Urbanization causes alteration of the thermal regime (surface, air, and water) of the environment. Heated stormwater runoff flows into lakes, streams, bays, and estuaries, which potentially increases the base temperature of the surface water. The amount of heat transferred, and the degree of thermal pollution is of great importance to the ecological integrity of receiving waters. This research reports on a controlled laboratory scale test to assess low impact development (LID) stormwater control measure impacts on the thermal characteristics of stormwater runoff. We hypothesize that LID stormwater control measures (SCMs) such as pervious surfaces and rain gardens/bioretention can be used to mitigate the ground level thermal loads from stormwater runoff. Laboratory methods in this study captured and infiltrated simulated stormwater runoff from four infrared heated substrate microcosms (pervious concrete, impervious concrete, permeable concrete pavers, and turf grass), and routed the stormwater through rain garden microcosms. A data logging system with thermistors located on, within, and at exits of the microcosms, recorded resulting stormwater temperature flux. Researchers compared steady state temperatures of the laboratory to previously collected field data and achieved between 30% to 60% higher steady state surface temperatures with indoor than outdoor test sites. This research helps establish baseline data to study heat removal effectiveness of pervious materials when used alone or in combination as a treatment train with other stormwater control measures such as rain gardens/bioretention.

With the advent of high speed internet, smart-phones, Wi-Fi, Cloud computing, and IOT, our desire for creating and consuming data has been growing exponentially. It has resulted in great demand for storing and processing of this data with increase in number and scale of data center facilities around the globe. Data centers have started consuming much higher amount of power and highperformance IT equipment have presented a bigger challenge for cooling systems. Large technology companies have realized the need for making their data centers more energy efficient and, in turn, modern mechanical systems have been designed to work more efficiently. This research study endeavors to analyze these mechanical systems and present the way they affect Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratios of data centers. Data from numerous data center projects carried out by a leading general contractor in last 5-years was obtained and correlation analysis was carried out to assess how modern mechanical systems help in reducing their PUE ratios.