August 2007 Archives

Nanotech firms are revolutionizing the fields of electronics, materials science and medicine. Now they are fast becoming an ally in the cleantech revolution, where their innovations often enjoy a healthy overlap with the eco-ambitions of other organizations or their own.

And that hasn't escaped the attention of some venture capitalists. Forbes reports:

...By comparison, worldwide investment in nanotechnology in 2005 only reached $9.6 billion. And yet, as the latest branch to spring from the nanotech value chain, clean-tech represents an emerging beneficiary of and opportunity for nanotechnology. From my standpoint, the parallels between nanotech and clean-tech have converged to the point where it's often difficult to distinguish between them.

Consider Nanosphere company Harris & Harris Group, a venture capital firm focused expressly on "tiny tech" investments. Of the 31 nanotech companies in Harris & Harris' portfolio, 10 can also be classified as clean-tech businesses. All of them leverage nanotech to improve the generation or sustainability of energy.

The movement is far from US-centric, however. In fact, some foreign government-backed firms are pulling ahead and posing a challenge for US startups.

Potential clean-tech investors also need to be aware that foreign governments are funding their domestic clean-tech initiatives at a much faster pace than the U.S., with the Asia/Pacific region representing 38% of the pie, followed by Europe and, in third place, the U.S. That means that in addition to competing with large domestic incumbents, U.S. start-ups must also contend with foreign competitors backed by government programs. Notable examples are solar energy in Germany, fuel cells in South Korea and high-performance batteries in Japan.

Interesting times.

Outraged, amused or both?

Not long after we mention the "green theme" of this year's Burning Man, some joker takes a match to the looming effigy -- a couple of days too early.

Paul Addis of San Francisco has been charged with arson (yeah, that's him in the picture). He was able to pull it off because everyone that wasn't already asleep was distracted by Tuesday's lunar eclipse in the wee hours.

Fortunately no one was hurt and the pavilion at the base of the Man, which houses many of the eco-exhibits, appears largely unharmed. Phew! Rebuilding is currently underway so that the planned burn can take place on Saturday.

Yet I fear that the message this year will be lost to the nuttiness surrounding this year's dual burn. To say nothing of an arsonist wearing face paint in his booking photo...

Update: Wired's The Underwire blog finds footage, carries more on the story as well as an interesting piece on another soon-to-be-set-aflame art installation with a message.

Update Update: Wired also scored an interview with Paul Addis. And the SFGate Blog brings us the sad news of the first suicide to occur in the event's 21 year history.

Juicier than Scoble/Sullivan blog drama, today's cleantech/green links of interest:

ATCA: A Green Technology for Telecom Network Deployments - TMCnet
At the Green Technology World Conference in September, RadiSys is to extol the virtues of Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) and how future telecom rollouts will be eco-friendlier as a result.

Africa, the World Leader in Sustainable Tech - EcoIron
Contrary to the belief that it's a region that can't come to grips with modern technology, Africans are generally receptive to gadgets, they just happen approach them differently.

Would You Broadcast Your Energy Usage? - Techdirt
You've heard how the Prius' real-time gas usage stats have influenced the behavior of many of its owners, turning them into high MPG junkies. Glowy desktop orbs and Facebook widgets may help turn the rest of us into energy sippers.

LIPA-Suction: A Shift in the Future of U.S. Offshore Wind - Cleantech Blog
So much for that idea. Long Island pulls the plug on an offshore wind farm, but you'll never guess which city is still going through with theirs...

MP3 Player Gets 85 hrs on One AAA - EcoGeek
Too bad it's a vicious assault on the eyes.

Admit it. After tech companies issue those green-tinted press releases you start to wonder if they're really going far enough with their new products and/or initiatives.

BusinessWeek has a great opinion piece by Roger L. Kay of the research firm Endpoint Technologies Associates. Sure, AMD, Intel, HP, Dell, et al. deserve a pat on the back. But when faced with a still-booming global population and the need to grow their businesses, will slightly greener practices offset the monumental impact required to provide computers and gadgets to billions more people?

Here's an example that illustrates his logic:

John Frey, manager for corporate environmental strategies at HP, told of all the ways the company is being earth-friendly and stated that the company wants to "reduce the energy used by our products and operations 20% by 2010." It's an admirable goal, but Frey admitted that this 20% is really a per-product goal. That is, the amount of energy to make and sell a single product—say, a PC—will by 2010 be reduced to only 80% of its 2007 amount.

But consider how Frey's goals mesh with those of HP's product managers, who if given their druthers would sell twice as many products in 2010 as they did in 2007. Let's do some simple math: If one unit of product uses one unit of energy during its life cycle, and the company sells 10 units during 2007, it will consume 10 units of energy that year. If the company succeeds in reducing that consumption to 0.8 units, that's good, but if it sells 20 units in 2010, it will use 16 units of energy—more than the 10 units in 2007. The good intentions are lost in the growth curve. Now, 16 is better than 20, but have you seen the pace of polar ice-cap melt lately?

Kay advises tech firms to tread lightly when touting their eco "innovations". Mostly because some are the natural extension of efficiencies gained by improved engineering, design and manufacturing. That, and cynical, and presumably eco-conscious, buyers will be dissecting those claims. Bet on it.

10,240 CPUs never looked this good.

A word of warning: It may be hard to walk back into your data center after viewing these pics. Still, I'm posting this in part because it's a breathtaking marriage of old-world architecture and modern technology. This is also one tremendous and inspiring example of reuse.

