Data centers are becoming a bigger and bigger draw on energy resources. According to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency last year, they accounted for only 1.5 percent of the energy consumed in the U.S. But an interesting story by James Niccolai of IDG suggests that figure is growing fast.
Niccolai attended a sort of utility summit to address the question of the growing appetite for power among data centers. PG&E, which hosted the meeting, said demand for power from data centers in its region has grown to between 400 and 500 megawatts at a given moment today, up from between 50 and 75 megawatts only a year and a half ago. A PG&E official noted,
“We had tremendous growth in data center capacity in the dot-com boom that never got filled. I can tell you that that capacity is now full to the gills, and they are asking us for more power.”
Utilities could build more plants to generate more power, but they, somewhat shrewdly, see that it’s cheaper to get the data centers to run more efficiently. And apparently they are traditionally very inefficient. Solutions run from the high-tech (virtualization software) to common sense (using natural air to cool data centers.)
Joe Skorupa, a Gartner analyst at the event, said other power-saving ideas can be employed by end users themselves. He suggested getting rid of Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop, which sucks more power than lower-capacity Ethernet, and often isn’t really needed by users. And ditching sophisticated “Eight-line color display VoIP phones” is another good way to cut power consumption, Skorupa pointed out. The lesson: if you don’t really need it, it’s costing you money in energy use.
Trade 2 save are calling on IT managers throughout the USA to consider carefully their ‘new’ buying practices when comes to their firm’s IT requirements. The call goes one step further than the Forrester report written by analyst Galen Schreck “Five Green IT Trends That Will Impact the Infrastructure and Operations Professionals.” Schreck cautioned that IT managers need to take proactive measures now and address tomorrow’s growing environmental concerns.
“…expect sourcing and procurement teams to continue making green demands on suppliers …(sourcing) executives will likely have a large role in ensuring that suppliers meet these requirements…”
CIOs are turning to service providers to help them meet their green goals; the report predicts that the green IT service market will expand to $1.75 billion by 2010.
End-of-life management of IT equipment is continuing to grow in importance, “Don’t be surprised to see green business initiatives stretch beyond the data center to other parts of you company.”
The report also gave advice to address the growing wave of environmental concern and learning more about current energy consumption in order to take steps to lower it.
Denis Ramirez, trade 2 save CTO, criticizes the report for falling short of the mark. Ramirez “the proper disposal for recycling of old computer equipment and the efficient use of energy is a given which doesn’t necessarily need preaching… what does need more focus is environmentally conscious purchasing of pre-owned electronics and computing which cost less and give a company a negative Carbon Rating… if US firms purchased just 10% of their computer equipment pre-owned or refurbished, it would cut e-waste by millions of tons each year.”
trade 2 save is being launched at the end of the year specifically to encourage more Americans to buy and sell pre-owned or used so that computer hardware and consumer electronics last longer by being used by more than one person in its lifetime.
Thandie Newton has criticized in no uncertain terms the throw away society brought on by “out of control manufacturing”. The British Style Goddess called upon fashion icons to help the environment and buy second hand clothes as an example – something the folks of Lake Providence have done for decades.
Newton spoke frankly about how “out of control manufacturing has become, and the excess and pollution that’s caused by it… “Vintage (clothing) is not only glorious and stylish, it’s also the way forward in terms of recycling. Whenever I go out to vintage stores, I wonder why we ever buy new things.”
As a fashion icon, Newton has rightly used her image to direct attention towards an industry which she can have greater influence over. However, her environmental principles closely match what trade 2 save advocates for the consumer electronics industry.
With design and style now playing dominant roles in the development of consumer electronics, products are now seen as fashion accessories as opposed to functional items.
The rise of the throw away society is a comparatively new phenomenon, and has provided many benefits to the global economy in terms of productivity, international trade, and the rise from poverty of now prosperous nations such as India and China through manufacturing exports.
Though second hand clothing in the UK is limited to the confines of charity shops, in the US, second hand clothing stores are big business, with profitable outfits such as Crossroads Trading Co. and the Buffalo Exchange now having dozens of stores between them.
