprint

The publication of its first EPD is part of a Rehlko sustainability strategy that includes improving generator efficiency while investing in zero-emissions technologies. A related program, Conscious Care, is meant to simplify maintenance operations using more environmentally friendly procedures that significantly reduce fuel use and costs over the long term.

“This program enables operators at the data centers to exercise their emergency generators at no load and extend the load interval to every four months,” he said.

Baumann said the Conscious Care maintenance program has significantly reduced its customers’ fuel consumption, sound and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs. 

Rehlko's Future Sustainability Plans

In helping lower its carbon impact, Rehlko has also experimented with several renewable fuel sources and found its range of mission-critical diesel generators is compatible with hydrotreated vegetable oil, Baumann said. 

“By comparing the well-to-electricity life cycles of fossil diesel and renewable fuels, HVO can help reduce carbon emissions by up to 90% without needing any modifications,” he said.

The company is also working on hydrogen fuel cells as a viable source of energy for data centers. Hydrogen carries almost three times the amount of energy as diesel or gasoline and it’s abundantly available, Baumann said. Rehlko is already using hydrogen fuel cells to power facilities like hospitals and is working toward making it more available for data center operators. Baumann said Rehlko is working with partners to test hydrogen fuel cells as a backup power solution.

“As data centers remain focused on decarbonization, we strive to find the right combination of solutions for them,” he said. “We anticipate increased adoption in the coming years as the access to hydrogen continues to improve, and adding hydrogen fuel cells to our suite of solutions provides operators with yet another renewable energy source option.” 

Baumann said the company plans to continue providing resilient and sustainable power while driving change in the space. 

“Rehlko and our associates are driven to support the needs of our customers, communities and individuals that rely on our goods and services, 24/7,” he said. “By stepping into the EPD process, we look to take this further through our product families globally.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Rehlko. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.