November 2007 Archives
Better than preying on Ubuntu newbies and averting Facebook creepiness, today's links:
Case study: Clean-energy plan proves too risky for 365 Main customers - InfoWorld
Green energy makes money - CNNMoney
Aleutia E1 Computer Runs on Solar Power, Looks Like It Can Cook Pork Chops - Gizmodo
My first glance verdict: No.
Follow-Up: Greenpeace Says Nintendo Didn't Respond to E-Waste Queries - Boing Boing Gadgets
And I can't let November come to a close before pointing you to Jeremy Faludi's excellent green computing series at WorldChanging, which he just completed. We covered Part 1 devoted to the datacenter before, but here's the rest:
Green Computing Update, Part 1: Data CentersGreen Computing Update, Part 2: Components
Is there anything lasers can't do?
Dan Ragle at the mothership spotlighted Finisar in his weekly eITplanet Toolkit . You see, the company's has a green pitch for all of you running HPC clusters: fiber is better than copper for 10 GbE networking.
Increasingly popular, 10 Gig Ethernet connections and communications may actually help to reduce overall power consumption in the data center (by reducing the number of ports and/or switches necessary to accommodate the same amount of network traffic), but Finisar says the copper cabling typically used to deploy 10 Gig fabrics may require more power utilization than what is strictly necessary. Instead, their new Laserwire cables are both lighter and less power-hungry than their copper counterparts, with the vendor claiming that their cables consume nearly 95% less power than copper-based 10GBase-T deployments.Additionally, Finisar notes that the fiber-optic Laserwire cables can be run for longer distances than copper; with initial entries expected to be offered in 3, 5, 10, and 30 meter flavors (with longer distances available upon request).
"A lot of good it does my copper network," you're probably thinking. Not so! The company has also cooked up some SFP+ and XFP adapter modules. Still, you'll have to wait until 2008 before the lithe new cables become available.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was lit last night, and for the first time in its 75-year history, LEDs replaced its incandescent bulbs. I have yet to see it in person (I'll give you my impressions when I do) but it sure looked sparkly on TV after Al Roker and gang hit the big red button.
Chances are that your tree, or mine, won't look as spectacular or high-tech. Luckily, it doesn't have to be that way.
Newsday has good news for Long Islanders and just about anyone within range of a Home Depot. Retailers are stocking LED tree lights this year and reporting healthy interest. It helps that they're not priced astronomically high.
However, there is still a premium to be paid...
The cost certainly is a factor in LED sales: At Home Depot, a string of 100 clear minilights in traditional bulbs sells for $2, while 50 LED lights were on sale for $7.99. And at Walmart, a 7-foot-tall prelit tree cost $59.84 with traditional lights -- and $92.84 with LEDs.On the other hand, some Home Depot customers came in asking for the "bright lights" -- meaning the vivid LEDS, said Sheriee Bowman, a New York-metro area spokeswoman for the chain.
"The LED Christmas lights are 80 percent more efficient, is how we are advertising it," she said, "and they last up to 20,000 hours or the equivalent of up to 20 years. We have 11 different styles for both indoor and outdoor use, and they are cool to the touch. ... Customers are coming in and asking for them. It's one of our most popular Christmas items this year."
The bad news: you'll be untangling the same set of lights around this time of year for two decades. Enjoy.
Google's bold "cheaper than coal" renewable energy initiative has a lot of the blogosphere fitting the company for an even bigger green halo. But by its admission, Google's own infrastructure may have given them enough reason to jump in.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution is kind enough to put a dollar amount on that motivation:
But by some estimates, the company spends more than $2 million per month on electricity to power its network of an estimated 450,000 computer servers.
Seems plausible and falls around other estimates I've heard about the size of their server farms. And Google is still growing, let's not forget. Ultimately, though, it may have been a smart investment opportunity that pushed Google into action:
Page said the company expects to see returns "on a reasonable time scale" from its energy investments, either in the form of higher stock prices of the companies it invests in, in savings from producing its own power, or from the sale or licensing of solar and other technologies it develops.Google, of course, isn't the only company that sees greenbacks in going green.
Atlanta media mogul Ted Turner, who has made big investments in solar energy lately, recently called the solar business "the greatest business opportunity in the history of humanity."
Hey, where is it written that you have to lose your shirt by going green? Guiltless capitalism, if you ask me.
Remember Zonbu?