Instead of building a new facility, MareNostrum, Europe's most powerful supercomputer (94.21 teraflops peak, 9th largest in all the world) was assembled in the Torre Girona chapel in Barcelona, Spain. Naturally, some retrofitting was involved, but as Lloyd Alter at Treehugger mentions, it speaks to the adaptability of old structures.

Judging from the photos alone, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, which manages the system, chose well indeed. It turns out they run guided visits, so vacationing geeks take note!

[via Treehugger, The Navel of Narcissus].

Nonetheless, the other big selling point is improved remote management:

Dell is also integrating Intel vPro technology with advanced remote management features that help drive business efficiency. Customers now have the ability to manage systems that are powered down or have no operating system, reducing time spent on patch deployment by up to 94 percent and desk-side service visits by up to 56 percent.

Dell OptiPlex systems are available in three form factors -- Goldielocks-style. Prices technically start at $632, however, you can score one cheaper since the site spits up a price of $592 for me.

Wasting no time on those discounts!

The popular arts festival, the one that torches a big effigy as its finale (hence the name), has a new theme this year. Yes, it too is going green.

Yay? Not so fast.

There's some controversy surrounding the week-long event. It appears that gassing up all those vehicles -- including the many art cars -- and making the trek to Black Rock, Nevada will pump tons of carbon into the air. Not to mention, the generators to keep things going out in the desert. Plus, it doesn't help that Burning Man is expected to set a new attendance record this year.

Nonetheless, this year's art theme is The Green Man. And here's some of what the organizers have planned:

This year our art theme will express the immanence of nature in our lives in a variety of ways. The Burning Man will stand atop a structure that resembles green mountain peak. Nestled at its base will be the Green Man Pavilion, 30,000 square feet of shaded exhibition space for the display of interactive artistic, scientific and educational models, a “World’s Fair” of emerging technologies. Artists and inventors are invited to contribute. This pavilion will be surrounded by the "Mangrove" made from simulated 'trees' fashioned from recycled industrial materials. These artificial trees will not be burned: they will survive to subdivide the blue of other skies.

But we will do much more than this. In 2007, we will calculate the amount of climate changing gases that are released into the air by the construction and the burning of the Man and its pedestal. This is called a carbon footprint. Then we'll sponsor projects in the outside world that will efface this imprint. Such actions might include the planting of trees or the development of non-polluting energy resources. Having played with fire, we'll take care to cleanse its atmospheric playground.

Will you be in attendance?

Earth2Tech takes a look at a report from The Cleantech Network that paints a rosy picture for green tech enthusiasts. It turns out that 2006 was the year when the tide turned to the tune of $3.9 billion in investments.

It was a “watershed period” in the industry, according to the group, as investment in the sector rose 70 percent in 2006 and the market began to see its first successful cleantech IPOs and M&As. Venture investors put $3.9 billion into cleantech companies in North America, Europe and Israel — $1.6 billion more than in 2005.

Click for a concise, bulleted list of some of the pertinent data.

How will 2007 turn out?

Leave it to Steve Wozniak, (lead-footed Prius driver, 80's Datsun pitchman) to take a sensible approach to green living. Rather than badger/guilt people into shedding their mass consumption habits, he advocates serving as an example and let others learn from him.

The term "energy efficient" is rather vague. At some level it implies some form of conservation. I have great reservations with that concept as well. One aspect of conservation is to use less so that there is more to go around, either to more people or for a longer time. I disagree with this concept pretty strongly. Personally I want to conserve but I wouldn't push that concept on others as a "right" way to live. I only want to serve as an example. I don't want to tell others that they are bad people or doing "wrong" things. That's not a good way to keep open communication. I also have trouble with the concept that we can have more of a "worse" life. It's a conflict between quality and quantity and life should be judged by quality.

[via BoingBoing]

Your new iPhone just killed a tree, congratulations!

It turns out that besides fingerprints, there's a huge downside to Apple's sleek communicator: mammoth phone bills. For those that opted for paper bills (go paperless already!), AT&T mailed huge bills that detailed every last byte of data that crossed their network. That resulted in bills that swelled to 300 pages like in the case of Justine Ezarik, an iPhone owner and video blogger/lifecaster.

Luckily, one YouTube video and some public outcry later, AT&T is reversing course. iPhone owners can now take a gander of their activity in a summarized manner. For those that still want to wear a back brace to their mailbox, the company will charge $1.99 per number for the detailed bills.

The New York Times brings up an interesting point in its report. The outrage wasn't only sparked by the massive waste of paper.

“It’s nonsense,” said Mike Brophy, 34, who owns a software company near Seattle and posted an item about his 64-page bill on his blog. “Ninety-five percent of the bill is just page after page of 1K data transfers, all with a charge of zero.”

Mr. Brophy also did not appreciate the amount of paper. “My bill was probably half a pound,” he said. “Just think of the fuel. It’s a real waste, not to mention information overload.”

PDA Street's James Alan Miller has more on the story. You can also catch the YouTube video that started it all after the jump.

Remember Sony's plan to tackle e-waste? Well, now it's drawing the ire of some environmentalist groups.

Essentially, the program allows consumers in 18 states to recycle their old Sony gadgets for free, but it involves hauling them to a participating center run by Waste Management, Inc. Other non-Sony stuff is also allowed, but for a fee.

