January 2009 Archives

Cisco's EnergyWise initiative, which starts with adding power management smarts to switches, sounds like a great idea for energy/eco-conscious IT departments. But some aren't buying it.

Nortel's Tony Rybczynski lays out some reasons like security and vendor lock-in to cast a suspicious eye on Cisco's latest move. And then there's this:

Thirdly, painting Cisco routers and switches with EnergyWise paint doesn't make them any more energy efficient. In fact third party tests prove that Nortel switches consistently have lower energy consumption needs than Cisco's.... by a whopping 40%. The Cisco Energy Tax lives on, month after month after month.

Agree, disagree? Sound off in the comments!

Will Energy Management Live in the Network? - Data Center Knowledge

As it unveiled more new networking products yesterday, Cisco Systems (CSCO) also announced that it is entering the energy management business. With its new Energy Wise software, Cisco will be able to measure the power use of phones, video surveillance cameras, computers, printers and even HVAC and building security systems - all of which can be managed through a single interface.

In other words, Cisco wants to own the “single pane of glass” you use to track and manage energy throughout your data center, your building and your company.

Cisco Pushes Groundwork for Greener Networks - InternetNews

"This is really about the notion that the network is the platform," William Choe, Director of Ethernet Switching told InternetNews.com. "Given the pervasiveness of networks and given that anything that connects to the network has a centralized platform, the network provides the multiplier effect on how you can deliver energy savings."

The idea behind Cisco's new EnergyWise program is that IT can manage the power utilization of networked devices by using an open software API residing on its Catalyst switches. Third-party device vendors have to support the API, but Cisco is wagering that EnergyWise's benefits to customers make it advantageous to join in.

Antarctic Bases Converting to Solar and Wind Energy - EcoGeek

Belgiums's Elizabeth research station hopes to be the first to rely solely on wind and solar power, England's Rothera base is installing solar thermal panels for heating water and air, Japan's Syowa base is already using solar power and Australia's Mawson station has been using wind turbines since 2003.

Wattcher - ladyada.net

Build a wireless home-power monitoring system

This project documents my adventures in learning how to wire up my home for wireless power monitoring. I live in a rented apartment so I don't have hacking-access to a meter or breaker panel. Since I'm still very interested in measuring my power usage on a long term basis, I will build wireless outlet reporters. Building your own power monitor isn't too tough and can save money but I'm not a fan of sticking my fingers into 120V power. Instead, I'll build on the existing Kill-a-watt power monitor, which works great and is available at my local hardware store.

Global 100 List of sustainable businesses.

AMD, Intel, Dell, Amazon and other tech companies made the list...

Amazon is summoning the media to an event in New York. No reason was given, but judging by the venue, it's not hard to guess what the online retailer has in store.

Wired tell us:

Amazon will host a media event in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City on Feb. 9. The timing and the venue strongly suggest that Amazon will use the event to announce Kindle 2.0, which industry watchers say will likely be a slimmer and better-designed device, aimed at spurring adoption by more mainstream users.

"The holidays are still eight months away, consumer spending is down, and we are in the middle of a recession," says Josh Martin, senior analyst with the Yankee Group. "But if they offer customers a good deal in terms of cost savings, the time may be right."

Come to think of it, where's my invite?

Anyway, I for one am looking forward to this. I skipped the first one, which took a tremendous amount self-control given my impulsive nature when it comes to gadgets. But if everything they say about Kindle 2 (sleeker, cheaper, and all-around better) is true, then I will finally put in an order and do my part save a few trees and bring e-books readers and e-ink into the mainstream.

Now this is what I like to see.

Cisco is blending power management and monitoring into its networking gear. The company envisions that the three-phase initiative, which starts in earnest next month, will give IT managers and CIOs visibility into (and a level of control over) the power consumption of nearly every IP connected device in the enterprise.

First though, they're targeting Catalyst switches.

In the first phase (February 2009), Network Control, Cisco EnergyWise will be supported on Catalyst switches and manage the energy consumption of IP devices such as phones, video surveillance cameras and wireless access points.

In the next phase (Summer 2009), IT Control, there will be expanded industry support of EnergyWise on devices such as personal computers (PCs), laptops and printers.