The company that brought us the energy efficient, headless Linux box is now looking at the mobile market with the $279 (starting price) Zonbu Notebook. In a departure from bargain basement lappies, this one isn't offensive to the eye and appears fairly slim at just 1.5" thick. Slippery Brick tells us:
The Zonbu Notebook, being manufactured by Everex, is powered by a 1.5GHz, VIA C7-M processor and sports a 15.4-inch display. It’s got a 60GB hard drive built-in and offers 802.11 wireless technology. It runs off of its own custom operating system and includes in the installed software 20 well known applications which are all free and/or open source.
The specs (copy/pasted from the official site) are thus:
- Processor: 1.5GHz, VIA C7-M
Intel-compatible, low energy use - Display: 15.4" WXGA Widescreen (1440 x 900) and VGA output
- Memory: 512MB
- Hard Disk local storage: 60GB (58GB for your data)
- Optical Drive: DVD-ROM/CD-RW
- Graphics: VIA Chrome9 HC IGP (64MB shared memory, 128MB maximum)
- Audio: built-in speaker, microphone and headphone ports
- 3 USB 2.0 ports
- Ethernet: 10/100 Mbps built-in - broadband ready
- Wifi: Built-in 802.11b/g
- Power Supply: 65W AC-DC Adapter, 15W average power usage
- Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion, 2h30 to 3h, depending on usage
- Measurements: 14.1" x 10.7" x 1.5" (35.8cm x 27.2cm x 3.8cm)
- Weight: 5.3lbs (2.4kg)
Unfortunately, the Zonbu Notebook will miss the 2007 holiday shop-a-thon. It goes on sale in early 2008.
According to this Byte and Switch report, the U.S. Department of Energy's assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, Alexander Karsner, told the industry to pick up the pace during the IT Infrastructure Conference on Climate Change at the United Nations yesterday. Now that we know the problem is.
Aside from his astute observation, IBM let slip a technology they're planning for upcoming Cell chips during the conference.
"There's innovation at the atomic level," said Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president of IT optimization, during a panel discussion, explaining that the vendor is currently developing a cooling technology called Airgap, which tackles heat generation at the processor level."We're injecting atomic layers of air between the processors -- that will increase dissipation of heat by 40 percent," Lechner claims. This will be available on IBM's cell processors sometime in the next 12 to 24 months, and it eventually will be extended to the vendor's other chip technologies.
Interesting times ahead...
The first reviews dropped nearly the same instant Amazon announced Kindle. Then the blogosphere treated us to their thoughts shortly after UPS dropped off the smiley boxes.
Now, we're getting reviews from folks that have lived with the device for a week, long enough to get a feel for how the reader fits into the daily routine. Julian "rabbit" Murdoch of Gamers With Jobs provides one such review [via Slashdot] and in it he addresses Kindle's most polarizing feature: its design.
That evening I just read. The Kindle disappears, and I realize how important the design of the book is, and how strongly I disagree with so many web comments about it's supposedly horrendous un-holdability. The instructions for the thing say that it's designed to be used with the cover on (even though all of the marketing shows it with the cover off). Being a weak pawn, I tend to follow directions, and I can confirm that with the cover on, it's extremely difficult to accidentally hit any buttons while reading, and the left hand spine becomes a natural handle. The super-matte surfaces of both the screen and the frame make it readable and un-distracting at any angle, in any light. The next page buttons on both sides make it usable in more positions than a normal book, and in no case does it ever require two hands to use.
I suppose you can respect a design that doesn't strive for hideousness, but rather aims to disappear into your book-devouring life. But you'll forgive me if I want to have my cake and eat it too. I'd rather it disappear a little more sleekly.
Our own CEO's weighs in with his thoughts on the device within the context of his background here (Hi Alan!).
And Scoble? Well, he's not terribly amused. "Whoever designed this should be fired and the team should start over," he writes. You can view his rant (he brings up a couple of good points, though) in the embedded video after the click of infinite wonders (aka, "read more").
Google is looking to unseat coal with its new RE<C initiative. The renewable energy program entails strategic investments and pouring a lot of R&D into cost-efficient and scalable technologies. Interestingly -- and perhaps wisely -- they're casting a pretty narrow net to reach its goal by focusing on just a few. These include, "advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems."
As examples, Google points to eSolar Inc. (solar thermal) and Makani Power Inc. (wind). However, the company "will consider other breakthrough technologies."
But first, they're putting up a big help wanted ad:
RE<C is hiring engineers and energy experts to lead its research and development work, which will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology. We are looking for a world-class team to lead this effort. We need creative and motivated entrepreneurs and technologists with expertise in a broad range of areas.
The top positions up for grabs include Renewable Energy Engineer, Head of Renewable Energy Engineering, Director, Green Business Strategy & Operations and Director of Other. Job seekers should apply online.