We’ll try to contact Thandie Newton’s press secretary to hear her views on pre-owned electronics and the growing crisis of e-waste.
OK, so one 3 wheeler has 2 wheels at the front, the other has 2 at the back, but somehow I feel that after 23 years since Clive Sinclair’s hilarious C5, the Aptera suffers from the same fundamental problems – it looks ridiculous.
In a recent promotional video, an Aptera marketing boss went as far as to say that the Aptera turns head like a Lamborgini. It’ll turn head for sure, but not for the same reasons.
If it doesn’t follow the C5 into total obscurity I’ll happily eat my biodegradable hat. I mean, where do I fit the golf clubs, the groceries? And exactly how safe will I be when a cast member from Laguna Beach drives over me in his dad’s Humvee?
Should I live long enough on the merciless roads of LA, I think I’d feel about as fashionable driving one of these things as walking into my local Trader Joe’s with a black sparkling glove and a rolled up trouser leg. If someone can persuade me to the contrary I’d love to hear.
The first time nuclear powered tankers were proposed was back in 1961, when the Atomic Energy Commission and The Maritime Administration awarded a contract to General Electric. The plan was to install boiling water reactors in conventional T-5 tankers.
The plan was eventually shelved because they were considered uncompetitive against conventional ships running on oil, which back then was just $15.30 a barrel adjusted for inflation.
Times have certainly changed, and with oil prices currently on the wrong side of $100 a barrel, and the world’s tanker fleet consuming more fuel (and expelling more CO2) than the global aviation industry put together, plans are underway to seek out ways to reduce rising costs and environmental concerns.
Shipping is highly sensitive to even modest rises in oil prices, and recent increases have had a significant impact on inflation as the cost of imports has increased sharply throughout America.
Recent developments to cut costs have included tankers powered by a computer-guided kite. The technology steals the principal from the popular water sport ‘kite surfing’. The 132 meter long kite could cut daily fuel costs by up to 20% or $1,600 a day, assuming there’s no head wind of course.
The cost advantage of a nuclear powered fleet is receiving growing attention, forwarded by proponents such as Adams Atomic Energies and the BNFL group.
They advocate several reasons why future merchant ships should consider going nuclear.
- Lower cost fuel. At current prices, reactor fuel costs 85 percent less than bunker fuel.
- Zero emissions. In crowded port cities, air pollution laws are becoming more stringent and costly.
- Concentrated fuel. Nuclear reactors can be built with fuel supplies lasting for many years.
- High power to weight ratio. Merchant ship owners are increasingly interested in rapid transits over long distances.
- The US Navy’s nuclear powered fleet of aircraft carriers are testament to their superior power and capabilities.
Nuclear Tankers aren’t something environmental pressure groups would relish, but with the cost of imports only set to increase further, and presidential candidates notably keeping an open mind on nuclear (Exelon, a leading nuclear-plant operator is a big donor of Obama), atomic tankers on the horizon can only be a matter of time.
Mozilla Firefox is going organic, Asus are making bamboo computers, Chevron is becoming the new Greenpeace. In my days in advertising, countless man hours were spent mulling over the perfect green pantone at the bequest of stressed out corporate executives.
They’d spend small fortunes sending our work back and forth, re-shading their logos, desperate to capture that quintessential perfect green goodness – it’s too earthy, no, now it’s too bright, can’t we make it paler without being too soft?
Now greenness is in the hands of specialist PR consultancies and the true spin has really started taking shape. Comfy feely advertising (Chevron being perhaps the most recent culprit) now embellish our screens, lovingly symbolizing the beauty of humanity, embodying the spirit of our collective conscience – cue planet earth, cue little girl holding hands with daddy, cue forest, edit out villagers slaughtered by troops on Chevron’s payroll to intimidate local populations in Nigeria (upset that their drinking water is now a refinery’s sludge dump).
Chevron’s Story:
The Stories they don’t talk about:
If there’s one thing I have learned in advertising, symbolism is one of the most effective tools to master. Get this right and corporations will throw money at you like confetti and an illustrious career as a creative director is guaranteed.