But their real beef are recycling fees that consumers pay when they first buy their shiny new toys, like say, in California. Navigating the minefield of state regulations has caused the company to implement less-than-ideal programs, at least in the eyes of some groups. That, and thought to the environment should really start at the drawing board.

BusinessWeek explains:

Companies like the fees because they fund recycling centers while being virtually invisible to consumers. The money also helps cover what tech executives call "orphan" products from lesser-known brands made by companies that don't contribute to recycling programs. Top-tier manufacturers estimate that orphans account for between 20% and 30% of all recycled gadgets.

Greenpeace, the Computer TakeBack Campaign, and other groups argue that the fees leave consumers holding the bill for a cleanup they shouldn't be responsible for, and act as a disincentive for companies to design greener products. (Greenpeace ranks Sony last out of 14 tech firms in its Guide to Greener Electronics, which rates companies based on their recycling efforts and plans to phase out all poisonous substances.)

Soon (if not already) rising energy costs may force your business to pursue a greener way of running the data center.

Paul Rubens over at ServerWatch examines why looming government intervention, rising energy costs and concerns over the environment are leaving businesses little choice but to find ways to boost energy efficiency. The best way is to build a green data center from the ground up. Of course, that doesn’t help the aging facilities in current operation.

For those, there’s this recommendation:

Assuming you're not quite ready to tear down your buildings and start again, there's still plenty you can do to reduce your electricity bill and reduce your carbon footprint. Perhaps the most effective action you can take is to reduce the number of servers in use at any one time. Each server you switch off can reduce your electricity bill by up to $500 per year (and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air annually by perhaps 2000 pounds) directly, with about the same savings again realizable from reduced cooling requirements.

Meraki, makers of a $99 outdoor repeater that can extend wireless signals by up to 700 feet, is keen on using the power of the sun in their mission to affordably "unwire the world" with WiFi mesh networks.

Later this year, the company will release a combo Meraki Outdoor and Solar kit for $550. The solar component consists of a solar panel, battery pack and an outdoor Ethernet cable for a completely unwired implementation (except for the cat5, of course). It's meant for areas without ready access to a power plug, or electricity for that matter.

One interesting aspect of Meraki's product is its user-friendly dashboard, which can be used to monitor the shared connection, manage bandwidth, ban undesirables, and even charge for access. Already, they have networks up and running in San Francisco and San Diego with more cropping up around the world.

[via Groovy Green]

The company today, fresh off its Solaris honeymoon with IBM, launched a products and services program called the Eco Innovation Initiative. Like IBM, the company is leading by example. Here's some of what they were able to accomplish:

• Consolidated 738 storage devices to 225, yet increased storage capacity by 244 percent
• Consolidated 2,177 servers to 1,240, yet increased compute power by 456 percent
• Decommissioned more than 5,000 servers, storage, and networking devices, and as a result, cut energy costs by over 60 percent and saved over $860,000 in the first nine months
• Improved server utilization by as much as 85 percent
• Received nearly $1 million in rebates and awards from Silicon Valley Power.

The program revolves around data center assessment tools and services, Sun's own equipment and virtualization. They also put up a neat interactive tour of Project Blackbox (the data-center-in-a-shipping-container) along with a handful of instructional videos. In one, Sun's Energy Efficient Datacenter Tour, they delve into what might just be the hardest part of turning the ship around in a segment called Overcoming Organizational Barriers.

Haven't we all smacked into that barrier at one time or another?

Some go solar, but Fujitsu is giving the fuel cell a try for its data center in Sunnyvale -- a first for Silicon Valley. A unit from UTC Power, which produces power from natural gas, will generate 50 percent of the power used to cool its servers.

DailyTech offers some details.

The fuel cell used by Fujitsu is a UTC Power PureCell Model 200 (200 kilowatts of assured power) which is California Air Resources Board (CARB 07) compliant. The unit produces 35 percent less CO2 power mW-hour, saves 800,000 gallons of water per year and 4,000 pounds less NOx per year than traditional power plants.

Better yet, according to Fujitsu's estimates, the PureCell 200 will have paid for itself in 3.5 years.

Up, obviously.

Datamation's James Maguire, armed with fresh data from IDC, examines what the virtualization services market will look like over the next few years.

This period will spell good news for consultancies that specialize in boosting server utilization. The bad news for independents is that big jobs are likely to be overseen by the services divisions of major vendors. Isn't that always the way?

Nonetheless, opportunities abound in a market that by 2011 will double to $11.7 billion from today's $5.5 billion.

Wonder what skills are required? Hopefuls wanting to capitalize on the current stage of the market -- Phase 2 (of 3) -- should take heed...

Required for these jobs are consultants “who can look across the entire data center, look across the entire application stack, they don’t just focus on the infrastructure," Healy says. They need to be able to handle large-scale load balancing and system configuration, and must be adept at envisioning network architecture.

So, as blacksmiths are so fond of saying, strike while the iron's hot!

The popular "Ask the EcoGeek" column takes a look at operating computers efficiently. There are tons of opportunities to reduce your PC's carbon footprint and save money in the process, not only while it's running, but also after it apparently ceases to.

In his reply, Hank Green mentions a little utility that's been getting a lot of attention lately.