Director of Other sounds like fun.
A stylish bag that can charge your gear? Yes please!
But it's made of dead cow. Oh noes!
This Boing Boing post on Noon Solar's leather satchel that can recharge your portables with the Sun's sweet rays sure riled up Boing Boing's readers. (You can't tell from that pic, but the panels are on the back.)
For some, the the bag's merits seem to have taken a back seat to what it's made of. Only one commenter pointed out that most bags of this type are usually made of synthetic materials. Though in all fairness, another maker of solar bags, Voltaic, uses fabrics made of recycled plastics.
Cory Doctorow even ends up jumping into the fray with a couple of well-reasoned posts. Me? Not that you asked, but I'm more offended by the price ($412). Add a Kindle and an iPod and that bag is worth more than my first car!
Having waged a public relations war on Apple and Sony earlier in the year, Greenpeace is now training its guns on Nintendo. And just in time for the holidays, too!
Greenpeace ranks electronics makers on a variety of factors that affect the environment, from the materials used during manufacturing to their recycling programs. Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Dell, and Lenovo rank relatively high, though none score better than 7.7 on their 10-point scale.
But Nintendo didn't fare so well.
As a matter of fact, it did dismally, scoring a nice, round zero. The final indignity? Greenpeace's proclamation: "New to the guide - first global brand to score zero across all criteria!" What, no points for using fewer materials than two Gamecubes taped together?
You can read why Nintendo scored so poorly in Greenpeace's eyes here (PDF). Though, I doubt it will barely rattle Nintendo's sales steamroller, which is made of money printed by the Wii and DS.
[via Kotaku]
Update: EcoGeek weighs in.
You may have just emerged from your tryptophan coma, but the world didn’t stop spinning while you were away. Today’s green and cleantech links for your return to reality, or for you e-shoppers out there, Cyber Monday.
'Cleantech' Investing Gets Its Day in the Sun - The Washington Post
Can a bold new "eco-city" clear the air in China? - The Seattle Times
'Green' and the bottom line - Seacoast Online
As the Price of Oil Soars, Many Turn to Renewables - The Washington Post
Come Fly With Me (and Me and Me and Me…) - Dot Earth - The New York Times
If there's one thing NYC does right, it's the holidays.
There is simply no better time to enjoy the spectacle of the city. But for all the bright lights and holiday cheer, it's hard for the environmentally conscious among us not to feel some pangs of guilt.
Well there's good news this year. The towering Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is trading in its incandescent lights for LEDs -- 30,000 of them in fact. And the switch more than halves power consumption, nearly cutting the required energy by two-thirds.
Using the energy-efficient LEDs to replace incandescent bulbs will reduce the display's electricity consumption from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt hours per day. The daily savings is equal to the amount of electricity consumed by a typical 2,000-square-foot house in a month.
Plus, Tishman Speyer, owners of complex, have recently installed a 365-panel solar array on 5 Rockefeller Plaza, the largest such private installation in the city. You can read more details about the effort, including some novel reuse, here.
And if you're in the city on November 28, why not catch the tree lighting? It is, besides being the 75th tree, a bit of a milestone after all.
You would think that of all industries, telecommunications companies would encourage telecommuting. Indeed, AT&T certainly pops into mind as the standard bearer here.
Except, well, maybe not so much anymore.
Network World discovered that AT&T is recalling its offsite workforce, making them shed their pajamas (for work clothes, of course); hop into their polluting cars and buses; slog into an office park and nestle into a scene straight out of everyone's favorite office nightmare.
One employee's reaction sums it up nicely, especially the last part.
The employee says he was told the decision to end telework arrangements would apply broadly across the company and reflects a policy change by AT&T -- though that contradicts AT&T’s statement to Network World. “It’s crazy; I don’t understand it,” the employee says. “We’re a networking and communications company.”
Had I only posted this yesterday while I was toiling in my pajamas, the whole thing would have been dripping with irony. I'm tellin' you!
Thanks Ralf!
How's that green data center coming along? Symantec and Ziff Davis asked that question of over 800 data center managers (70 surveyed in focus groups and by phone; 800 surveyed online) that keep some Global 2000 firms humming across 14 countries.
I know you're wondering, "Why would a computer security company care?"
You see, Symantec is undergoing a bit of a transformation, branching into a data center management software provider and aligning its resources in that direction after its merger with Veritas. Don't think for a minute that they're going to shed their security-savvy ways anytime soon, though. Norton's going nowhere.
Anyway, back to the point of this post.