In the final phase (Early 2010), Building Control, Cisco EnergyWise will be extended to the management of building system assets such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), elevators, lights, employee badge access systems, fire alarm systems and security systems.

A free software upgrade for Catalyst Switches will be made available next month (February 2009). However, it's that last bit promising near end-to-end datacenter power management that has me most intrigued. Keeping my eyes on this.

In related news, the company also announced that it acquired Richards-Zeta's building systems middleware; added power management to Cisco Wireless Control System to shut off radios during off hours; and launched the Cisco Green Business Value Calculator (Flash demo).

Thanks Dan!

[Read]

A BusinessWeek op-ed broaches a thorny topic that been been haunting environmentalists since the economy took a nosedive.

Is the Green Movement a Passing Fancy?

Xerox president, Ursula M. Burns, writes that adopting environmentally-friendlier business practices not only makes her businesses more socially responsible, it reduces wasteful spending.

Let me give you some examples. In 2006, Xerox saved $18 million because of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Through sound energy management, new and innovative manufacturing technologies, more efficient heating and cooling equipment in our facilities, and reducing the miles traveled by our service fleet, we have achieved an 18% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2002. We've raised our goal to a 25% decrease by 2012.

But this isn't just about what Xerox is doing. S.C. Johnson implemented a transportation logistics project that saved the company $1.6 million a year. Wal-Mart reduced costs by $1 million a year just by shutting off the lights in its vending machines.

Even if the economy keeps taking its toll, she argues, giants like Dow continue to achieve considerable cost savings in their green efforts. A penny saved...

You may have heard about SNOW, IBM's new consultancy service for streamlining supply chains. It has helped COSCO (you've undoubtedly seen the name on shipping containers) lower CO2 emission by 15 percent and lower logistics costs by 23 percent.

All well and good, but how does it work? Here's a snippet of what SNOW, which stands for Supply Chain Network Optimization Workbench, entails from the press release:

SNOW was developed by IBM's China Research Laboratory and is built on a service-oriented architecture foundation, using WebSphere and other IBM-brand software products.

The tool is designed to look across five major logistics areas:

-- Product -- evaluating CO2 emissions impact of materials to aid in identifying alternatives;

-- Sourcing -- considering impacts of CO2 emissions in selecting suppliers;

-- Production -- determining CO2 emissions associated with manufacturing processes;

-- Warehousing -- considering storage requirements and their attendant environmental impacts;

-- Transportation and distribution -- analyzing CO2 emissions for transportation modes, shipment sizes and service levels.

IBM also offers Environmental Product Lifecycle Management Green Sigma, and Carbon Tradeoff Modeler services to help companies green up their act and save quite a bit of dough in the process. More info on those are available here.

Green a Key Theme in Obama Speech - Dell ReGeneration

"We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."

Laptop Magazine awards D-Link the Mobile Innovation Award for its 802.11n routers - Press Release

One of the many energy-saving features of D-Link Green technology that sparked the judges' decision was the unique Wi-Fi scheduling that allows D-Link's new 802.11n routers, including the D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router (DIR-655), D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855) and the D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router (DGL-4500), to reduce energy consumption when not in use, whether it be Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity.

Solar industry growth dimming with economy - San Francisco Gate

Barry Cinnamon, chief executive of Akeena Solar in Los Gatos, said his firm's solar installation business has slowed from a growth rate above 40 percent to something more in the 25 to 30 percent range. He hopes that falling prices for solar arrays, coupled with more generous federal tax incentives, will re-energize orders.

"The economics of solar have never been better," Cinnamon said. "But financing is a problem. They can't borrow money to put in the system."

It's Official, Size Really Does Matter! - The Citrix Blogs

Specifically for a long time, most pundits and market watchers have been convinced that the size of the price tag really didn't matter when choosing a virtualization provider. The prevailing view was that demand for cool new features would continue unabated at the early market pace (can anyone say 'housing bubble'?). While I would agree that initially price didn't matter, in my opinion, that view overlooks the natural evolution of products in any marketplace.

Since that time, the competition in the virtualization market has heated up considerably, the demand curve for new features has flattened (as expected) and customers are struggling under reduced budgets in the face of a global economic slowdown. In this environment, the only remaining basis for competition is price.