So always either shut down or suspend the operation of your computer when it's going to be idle for a long time. This is the most important step we can take to decrease computer use. Of course, sometimes it's hard to remember. Which is why I like to use Snap's CO2Saver application. It keeps an eye on the way I use my computer, and idles my machine when I'm not using it. It also lets you know how much CO2 you've saved by using the application's new settings. Unfortunately it only works with XP and Vista.

Pay EcoGeek a visit for the rest of the tips.

Where do CIOs turn for help in greening up their data centers? In California, they can go to their local utility, PG&E. It's Mark Bramfitt's job as principal program manager for customer energy efficiency at PG&E to help develop partnerships and incentive programs to get power-sapping server farms to cut down on energy consumption.

The message has changed drastically over the past few years. It's not the hardware or software, nor even the staffing, that will end up costing an arm/leg/first born. It's the power bill. So he feels that his business is uniquely positioned to help out yours -- if you're in CA, of course -- even if it means consorting with the Silicon Valley set.

CIOs are establishing energy-efficiency programs because they have either reached the limits of their existing facilities or they are getting close. Discussing this with Mr. Bramfitt, he noted that "at a cost of over $1,000 per square foot to build a new data center, CIOs are looking at technologies that can add two, five, or even seven years to their existing facilities."

PG&E offers a comprehensive portfolio of programs and services for the high-tech sector to help CIOs with this challenge, including financial incentives for customers pursuing energy-efficiency projects in their data centers. The company is also actively working to identify the next generation of energy-efficient technologies, helping to accelerate the spread of promising new innovations in the market. According to Mr. Bramfitt, "With our proximity to Silicon Valley, we see all the latest technology. Companies are regularly banging on our doors to get added to one of our many efficiency programs."

There's more at GreenerComputing, including a brief mention of MAID, for all you storage enthusiasts.

Still not convinced that virtualization is hot?

If VMware's barnburner of an IPO yesterday didn't sway you, then maybe today's news that Citrix bought XenSource for a cool $500 million should. And get this; XenSource only has 650 paying customers.

InternetNews gives us one reason why Citrix's checkbook flew open:

Citrix and XenSource officials on the morning conference call highlighted the huge potential for the XenSource products, specifically on Windows. XenSource has a working agreement with Microsoft that will ensure that Xen runs on top of Microsoft's upcoming Viridian virtualization hypervisor.

"We're building on top of the Microsoft Viridian base," Levine explained. "Think of Viridian as the proxy for the Xen hypervisor. When Viridan comes out, the same set of products that we've done will be on top of Viridian. The major differentiator will be that we can offer customers a choice, whether they want platform virtualization, a stack based on Xen or a solution based on Viridian."

So, it looks like someone didn't forget XenSource after all.

Let us take a moment and ponder a world without the favorite food group of geeks and late night gamers, the Gummy Bear.

Earth2Tech alerts us to the dire situation. It turns out that the biofuel rush is raising prices on glucose in Germany, which is a prime ingredient in the tastily cute snacks. Prices may get so high that only the rich (VMware shareholders, perhaps) may be the only ones to afford them.

Swedish Fish are next; mark my words.

VentureBeat has an interesting contributed piece by Ray Rothrock, a partner at the VC firm Venrock. In it, he lists some opportunities and manages to name-drop a couple of their own investments (as examples of course). Nonetheless, it provides some insight for seedling companies about the strategy his firm and undoubtedly others like it are taking.

What can the VC community do to help our energy crisis? - VentureBeat

Collinear Raises $3.1M - Earth2Tech

SunEthanol Pins Hope on Microbe Technology - RedHerring

Secretive Altarock latest to join rush to geothermal - VentureBeat

AltaRock and other news - Cleantech Investing

Funding News: Jadoo Power - Earth2Tech

Solar IPOs shine - CNNMoney.com

Solatube, Silicon Genesis, and other news - Cleantech Investing

It starts with a green SNIA taskforce, and now everyone wants in on some of that action.

Marty Foltyn over at Enterprise Storage Forum examines how a blend of incentives, virtualization, tiered storage and smart management can help storage managers combat runaway energy costs and data center sprawl. Few would argue that it's a smart tactic to take now, but soon IT departments may be faced with little choice in the matter.

He explains:

Current US policy may lag behind the rest of the world in energy efficiency regulations and incentive programs, but this will change within the next year or two. U.S. federal laws that took effect July 20 apply Energy Star version 4.0 ratings to desktop computers, integrated computer systems, notebook computers, tablet PCs, desktop derived servers and workstations. Midrange and large servers, thin clients/blade PCs, handhelds and PDAs are expected to be covered by January 2009. Congress is expected to take action on an EPA data center energy report this fall, and has mandated that all federal agencies reduce their energy use by 3 percent per year, and 30 percent by 2015.

Jonathan Storper, an attorney and partner at Hanson Bridgett LLP, puts it succinctly:

"Green law issues are here to stay," said Storper, "and there is no question that more regulations in this area will affect the storage and networking community."

The rest of the article offers tons more insight. Better yet, print it out (just once, don't waste paper) and let it mysteriously find its way atop your boss' keyboard.

A while ago, I posted about a pair of scientists that discovered that the sun has been mellowing out for decades, debunking the myth that increased solar activity is to blame for global warming. The image on the left accompanied that post.

Then nearly a month later, I came across this Newsweek cover on other blogs. I first thought that pranksters had taken the LOL meme to strange new heights. A Google search later and I come to discover that it's the real deal, the actual cover of the August 13, 2007 edition.

Underhandedness at play?! Fire up the lawyerbot?!