Today, the company revealed a couple of interesting statistics regarding the greening of data centers. Let's get the bad news out of the way first: many talk a big game, but their efforts are falling short.
Nearly three-fourths of respondents state they have interest in adopting a strategic green data center initiative; however, only one in seven have been successful at implementing a green data center, illustrating a stark contrast between interest and execution.
And we here in the U.S. are lagging a bit...
Slightly more than a third of companies based in the United States (U.S.) said they have corporate green policies, while almost 60 percent of companies from Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) and 55 percent of European companies have them. According to the research, companies from Canada, China, Germany, India, Mexico and South Korea are more likely to have green data center policies than not. Regionally, organizations with larger data center budgets implement green data center strategies more frequently than those with smaller budgets.
I know, not a good showing for the good ol' U.S. of A. Technology-wise, though, businesses here and abroad seem to be making friends with virtualization.
Data center managers indicate that software designed for server consolidation and server virtualization are the most popular solutions in creating energy efficiencies, with 51 and 47 percent indicating plans to consolidate and virtualize servers respectively. In fact, 68 percent of respondents indicate that reducing energy played a role in their decision to implement virtualization and server consolidation.
And though we may lag versus the rest of the world in overall data center efficiency, this is the one area we are leading.
Server consolidation and virtualization implementations are more prevalent in U.S.-based companies and surpass implementations in other parts of the world. In contrast, while there are fewer APJ [Asia-Pacific and Japan] organizations currently implementing consolidation/virtualization strategies in their data centers, the majority of IT managers (88 percent) from this region who do, cite energy consumption and energy reduction as the primary reason.
And encouragingly, power management is starting to make its presence felt.
Respondents also revealed that most data center managers are at least planning to implement power management products, with 30 percent implementing on selected equipment, 13 percent on equipment throughout the data center, and 34 percent either planning to use or currently evaluating.
Depending on how you look at it, the data can be viewed as encouraging or disappointing. Either way, it reminds us that we are still very early in the green IT transition. In that light, encouraging gets my vote.
Thanks Dan!
The New York Times has an article that offers a couple more details on Amazon's Kindle.
- Wireless EVDO service "Whispernet" is provided by Sprint
- The E-Ink techology comes from E Ink of Cambridge, Mass.
- All the major publishers are on board with 90,000 titles and 90 percent of the current bestsellers available.
Amazon also has a page devoted to the device, including a video that does a decent job of showing off the unit and its capabilities.
Maybe not with that $400 price tag. Ouch!
Let’s backtrack a little first.
Amazon officially unveiled Kindle, its not-so-secret e-book reader and service. For the gadget-loving geek with an environmentalist streak, it a great day indeed.
Think about it, fewer trees to chop down and electronic delivery of your favorite reading material. Things are looking up. Plus, power-sipping e-ink technology finally gets its day in the sun, though the Kindle isn’t the first device of its type. Sony has been giving it a shot in recent years.
However, with Amazon backing the Kindle -- a company with a cozy relationship with book publishers and already having proven its e-commerce chops -- it looks like things are set to really take off.
Except that at $400, the Kindle isn’t cheap (free two-day shipping though). And the design, while surprisingly compact, is a bit angular and strangely retro. Sony does a better job in the style department.
But there is a bright side, nice features notwithstanding (EVDO, everywhere access, computer-less operation). Amazon is likely to offer discounts after a bit, as it usually does with most of its wares. And if the device and novel service take off, it’s likely that the price will tumble. And that’s good news all around. Plus it’s nice to see e-ink get some mainstream attention.
Engadget has some first impressions and some more news about some of the features that may have been overlooked in the initial hoopla.
Depending on your model, you may have some scanning options available to you. And if you're really lucky, your IT department is on the ball and has networked it so that you can e-mail yourself a nice PDF of your scans. Certain models from Canon, Ricoh, Xerox, and others have this scan to email feature.
Next time you need to send some documents, instead of rushing to the fax machine, go to your copier, scan the docs and have them emailed to your account. After it's in your inbox, forward it to the recipient and you're done. It's possible to send it directly to your recipient, but you may want to add a more descriptive subject line or body -- something that's better accomplished on your computer keyboard than on the basic interfaces on most copiers.
I can't speak to the power savings since ours is a pretty beefy machine, but I think I can safely say that the process consumes less power than two high-end business fax machines. Plus, the PCs, email servers and network/internet connections are up and running anyway, so it's a great way to piggyback on that infrastructure.
Also, it's very likely that the recipient will save on paper and toner since the file can be stored digitally and won't print out all but the most necessary documents. Another benefit is print quality. If the day comes that a hard copy is required (on recycled paper please) you'll get much better results from a printed PDF than a streaky, muddled fax.