An Enviro Utopia — in the Abu Dhabi Desert - Time

This week the city is hosting the second annual World Future Energy Summit (WFES), a gathering of clean-tech companies and luminaries that has quickly emerged as, as the New York Times put it recently, a kind of Davos for the postcarbon set. And while much of the rest of the world is using the financial crisis as an excuse to put off the transition to cleaner power, in the WFES's opening session today, Abu Dhabi announced that it had pledged that 7% of its energy would come from renewable sources by 2020, up from nothing today.

Make has revealed their entry into the Core 77 and Greener Gadgets design competition. In typical DIY fashion, they hacked a commercially available Kill-a-Watt to tweet consumption figures. The result: Tweet-a-watt.

Better yet, they're publishing the plans so that you can make one yourself. Get it right though, you're playing with electricity here.

You can follow Tweet-a-watt's Twitter account here (and us here).

[via Digg]

There are several Inaugural Balls taking place in Washington DC tonight, but one of the greenest already took place on Saturday. Organizers Event Emissary tapped AISO to provide Web hosting for the ball's site, which uses efficient IBM blade servers.

Yeah, it does not sound terribly interesting. That is, until you realize that AISO operates a 100 percent solar powered datacenter. Read about it, and the implications for other businesses that buy IBM gear, here.

Thanks Phil!

Michigan based Earthbound Express has just launched an eco-themed "blogazine" called Earth, Wind & Power. (I see what you did there...)

The consumer focused site will guide readers through the latest happenings in green travel, politics, science, home and garden, automobiles... Basically everything that impacts eco-conscious families. They kick things off by awarding the Inaugural Earth, Wind & Power Car of the Year to the Volkswagen Jetta TDI and the Truck of the Year to the Ford Escape Hybrid.

That reminds me... Must. Update. Blogroll.

Thanks Dan!

Symantec and Applied Research polled several enterprises to discover how they were faring IT-wise. Apart from the server, storage and personnel issues I discussed in that article, they also took a moment to report on the state of datacenter greening.

Unsurprisingly, the rising cost of running IT operations is the primary reason most are pursuing energy saving strategies, though social responsibility has a strong showing...

We asked companies why creating a Green Data Center was important to their workplace. Reducing electricity consumption was mentioned by 54 percent, followed by reducing cooling costs (51 percent) and a sense of responsibility to the community (42 percent).

We then asked what they specifically planned to do within the next 12 months. Again, reducing annual energy costs topped the list at 28 percent, tied with recycling obsolete hardware, and followed by using cleaner power sources (21 percent).

According to the report, they plan to follow up with a more detailed study during the first half of 2009. We'll be watching out for it.

There's some stuff to like in Windows 7 if you're a green geek. Take, for starters, the fact that power management options are enabled by default in the beta (read this article on installing the Windows 7 beta if you want to try it out). There's also a plethora of power options available for the obsessive tweaker and eco-techie (sometimes one and the same).

First, it helps to get acquainted with Windows 7 Power settings. It's easy to reach the Power Options control panel, just hit the Start Button and select Control Panel in the second, shaded column on the right.

A busted economy notwithstanding, it's hard running a business these days. If you don't come clean about your carbon emissions strategy you can expect to get assailed by environmentalist groups. Which, on the whole, is not such a bad thing if you're really concerned about global warming.

Now Carbonetworks, providers of the aptly named Carbonetworks Emissions Management Platform, is making it easier for its customers to lay bare their treehugging ways with a new web presence. They're doing it via portals pull data directly from the company's software.

Hosted by Carbonetworks, the online web portals are customized for each client to showcase environmental stewardship by publishing their carbon management strategies, reduction activities and other corporate environmental initiatives.

...The Corporate Carbon Portal provides a snapshot of carbon reduction initiatives running on the Carbonetworks platform, as well as graphics and charts to illustrate emissions reduction activities in action. The portal page is highly customizable allowing corporations to add branding, links to other environmental projects or partners and even a note from the CEO to discuss the corporate commitment to the environment. The portal can be shared internally or externally and is included in a Carbonetworks subscription, all powered by the Carbonetworks Platform.

The Carbonetworks Emissions Management Platform is essentially software that tracks emissions to create a carbon inventory, of sorts. As with most reporting software, the data can be run through analytical and rules engines. In this case, what results is data that businesses can use to inform their carbon reduction strategies; manage actions towards those goals; and navigate regulatory minefields and .