Nah.

It's more likely that we independently arrived at the idea of trawling NASA's site for an evocative image. The difference is that we're ready after a 5-minute stint in Photoshop and they're subject to the huge lead times of the dead tree magazine biz.

In any case, Newsweek's article studies the oftentimes contentious relationship between public opinion and global warming, and the behind-the-scenes forces that are stirring the pot. The author, Sharon Begley, even managed to briefly work in the theme of our original post.

Interesting stuff.

A quick update on a couple of virtualization-related posts we recently published. The VMware IPO hauled in $957 million today (33 million shares x $29).

Somewhat shy of the hoped $1.1 billion, but not too shabby.

With all the VMware pre-IPO buzz, it's hard to not to get sucked into its gravitational field. The pull is irresistible, really; they're practically writing the book on enterprise-class virtualization.

But one plucky upstart isn't about to let IT shops think that they're not the only game in town. InternetNews' Sean Michael Kerner brings us news on XenSource, specifically its XenEnterprise v4 release.

With this version, XenSource is charting its own course on providing the increased server utilization tech to data centers with an "ecosystem" approach.

A key part of XenSource's ecosystem play with XenEnterprise v4 is something called the Open Storage Repository API.

"We have an open concept of a storage repository into which you can plug various drivers for storage infrastructure that allows us to tightly couple storage management for virtual machines with the concept of a resource pool," Crosby explained.

XenEnterprise users can take advantage of NAS (define), iSCSI (define) and SAN (define) storage infrastructures. XenSource has also inked an OEM deal with Symantec for the Veritas Storage Foundation product suite to be an integrated component of the XenEnteprise offer.

It's also important to note that XenSource is the commercial entity behind Xen, the open-source hypervisor.

Open-source and server efficiency... I knew that would get your attention.

Scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY have created a flexible, paper-thin power source that may well one day run all sorts of electronics. The potential of the innovation appears unlimited for both gadget geeks and environmentally conscious consumers -- if the world cooperates with their ambitions, that is.

The school's news release explains the science:

The semblance to paper is no accident: more than 90 percent of the device is made up of cellulose, the same plant cells used in newsprint, loose leaf, lunch bags, and nearly every other type of paper.

Rensselaer researchers infused this paper with aligned carbon nanotubes, which give the device its black color. The nanotubes act as electrodes and allow the storage devices to conduct electricity. The device, engineered to function as both a lithium-ion battery and a supercapacitor, can provide the long, steady power output comparable to a conventional battery, as well as a supercapacitor’s quick burst of high energy.

The device can be rolled, twisted, folded, or cut into any number of shapes with no loss of mechanical integrity or efficiency. The paper batteries can also be stacked, like a ream of printer paper, to boost the total power output.

To top it all off, it's so environmentally friendly, you wouldn't mind having it implanted (if you had to).

“Plus, because of the high paper content and lack of toxic chemicals, it’s environmentally safe,” Shaijumon said [postdoctoral research associate, Shaijumon M. Manikoth].

Paper is also extremely biocompatible and these new hybrid battery/supercapcitors have potential as power supplies for devices implanted in the body. The team printed paper batteries without adding any electrolytes, and demonstrated that naturally occurring electrolytes in human sweat, blood, and urine can be used to activate the battery device.

But they have a bit of ways to go before rolls of the stuff can be mass-produced. Scientific American reports:

So far, the researchers have achieved power densities of 1.5 kilowatts per kilogram in the supercapacitor version and tested it over 100 cycles of discharge and recharge, well short of the million or so typical for current commercial capacitors. They have only made one-inch square versions of the paper, but the unique composite structure already reduces the complexity of creating such devices as well as battery-capacitor hybrids—and it has been used to light up a tiny red light-emitting diode, among other devices.

Paper batteries for a greener, brighter future? Why not?

Is there such a thing? Yes, and Verdant Power is learning the hard way.

It sounded like a simple plan -- though technically challenging, no doubt. Just dip a handful of turbines into the East River and let them provide 1,000 daily kilowatt hours to a supermarket on Roosevelt Island. If successful, it would have set the stage for a more turbines to lighten New York City's load on the grid.

Alas, the East River will not be tamed and it's snapping those turbines like twigs. Here's what Dave Hogarty at Gothamist tells us:

Verdant Power's plan is to install a field of turbines anchored to the bottom of the East River and use the currents to generate pollution-free electricity for the city. The currents have proven so strong, however, that the turbine propellers have been sheared off a third of the way down, and stronger replacements were hampered by insufficiently strong bold connections to the turbine hubs.

We also learn that the East River is not a river at all, but a tidal straight. Not that you care, but there you are.

They're gearing up for their IPO!

VMware, and its parent company EMC, is feeling bullish. They upped the initial share price range to $27 - $29 from $23 - $25 in the hopes of pulling in as much as $1.1 billion, making it the largest tech IPO since Google's back in '04. Not bad for just 10 percent of the company.

VentureBeat has a little more info as does this InternetNews report. Looks like being synonymous with virtualization today pays off in today's climate, as well as on Wall Street.

Why is Glenn Veen, Western Australia Department of Education's infrastructure and telecommunications manager, so happy?

His team is in the midst of overhauling its infrastructure by making virtualized servers a key component in the project. His department is responsible for serving a community of 250,000 students and 21,000 teachers, along with the 800 curriculum servers that dot the region.