I did it today and besides being a fairly easy process, it felt nice not milling around the fax machine wondering if I did it right (cryptic status codes, "dial 9?"). It's also nice to know that my colleague saved a bit of electricity and paper.
But the real trick is to encourage others to do the same.
If you can scan-to-email on your end, the battle is half won. If you no longer want to drown in faxes, consider asking senders to email docs or use an Internet fax service. It may help if you broadcast the sad news that your fax machine conveniently happened to break down with no replacement or repair in sight. You know, the usual red tape.
Happy non-faxing!
Photo Credit: Fax Machine - midweekpost/Flickr - Creative Commons
Popular Science has awarded its Innovation of the Year and Greentech awards to Nanosolar's PowerSheet. This cheap (comparatively) solar sheet contains no silicon, which is great considering the constraints on silicon supplies, and they're manufactured in a process that bears a striking similarity to a newspaper press.
And, it turns out, that the product is *this close* to mass production, meaning that early 2008 should see the first commercial installations of the product.
In San Jose, Nanosolar has built what will soon be the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing facility. CEO Martin Roscheisen claims that once full production starts early next year, it will create 430 megawatts’ worth of solar cells a year -- more than the combined total of every other solar plant in the U.S. The first 100,000 cells will be shipped to Europe, where a consortium will be building a 1.4-megawatt power plant next year.
Also be sure to check out the two animations that vividly display how the product works, along with the other greentech winners.
Who knows, maybe your next roof will be draped in the stuff.
Leave it to America's most beloved and begrudged discount retailer to bring green, open-source computing to the mainstream...
Wal-Mart's $200 Linux Computer Sold Out - Yahoo! Tech
Hot issue for green IT - Silicon.com
Barack Obama Would Create Clean Tech VC Fund - Earth2Tech
Spherical Solar Cells Save Silicon - GreenTechnoLog
At L.A. Show, Hybrids Are Big - Business Week
It's always nice to read a successful story about the convergence of technology and eco-savvy business practices, especially when it hails from our neck of the woods (or at least the NY tri-state area).
Wi-Fi Planet's Naomi Graychase profiled a 42,000 square foot building in Branchburg, NJ, which, besides serving as a home to Ferreira Construction, is also the first "Net Zero Electric" commercial building in the US. To accomplish this, the company installed 1,200 solar panels and a wireless sensor network from Sensicast.
Graychase explains:
Sensicast’s SensiNet Green Solutions line of wireless sensors is essential to the Ferreira building's "green" system. Power is generated by a 223-kwh photovoltaic (PV) solar energy system consisting of 1200 solar PV panels that cover the roof of the building. The efficiency, condition, and power production of the PV system is monitored by the SensiNet network.The Sensicast solution is based upon new SensiNet DC Voltage and Current Smart Sensors for string-level monitoring of PV solar power generating systems. The DC Voltage and Current sensors are protected by custom, NEMA-4-compliant enclosures, and work in concert with other SensiNet components, including temperature and humidity sensors, mesh repeaters, and gateways. The services software, which provides a comprehensive system for power metering, can also perform revenue-grade monitoring of commercial solar electric systems.
The system even proved itself during last year's heat wave. Despite the added pressure of keeping the facility air-conditioned, it was able to provide some net metered excess electricity to the grid.
Neat!
Silly me. I thought it was a bid to lock in market share but apparently Microsoft's recently announced refurbisher program is also a way to spare those older PCs a trip to the landfill.
I see...
Microsoft Launches Authorized Refurbisher Program, Encourages 'Green' Reuse of Computers - TMCnet
Virgin Games sees no sacrifices in green datacentre - vnunet.com
Pennsylvania hands out $5.4M in cleantech grants - Cleantech.com
The truth about recycling - The Economist
UPS Shifts To Dry-Washing Trucks In Georgia - Treehugger
Kleiner Perkins snags Al Gore. Let the venture capital games begin!
Al Gore Joins Kleiner Perkins - Red Herring
Update: Gore gives Wired News a couple of minutes of his time and answers some questions.
First Solar's Year Long Run: The Google of Cleantech? - Seeking Alpha
Trellis Earth: Bioplastics Startup, Raising Cash at $60M Valuation? - Earth2Tech
Eco-Tech Firms Look for Cash - Canada.com
2008 - Year of the ??? - NDRC Switchboard
...Lightly though, this is a notebook after all.