I admire the Chevron adverts for their sheer beauty, thousands of man hours were lovingly spent on each and every one of them.
But like other religions at their conception, this one is starting to get out of hand as organizations jostle for position at the right hand of their new green deity.
I don’t want to get too cynical about green issues but it’s getting harder these days to see the wood from the flees. Environmentalism has it’s place in corporate America and the more they realize there’s a buck to be made, the more green they’ll become. This is all good.
But like the Catholic Church in the middle ages, who spent more embellishing fine cathedrals than doing the good that they preached, much more is being spent today embellishing the images of corporations than actually doing good for the planet. Is greenness following a religious path? Well, the unifying symbolism has already emerged… hallelujah.
A few days ago I wrote on the fact that internet usage was creating more emissions than aviation. Thankfully those bright people at Oxford University have come up with ways to address the balance.
Oxford are pioneering an energy saving research project to develop software that is free and easy to download, which will make networked computers more energy-efficient and reduce carbon emissions by saving on electricity needs. The project, underway at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI), will start with an 18-month pilot project on the Oxford campus, and eventually spread to include educational institutions across the U.K.
The research team on the project will monitor not only energy use, but also cost savings from increase computer downtime. Researchers estimate that most computers are in use less than 25 percent of the time — roughly 40 hours during a 168-hour week.
“No-one sits at their computer for 168 hours a week,” explained Daniel Curtis of Oxford’s ECI. “When a computer is switched on, its power demand remains pretty much constant — regardless of whether its user is surfing the net, word-processing or at home in bed. We are developing a system that will mean that computers only need to be switched on when actually in use.” He went on to add that although this seems like an obvious solution, creating a fix that is easy but doesn’t inconvenience the computer’s users or the IT department at an organization is much trickier.
Curtis estimates that the program can reduce energy consumption by 50 percent in the school’s computers, save nearly half a million dollars and reduce as much as 1,500 tons of carbon emissions each year.
Recycling electronics is big business and it’s getting bigger. Take the latest offering from USPS. Send them your old mobile phones, inkjet cartridges, mp3 players dead or alive for free. Fantastic! You get rid of your old electronics and pay nothing.
Of course, someone does pay USPS for the postage. Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that promotes the 3R’s in inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics – recycle, remanufacture and remarket... Individuals can use envelopes located in post offices with no limits and use as many envelopes as they want, so long as they only contain electronics. The “mail back” program is set for testing in 10 areas across the U.S and will become available in more areas if it receives a positive response.
So what’s in it for Clover Technologies?
Some of the electronics handed in will be reusable. Mobile phones, digital cameras and iPods in working condition could be sold on to pre-owned resellers. Anything broken could be sold on to recyclers. Each way there’s a profit to be made, albeit a noble one.
Planet thoughts:
We shouldn’t distract from the fact that this is a good service. Why shouldn’t companies make money from ventures like these?
If a product is broken or so old that it has no re-sale value, then this service is great for the consumer. If on the other hand, you’re handing in a used mobile phone like a Motorola Razr V3 that is in working order, it’s likely to wind up on eBay for $60-$100. Money you could have made yourself. You paid for it after all?
Of course, selling something on eBay can be a drag. Trade 2 save will be a recycling service for just these kind of products, except that when you mail it in you’ll get paid a market rate for it. Trade 2 save will then resell it in the online store with a warranty for the next customer. It’s recycling that pays, and it’s coming in June.
A new tanker has been outfitted with a $725,000 computer-guided kite as an innovative auxiliary propulsion system which will offset fuel costs and allow the vessel to run more efficiently.
The 132 meter long MV “Beluga SkySails” is a joint venture between two companies; Beluga Group and Skysails. The technology steels the principal from kite surfing, now a hugely successful water sport. The 160-square meter kite is expected to reduce fuel costs by up to 20 percent ($1,600 per day) and significantly cut the ship’s carbon dioxide emissions as well.
Global shipping accounts for double the emissions of Aviation Read the rest of this entry »
Global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) usage accounts for approximately 2% of all global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a figure which now eclipses all CO2 emissions caused by aviation.