A tall job, to be sure, but things are getting easier, from both a management and power-savings perspective thanks to VMware.

Now, he says, the same machines run mostly Windows 2003 servers with a few NT 4.0, and an increasing number of Red Hat Linux servers.

The department is moving that way because its online curriculum system uses Oracle servers, he says.

Regardless of the operating system, the result is more stable because server virtualisation has also allowed storage consolidation into a properly managed storage area network. So now, when a virtual server goes down, it can be be restarted immediately.

One observation bears noting, especially for those that are hoping to pare back IT budgets, at least in the short term.

"With WMware it's a little more, but it's a solid environment," Veen says. "We've improved performance because we've moved from clunky legacy hardware."

You can catch the rest of the article at Australian IT.

While not what you would call overly vocal, the Storage Networking Industry Association isn't exactly blind to the general mood in IT circles. So the organization just formed a green storage task force and technical working group, according to SNIA Europe's chairman, Jürgen Arnold.

In SNIA's eyes, the problem is that independent research into the topic is hard to come by, leaving many IT shops and their storage administrators in a lurch. The Register tells us:

He recommended The Green Grid as a good source of info on the topic, but said that more vendor-independent advice was needed - not least because there's a whole stack of other technologies that could have a place at the green table, including data de-duplication, thin provisioning, and tape-based archiving.

So far, the SNIA has released a green storage tutorial (PDF). And during the group's Storage Networking World conference in October, there will be a handful of presentations discussing the "Greening of IT" (look for the little leaf icon).

Listen up designers or anyone with a knack for coaxing pixels into pleasing visuals. Yahoo is running a competition for a new green icon design.

Here are the official rules, but in short, participants have until September 18, 2007 (4 PM PDT) to submit designs. If selected as the winner, the icon will grace millions upon millions of pages served up by Yahoo (fame) and an eco-nonprofit of the winner's choice banks $20,000 (fortune, just not for you). Two-runners up get $5,000 sent to their orgs.

There's even a voting component to spice things up.

So fire up Photoshop (or Gimp, you open-source rebel you) and give it a shot.

[via Treehugger]

Time to worry about thin film solar yet?

Although less efficient than silicon-derived panels, the technology allows for a variety of form factors (flexible ones even) and is substantially cheaper to produce. Alas, the average venture capital deal appears to suffer from a tightening of purse strings...

Earth2Tech says:

...Greentech Media concurs; the research firm’s new report “The Future of Thin Film Solar,” forecasts that the thin film solar market is estimated to grow to 20 percent of the overall solar market in 2010 from just 8 percent in 2006. But funding deals are shrinking.

Thin-film fundings peaked in 2006, with an average deal size of $13 million, according to Greentech Media. “VC investors have shown an inordinate fondness for new thin-film technologies, investing more than $318 million in the last two years,” says the report. Greentech expects an additional 30 thin-film deals over the next 18 months, but notes that the average size of those deals will be smaller.

The culprits: production delays and foreign competition. Nonetheless, many are still looking forward to draping affordable thin film over every southern facing (in the northern hemisphere, anyway) surface imaginable.

Between The Green Grid and the EPA lately, the buzz is squarely on the greening of data centers. A report today from The Washington Post takes a look at the scene and touches on one of the topics that keeps springing up lately: fresh air cooling.

...And in many places, the outside air is plenty cold enough much of the year, for free. Yet only recently have data centers adopted systems that can take filtered outside air for cooling the computer rooms.

To be fair, some data centers are buried too deep within buildings to gulp fresh air. But the main reason for the A/C over-reliance is that data centers were built for one thing _ to maximize the performance of the Web sites, computer programs and networking equipment that they run. If the air conditioning is colder than necessary, so be it.

The premise is that cool outside air can be pumped into a data center, eliminating or greatly reducing an A/C unit's workload. Naturally, it may be tough to retrofit an aging facility but it may be worth a look as the energy bills creep up. IT shops can also help cut energy costs by promoting proper air flow instead of cranking up the air conditioning system to iron out hot spots.

Chris Nerney over at the Datamation IT Management Blog reveals why your boss makes you hop into your carbon-spewing vehicle every day instead of letting you telecommute.

Sorry to break it to you, but The Man doesn't think you're trustworthy.

This recent Telecommuting Survey by software vendor Intranet Dashboard, written about on Intranet Journal here, reiterates the point quite clearly. Seventy percent of respondents to the U.S.-based survey reported being restricted from telecommuting. And the main reason? The Man.

More specifically, The Man's inherent suspicion that any employee not herded into a webcam'd cubicle plantation during the workday is goofing off somewhere, even if just for a few minutes.

Ebenezer, much? But this being a green blog and all, I'll take it one step further: The Man hates Mother Nature! (There's never too great a leap in logic where righteous indignation is concerned.)

Maybe some management types don't realize that many workers would gladly toss a little extra coin at their local utility to power their home office equipment rather than keep paying at the pump, which then goes out the tailpipe anyway. Giving those workers the option to work from home a day a week, for instance, could amount to a little extra cash for them and less carbon output for everyone.

And businesses benefit too. That's one less desklamp/PC/space heater/iPod charger racking up the electric bill. One less person to stink up the office with the enticing/sickening smell of microwavable popcorn. One less moocher photocopying all one million and a half pages of Harry Potter 7...

You get the picture.