Gizmodo was finally able to train a camera lens on the Asus EcoBook, the notebook that sports a bamboo housing -- along with several other eco-friendly design elements -- and contains an Intel's Core Duo 2 processor.
But don't get too attached, it's only a prototype. And according to reps they spoke with, the EcoBook may undergo a couple of changes as the early 2008 release date nears. Nonetheless, it looks a more refined than the previous version that was displayed all those many months ago.
[via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Not willing to cede the green storage crown to Hitachi, Western Digital announced its own line of power sipping enterprise-class hard drives (WD RE2) under the Enterprise GreenPower banner. Available in 500 GB, 750 GB and 1 TB capacities, the drives consume significant lesser amounts of power than the competition.
How much less?
Fully appreciating the storage-energy dilemma, each WD RE2-GP hard drive consumes an average of 4-5 watts less than competitive hard drives, making it possible for energy-conscious enterprise customers to build servers and storage subsystems with higher capacities, consistent performance, and assured reliability, all while promoting energy conservation. By WD estimates, under typical workloads, the new WD RE2-GP drives will save more than $10 per drive per year in electricity costs. Consequently, a large data center with 10,000 drives can save $100,000 in annual energy costs.
Western Digital has even put up one of those web-based calculators that are all the rage lately. Though this one takes it upon itself to resize the browser in Firefox (new windows open in another tab), which is one of my biggest Web peeves.
Thanks Dan!
A new wiki aims to help IT departments make wise decisions in acquiring green storage systems. Also, a look at Walmart's $200 Green PC from Everex (actually $199 but c'mon).
Green storage procurement options - Wikibon.org
$199 Green PC - Library Computer Guy
This comment got me though:
Speaking of marketing, the guts of this PC are actually for a small form factor, but testing showed that Walmart shoppers judge capacity by size, so Everex stuck the tiny components in a big box.
Please tell me it's not true.
Fujitsu Siemens Announces Green Makeover - PC World
Thin provisioning - don't leap before you look - the storage anarchist
Eco Gadget Buyer’s Guide - Coolest Gadgets
First came news that the 65nm Cell chip will make its Playstation 3 debut in the new 40 GB model. Then not. But now it's back.
In what is hopefully the final nail in this tale, the 40GB PS3 does indeed nestle a 65nm Cell chip within its glossy blackness, along with all the power saving goodness that it implies. However, the Nvidia RSX graphics subsystem (GPU) stays at 90nm. Backward compatibility is still a no-go, sorry.
Let's review:
CPU = 65nm
GPU = 90nm
Got it? Good. Let's never speak of it again.
Need to stretch that IT budget in 2008? Doesn't sound like a recipe for pursuing a green strategy, does it?
CIO Update guest columnist Cal Braunstein of the Robert Frances Group research firm has ten tips for saving money in 2008. After a quick scan, I was none too pleased to find that going green only managed to merit a tiny paragraph. Luckily, I decided to read the entire article (it helps) before firing off an angry e-mail that would have laid waste to Outlook (or whatever email client/service he uses - yes, even Gmail).
The first batch of tips tackle operational and business processes but it turns out that some of the latter concepts mesh very well with greening up IT operations. Take, for instance, this tip on modernizing:
Companies are also addressing the cost challenge through application and system modernization, platform consolidation, and virtualization. Although most large enterprises have one or more of these efforts ongoing, savings from them are uneven. Companies can achieve operational cost savings of more than 30%, with the project break even points in the 12-to-18 month range.
Along the same lines is the e-records management tip, or dedupe as storage vendors would classify it. Data deduplication frees up storage resources; acts as a brake on otherwise runaway storage growth; and can seriously make compliance and security measures a lot easier to handle.
Dedupe! Do it because it's smart, say it because it's fun to say.
Jeremy Faludi at WorldChanging has a neat article on green computing, specifically the data center. Sure, you may never set foot in a data center, but there are plenty of reasons to care.
You likely interact primarily with a PC but data centers impact your life in more ways than you may be aware of. A data center likely pipes, well, data into your PC at work. If not, every time you run a search on Google, buy a trinket on Amazon or review your bank records, you can rest assured that a data center somewhere made it all possible.
There's a lot of attention being paid lately to these server farms, not only because of the amount of power they consume, but also because they represent a great opportunity to bring a lot of innovations to bear on making them more efficient. Virtualization and outfitting them with lean servers are a good start, but power and cooling systems cannot be ignored.
