How Medicat Balances AI Innovation with Sustainability
Global data center electricity use is set to more than double by 2030, and AI is one of the biggest drivers, according to the International Energy Agency.
Students are paying attention and want to know what their campus leaders and the vendors they work with are doing about it. It’s a fair question, and every campus should be asking their technology partners the same thing. Here’s Medicat’s answer.
Why AI Changes the Sustainability Conversation
AI tools like ICM Agent and Note Agent can give time back to clinicians and counselors. They can help cut administrative work so staff can spend more time with students. But AI also takes more computing power, and that means more energy spent generating electricity.
For campuses with climate action plans or AASHE STARS reporting, this matters. Every vendor in your tech stack adds to your footprint. More student affairs and campus leaders are now paying close attention to the impacts of AI tools on sustainability goals as they evaluate software options.
Where Your Data Lives: Our Data Center Partner
We host all of our solutions at TierPoint facilities, which publishes an annual sustainability report. A key measure in that report is power usage effectiveness (PUE).
PUE shows how much of a data center’s power goes to actual computing instead of overhead like cooling, and a score closer to 1.0 is better.
TierPoint’s fleet-wide PUE has improved 15% since 2020, reaching 1.37 in 2025. That beats their own internal standards of 1.45 to 1.5 for new and existing facilities. Other highlights include:
- Science-based targets: Their near-term greenhouse gas targets are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The targets cover scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, with reductions by 2030 against a 2024 baseline.
- Green financing: They have committed close to $2 billion through a Green Finance Framework for energy-efficient construction and acquisitions.
- Water savings: Their facilities use closed-loop cooling instead of evaporative systems, which cuts water use.
- Responsible disposal: They follow formal procedures for e-waste and hazardous materials.
How We Build for Efficiency
Inside the data center, energy use is part of how we design and update our hosting setup. We use Cisco UCS modular computing, which lets us run more work on fewer machines. Less hardware means less power, less rack space, and less energy expended overall.
The modular design also helps with waste. We can upgrade single parts instead of replacing whole server platforms, so hardware lasts longer. This efficiency supports every part of campus care. A college health clinic handling immunization records at the start of fall term relies on the same infrastructure as a counseling center managing a surge in appointment requests at midterms. Both get the performance they need with a smaller footprint.
Sustainability Beyond the Data Center
AI sustainability is about more than servers. It also depends on the commitments behind the company and the choices we make as a team.
Backed by Real Investment
Medicat is part of the Banyan Software portfolio. Banyan backs its sustainability commitments with real funding through the Banyan Software Foundation. Its most direct climate work to date is a $1 million multi-year grant to TransitionZero, a group that builds data tools to help low- and middle-income countries plan a shift to clean energy.
One result of that work is the Solar Asset Mapper. This machine-learning tool maps solar assets around the world, so governments and grid operators can plan for renewable energy. It’s a good example of AI helping the climate, not just adding to its challenges.
Questions to Ask Your Technology Partners
Whether or not you work with Medicat, your campus can hold every vendor to a clear and consistent standard.
These questions help turn AI sustainability from a vague goal into something you can measure. They’re also useful when students or committees ask you for answers.
- What is your hosting provider’s PUE, and is it improving?
- Are your emissions targets validated by a third party, such as SBTi?
- How do you reduce hardware waste and/or e-waste?
- How do you measure and manage the energy use of your AI features?
- Do you publish or share sustainability data with customers?
Key Takeaways
AI can help campus health and counseling teams work smarter, but it comes with real energy costs. At Medicat, we address that through an efficient data center partner, consolidated hardware, and Banyan Software Foundation’s climate-focused investments.
We’re still learning, and we welcome input from the campuses we serve. To learn more about how MedicatOne is hosted and secured, visit our security page or request a demo.