With the iPhone buzz subsiding, it came time for Apple to stoke the fires of the faithful again. Yesterday, the company unveiled new aluminum-clad iMacs, as well as updates to iLife and the .Mac online service.

During the announcement, Steve Jobs courted the eco-conscious set with the iMac's green credentials.

...The display is also slimmer than previous models and borrows the sleek materials (aluminum and glass) from Apple's Pro line. Jobs said the new systems are far more recyclable than earlier models.

The new machine uses less plastic in its construction, plus they're packing energy-efficient Intel Core 2 Duos. It's also claimed that they conform to the EPA's new Energy Star guidelines, though specifics are lacking.

As you may recall, the company has taken some flack from environmentalists in the past. Now, though, there's no stopping the company from adding a nice little green bulletpoint to its spec sheets.

Nice roster, now what?

For months you've heard that so-and-so big shot tech company has joined The Green Grid. Today, by announcing a technology roadmap, they're gearing up to make good on their charter and begin to engage the IT community at large. It all starts with a flurry of activity during the latter half of this year (Q3 and Q4 2007, a.k.a. soonish).

A major theme during the press call today was the need to spell out what energy efficiency means as it pertains to the data center. Currently a nebulous area of research, the group plans to sort out the standards and metrics used to measure power consumption. The group then plans to follow up with studies on how this data is collected; a survey on the current and proposed eco-tech landscape; a look at power distribution and cooling; and, of course, best practices.

Also in the wings is a Database for Data Center Performance that will eventually allow operators to gauge their performance versus others with like characteristics.

A full list of what to expect from The Green Grid in the coming months awaits after the jump.

Update: More coverage from bITa Planet's Jennifer Zaino and InternetNews' Andy Patrizio.

Two interesting items of note from Earth2Tech.

First, cleantech is raking in the funds. In Q2 2007, there were a total of 44 deals that pulled in $451 million, increases of 38 percent in the number of deals and 46 percent in dollar amounts.

Next comes news that the US Department of Energy poured an additional $500,000 into MTI MicroFuel Cells. Having already scored $500,000 from the agency (with roughly $800,000 to go) the company plans to put the finishing touches on some prototypes, which may pave the way for the company’s tech to power portable electronics as soon as 2009.

My colleagues over at InternetNews.com have a story on a new router from Anagran, the company which is home to none other than one of the Internet's architects, Larry Roberts.

I'll let reporter Larry Barrett explain the significance, and why it should pique the interest of anyone longing for smooth-as-butter networking...

It's the company's first product and it was designed specifically to eliminate the annoying fits and starts that often accompany video and voice delivery on the Internet. By managing traffic and forwarding packets based on flows rather than individual packets, the FR-1000 can deliver video and voice in an uninterrupted flow and provide service providers with a much more transparent view of all the incoming and outgoing traffic on their networks.

But it's this little nugget that caught my eye...

Dan O'Farrell, vice president of marketing at Anagran, told internetnews.com the FR-1000 reduces the amount of energy used by each router by at least 80 percent.

"It's just a by-product of the architecture," O'Farrell said. "We've done away with the traditional approach of using ASIC for primary routing and queuing. We only route the first piece of the data. After that, the rest is just switched through."

You read that right: power savings of at least 80 percent. You can catch more information on the FR-1000 from the Anagran site.

Remember Black Google?

In short, it's the concept that if users (or Google) switched to a white-on-black version of Google, it could lead to a substantial amount of savings. The idea generated tons of blog coverage, and a fair share of controversy. So EcoIron's Mark Ontkush, which first came up with the idea, has put together a "Wiki-esque post" to get everyone up to speed.

For the post that started it all, click here.

You know an area is hot when you can build a consultancy around it. Reuters reports on a new trend of sustainability consultants, or rather, the new business that's pouring into firms that have a knack for green. One such company is Steven Winters Associates:

Steven Winters said green was not even on the radar screen when he set up his building service firms, Steven Winters Associates, 35 years ago.

But since his first year in business, clients seeking "green" building services, like advice on energy efficiency, has grown 6,800 percent, said Winters. In the last five years, the number of clients seeking those services has doubled.

Considering that energy costs keep rising and that they can help businesses slash "about 30 percent of their energy use," it's little wonder they're enjoying so much growth.

The EPA has prepared a report for Congress on server and data center energy efficiency. The agency has concluded that if trends continue, data center energy consumption will nearly double just four short years.

Here are some bullet points sent over from our friends at the Energy Star program:

• Data centers consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006, roughly 1.5% of total U.S. electricity consumption, or about $4.5 billion in electricity costs.

• Federal servers and data centers alone account for approximately 6 billion kWh (10%) of this electricity use, at a total electricity cost of about $400 million/year.

• Assuming current trends continue. By 2011 the national energy consumption by servers and data centers is expected to nearly double.

• Existing technologies and strategies could reduce typical server energy use by 25% - - even greater energy savings are possible with advanced technologies.
  

The EPA's report also contains a fascinating observation on some of the factors that are inhibiting improved data center energy efficiency. Among them is the rapid pace of technological change.

One of the greatest barriers to improved energy efficiency in data centers is the rapid increase in new computer applications that has occurred as the cost of processing power has fallen and the rapid pace at which IT equipment becomes obsolete and is replaced. Because the components of HVAC systems last a long time (10 to 25 years) and IT equipment has a relatively short life (two to five years), HVAC systems often end up being mismatched with the cooling requirements of IT equipment. UPS systems also have a relatively long life compared to IT equipment, which can block the adoption of newer, more efficient technologies. It is difficult to continually optimize data centers in such a rapidly changing environment and even more difficult to predict future requirements.