Faludi explains:
It's not just the computers themselves that use all this power: the combined heat output of all these servers, hard drives and network gear is so large that massive air conditioning is required to keep it all from overheating. "Cooling is about 60 percent of the power costs in a data center because of inefficiency," said Hewlett Packard executive Paul Perez in Data Center News. "The way data centers are cooled today is like cutting butter with a chain saw." Cooling capacity is often the limiting factor of how big these systems can be -- I've talked with more than one engineer whose data center facility sat half empty or more; even though there was plenty of room for more servers, the building's air conditioning was maxed out.
The article is filled with helpful links, good information on where the industry is headed and some new ideas like liquid metal cooling. He plans to follow up the article with a look at PCs so keep your eyes open.
Supercomputing centers may soon vie to rank on Top500 and Virginia Tech's Green500. Also, $100 a barrel is seen as the tipping point for alt-energy hopefuls. So, any day now?
Those links and more await below...
Virginia Tech launches 'green' supercomputer rankings - EETimes
Clean tech eyes $100 a barrel oil boost - MarketWatch
Making Your Next Computer from Carbon Dioxide - Xconomy
Autodesk and U.S. Green Building Council Collaborate to Increase Adoption of Sustainable Design - CNNMoney.com
Underwater Robots Sniff Out Toxic Waste - Earth2Tech
The New York Times has a good story today on nanotechnology and how the discipline has the potential to improve the Earth's fortunes. Advances in LEDs, window coatings and catalysts are examined, as well as particles that eat toxins in an exceedingly efficient manner.
Yet while those wonderful particles may one day be the salvation of Superfund sites, it's feared that they won't help industries clean up their act, or worse, may contribute to the problem.
Environmentalists say they remain worried about the long-term impact of dumping novel nanomaterials into the environment to clean up hazardous wastes. And there is another potential downside. Jennifer Sass, the senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that any nanotechnology cleanup product could deflect attention from the underlying problem."I hope the public will ask probing questions like, ‘Who put that pollution there in the first place, and why didn’t the government stop them?’" she said.
On a somewhat related note, I also discovered Dot Earth, NYT's new blog on the environment. More interesting eco-themed items and engaging photography await those that click.
Rising above the hushed whispers surrounding the ouster of Microsoft's CIO, today's green/cleantech VC and investing links:
IN BRIEF: VCs Take a Shine to Lighting - Greentech Media
The New Gold Rush: Green Technologies - A.E. Feldman Blog
Deutsche Bank on Investing in Climate Change - Alternative Energy Stocks
Novomer, an eco-friendly plastic maker, raises $6.6M - VentureBeat
Business sustainability in the age of clean tech - MaRS Blog
The Many Shades Of Green ETFs - ETF Trends
Of course, if you have juicy info on what transpired at Microsoft, spill the beans in the comments.
It used to be that the biggest energy concern of data center operators was staying within the power envelope and making sure backup power was available in case of an imaginary drunk admin on a rampage.
How times have changed.
IBM, still in Project Big Green mode, is preaching the power management gospel to energy-strapped datacenters with Systems Director Active Energy Manager (AEM), formerly known as Power Executive. With AEM, organizations can make better hardware decisions and more efficient use of their electricity.
And it doesn't take brand spankin' new servers with fancy power management features to enjoy the benefits. Older servers and storage systems can get in on that action too.
IBM explains how it works:
Did you visit the NBC site today to catch last night's episode of Heroes and mooch your employer's bandwidth? First, you missed a great episode (spoiler alert). Secondly, you may have noticed how green things are looking over at NBC.com.
It's part of the Green is Universal campaign over at GE (owner of NBC). This week, eco-friendly messages are being integrated into story lines; earth friendly commercial breaks interrupt 44 or 22 minutes of storytelling; and the peacock network bug is sporting a classy shade of green (the little graphic in the corner of your screen during shows).
In Chuck, for instance, the good guys avoid their pursuers by racing through an eco-fair held at the campus of Chuck's almost-alma mater Stanford. A little ham-fisted, but whatever. In Heroes, the result was a little, well, lame. Just a PSA that proves that celebrities are just plain awkwardly human outside of their element. What's more, you can expect such hijinks all week!
Ultimately, eco-conscious viewers aren't likely to be bowled over by the effort. However, anything that drives awareness among the masses is a good thing.
Not quite sold on Google's Android yet, I let the following stories quench my tech news needs instead:
Cisco China: Keen to Be Green - BusinessWeek
Breakthrough Qualcomm IMOD Display Imitates Butterfly Wings, Uses less Energy than LCD - Good Clean Tech
Target jumps on green bandwagon with reduced PVC use - Blogging Stocks
Server Technology Inc. Becomes a Member of The Green Grid - Press Release
And this one is for everyone that's sick of carrying the cinder block of a power supply that accompanies a sliver of a notebook:
Marvell Power Supply Chip Shrinks Power Bricks, Energy Use - Gizmodo
Marvell can't get those chips out soon enough.