If you don't have time to pore over the full report (PDF), they've gone to the trouble of compiling a short and sweet executive summary (also PDF).

Now it’s on!

HP is responding to that Australian polluting printer study that's causing workers to take creative routes around the office in an effort to avoid "toner lung" (I just hold my breath until I clear Reception).

Engadget received a note from Tuan Tran, HP's vice president of marketing for supplies, by way of the company's PR outfit. He asserts that safety is a prime concern for HP, the tests' methodologies don't seem to conform to any known standards and there's still a lot we don't know about ultrafine particle emissions.

Vigorous tests are an integral part of HP's research and development and its strict quality-control procedures. HP LaserJet printing systems, original HP print cartridges and papers are tested for dust release and possible material emissions and are compliant with all applicable international health and safety requirements. In addition to meeting or exceeding these guidelines, HP's design criteria for its laser printing systems incorporate guidelines from both the Blue Angel program in Germany and the Greenguard program in the United States.

Based on our own testing, HP knows that many variables can affect the outcome of tests for ultrafine particle emissions. Although HP is not aware of all of the specific methodologies used in the Queensland study, based on what we've seen in the report – as well as our own work in this area – we do not believe there is a link between printer emissions and any public health risk.

For the moment, don't panic. Anyway, the alternative won't sit well with those that have pet allergies.

Remember Affordable Internet Services Online (AISO), the solar-powered data center? Greenest Host, which is set up at AISO, is using some of the power from the facility's 120 solar panel array to provide a web hosting service that's completely powered the sun.

Not content to just serve up your sites and register domains, the company is also offering to donate $5 to the Environmental Defense Fund (up to $500,000) for every account opened through 2007.

They also point out that they're covered in case of an outage by propane-fueled backup generators (Hank Hill would be proud), which burns cleaner than diesel (propane is a byproduct of natural gas and oil processing, however). You can find out more at this InfoWorld blog post by Ted Samson, whom I have to thank for connecting the dots between AISO and Greenest Host.

Somehow the press release neglected to mention...

Update: Researching the scene, I came across this post at Isabel Wang's blog written just before she moderated a green hosting panel at HostingCon.

I guess that lets flywheels off the hook. 365 Main posted an update on the series of events that caused their data center to lose power, plunging more than a few popular sites into darkness (404s actually) despite multiple backup generators.

The culprit? Wonky electronics in the Hitec-built diesel generators:

...After four days of thorough testing around the clock, the team discovered weakness in a small but essential component in the back-up system known as a DDEC (Detroit Diesel Electronic Controller).

The team discovered a setting in the DDEC that was not allowing the component to correctly reset its memory. Erroneous data left in the DDEC’s memory subsequently caused misfiring or engine start failures on the next diesel engine call to start.

Lucky a fix was found...

The investigation team discovered DDEC issues on each of the failed Hitec units and were able to successfully simulate failure. A fix was introduced by altering the timing of a command to the DDEC component, allowing more time between the engine shut-down command and the DDEC reset command. Once this fix was introduced, the Hitec generators successfully passed more than 50 consecutive start-up sequence tests without incident. The fix was immediately applied to all 10 Hitec units.

Aside from the unpleasantness, their update page provides a lot of insight into their setup. Pretty interesting stuff, if you're interested in data center design.

Lessons learned, onward!

[via Earth2Tech]

IBM is promoting mainframes as energy efficient. Sure, the thought of a towering, power-sipping system Z seems laughable, but hear them out.

Big Blue is planning a huge consolidation project, replacing thousands of servers -- 3,900 to be exact -- with a total of 30 mainframes by employing a magic combo of virtualization and Linux. All those servers will be recycled, so no worries there. IBM anticipates 80 percent savings on electricity over five years under the new setup.

The data centers involved are sprinkled across the globe: Poughkeepsie, New York; Southbury, Connecticut; Boulder, Colorado; Portsmouth, UK; Osaka, Japan; and Sydney, Australia.

Leading by example, nice!

Unfortunately, no eco-kudos for office laser printers. It turns out that they are toner spewers, blackening your lungs while earning a day's wage.

A study conducted in Australia revealed that some printers, mostly HPs, were contributing substantially to indoor air pollution. It's a bit more complex than singling out a single model or product line, however. Factors such as the age of the toner cartridge and coverage (the area of paper that receives toner) seem to be influences.

And before you bombard me with comments *crickets, tumbleweeds*, the images above are obviously not to scale. You'd break your back shaking the toner cartridge on that thing!

Zonbu, that low-watt PC we covered a while back, is finally on sale.

The nifty little unit only has 4 GB of flash memory, 512 MB RAM and an energy-efficient VIA processor under the hood. And while it seems woefully underpowered by today's Core 2 Duo standards, it's enough to run Linux and some popular software (Firefox, Skype, Open Office), plus the company throws in 25 GB of online storage. That, and it only consumes 15 watts.

Zonbu costs $99, plus $12.95 a month or $250 up front.

EcoGeek has the details. Hank Green (The EcoGeek) even ordered one. A "Zonbu $99 Linux Box Tour" YouTube video by Gizmodo, follows after the jump.

Update: Lies! Hank Green didn't order one, but rather a commenter on his site, Mr. Zonbu.