More exciting than the mythical Google Phone, today's green links:
50 Ways to Green Your Business - Fast Company
Think about #14 when you down your next brew:
Finally, something to do with skunked beer: In a partnership with Colorado engineering firm Merrick & Co., Coors produces 3 million gallons of ethanol a year by distilling waste beer. The brewery sells 200-proof ethanol to Valero Energy to be distributed at gas stations in Colorado. The program has been so successful that Coors doubled its capacity by building a $2.3 million facility in 2005.
Deploying greener infrastructures - vnunet.com
PG&E and Ausra Partner on Solar Thermal Power - Earth2Tech
Clever Ad - EcoGeek
In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels - The New York Times
And finally...
Ikea to Recycle all CFLs - EcoGeek
Save for a halogen desk lamp and another tiny lamp, every bulb in my apartment is a CFL. I've only had one burn out so far and it's sitting in a drawer in my kitchen, which is better than tossing it with the rest of the garbage but it's not helping the planet in any way.
So it pleases me to learn that the next time I need cheap home furnishings, I can make the trip to my local Ikea in Elizabeth, NJ (3.5 percent sales tax, whoo-hoo!) and drop off that sad, lonely bulb. And pick up some more while I'm there, of course.
Wait, fearless gamer! Before you rush out and snag a new 40 GB Playstation 3, be warned that there are no 65nm Cell chips to be found inside. At least for now.
It appears that reports of the 65nm PS3s were exagerrated. Fortunately, the power savings part of the story remains true. The new PS3's power consumption numbers are "just 120 to 140 watts, compared to 180 to 200 watts for the older models."
Actually, this makes the new model all the more impressive, considering they're using 90nm chips. And don't worry, Sony still plans to release a 65nm version someday.
Dare we dream of a sub-100 watt PS3 slim?
Just got off the phone with Rich Lechner, the vice president of IT Optimization and System Software for IBM, after discussing their new Energy Efficiency Certificate Program for data centers.
And he brings up a good point:
Customers are realizing that energy efficiency equates to business efficiency.
He's finding that businesses are deriving benefits beyond energy savings and lessening the impact to the environment. So, for instance, every $0.10 per kilowatt/hour saved can yield operational savings of 8 or 9 times that in reduced labor, systems management, and data center square footage.
Nice to know!
Now that it's the weekend, many geeks will be hanging their command line jockey hats and spend some time behind their favorite gamepads. PC gamers may feel excluded from this post because it primarily deals with console gaming. Don't feel bad, it's not like you don't have Portal and Team Fortress 2 to keep you busy.
Anyway, Earth2Tech's Wagner James Au weighs in on the recent PS3 die shrink by proclaiming the Wii the "Prius of game consoles."
Fanboy flame war in 3... 2... 1...
Now that the Cell chip went through a die shrink to 65nm, the Playstation 3 consumes just 135 watts instead of 200 watts. To realize these savings, you'll need to buy the new $399 40 GB version, which lacks a couple of features, including I hear, backward compatibility.
Notice I put greener in quotes in the title. That's because the new design (internal mostly) brings the PS3 from gluttonous power hog to just on par with the Xbox 360. No huge leapfrogging going on here.
On the plus side, it generates less heat, meaning that the internal fans don't have to work as hard to keep it cool. And its still among the cheapest -- if not the cheapest -- Blu-Ray players you can buy.
So if both gaming and power savings are important to you, the new PS3 may be worth a look. And, of course, you'd have to be willing to overlook the Xbox 360's bigger game library or the appendage-waggling fun of the Wii.
[via EcoGeek]
Just realizing how wasteful computing gear can get is a big step. But how do you go about greening your IT?
We've featured tips and whitepapers from others, now we turn the lens on ourselves. The "Putting the Green into IT" eBook comes from the writers of Internet.com, EarthWeb, ServerWatch and our very own Enterprise IT Planet.
Topics covered include Greening Your Data Center; Server Disposal Goes Green; Green Is Hot for Storage Managers; and How Green Is Your Storage. Just the thing you need to read if your IT department has started making energy efficiency and sustainability a priority.
You can enjoy a taste of what the eBook offers here (PDF). You'll have to register with Internet.com for the full eBook, however (it's free).
And now may be a good time, too. That is, if you've been eyeing an iPod Touch, which Internet.com is awarding to a lucky winner.
Just sayin'...