Ah, technology... Is there anything you can't do? You can learn more about Carbonetworks here.

Thanks Dan!

[Source: Press release]

...or will be soon.

Today Samsung spilled the beans on an upcoming 100GB solid state drive for server implementations. Touting low power requirements and specs that deliver a sound beating to 15K drives, the flash chip maker is making its case to data center operators.

In the press release, Jim Elliott, Samsung Semiconductor's vice president of memory marketing, is quoted as saying, "Our new enterprise SSD offers CIOs and IT managers the ability to greatly improve storage reliability and capacity while avoiding costly power and AC infrastructure upgrades in data centers at or near capacity."

Nice to hear that there's some momentum building on the server side of things, apart from specialized and astronomically priced arrays. Let's hope they release pricing information soon.

No surprise here, Apple unveiled the newest version of its flagship laptop, the 2009 17-inch MacBook Pro (now with a matte screen option). It's as sleek and technologically interesting as the rest of their recently-refreshed notebook slate. But what eco-techies really want to know about are its green credentials.

Build-wise, it's in line with the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, meaning there's an LED backlight, solid (and recyclable) aluminum unibody construction and a lack of environmentally harmful materials. There is, however, one aspect of the machine that's proving controversial: the battery.

The rumored non-removable battery is confirmed. There's even an entire multimedia festooned Web page dedicated to the battery.

One the upside, Apple says that the new battery can take up to 1,000 charges and power the unit up to 8 hours (7 using discrete graphics). Apple credits new battery chemistry and smarter charging and power management electronics. Stretching the green claims a bit, they point out that this design results in fewer batteries in landfills.

Perhaps, but non-replaceable batteries, even if they are of the advanced, longer-life variety, are not automatically greener just because the landfill will see fewer of them. First, user serviceable parts extend the life of electronics. If the battery goes south, it's generally easy to find and order a replacement. At 1,000 charges, we're talking 2-3 years of daily charging, at which time the 2012 Pros start looking mighty tempting especially if you're forced to carry around your power adapter everywhere. Which brings me to my second point...

A pricey repair is assured. Replacing an out-of-warranty iPhone battery costs $86. iPod batteries run $50 to $80. And those are mere wafers compared to the battery in the new MacBook Pro, which is 40 percent bigger than the previous generation.

Then there's the cost in time. An iPod you can live without for a few days while it's being repaired and shipped back-and-forth, but your $2,800 MacBook Pro?

What do you think of the decision? Sound off in the comments.

While most electronics and computer makers are making incredible progress in meeting the EPA's Energy Star 4.0 standard, Lenovo today let slip that they that they're already producing computers and peripherals that comply with Energy Star 5.0's finalized criteria, which go into effect July 1, 2009.

The list is long and varied, but as expected, several ThinkPads make the cut (if properly configured). These include the ThinkPad X200, X200s, X200 Tablet (pictured), X301, T400, T500,R400, R500, SL300, SL400, SL500, and W700.

Consumers have several IdeaPad models to choose from. Also getting the early Energy Star 5.0 nod are all ten of Lenovo's new ThinkVision monitors and the ThinkCentre M58/58p desktops. You can read more about Energy Star 5.0 and how the soon-to-be-standard will affect IT products here.

You'll be rewarded with the full press release after the click...

Although belt-tightening is the order of the day, CES never fails to inspire. And this year, JVC takes an early lead by debuting a 32-inch LCD prototype that is not only super thin at 7 mm, but weighs a mere 11 pounds.

The real green story here is the sheer absence of material. At 11 pounds, there simply isn't all that much stuff required to harvest, process and assemble, not to mention the packaging efficiencies and fuel saved during transport. It's a safe bet, however, that a AV connector breakout box and power adapter add a couple of pounds...

Exact details are sparse ahead of its official unveiling at CES, but this little eco-nugget was buried in the press release (PDF):

The superthin LCD technology uses fewer material resources, features an energy-efficient proprietary driver system and eliminates the need for mercury, successfully balancing demand for thin, high definition LCDs with environmental responsibility.

This Geek.com post also brings up a good point. With thin, light-weight models from Samsung and others (hopefully) streaming into the retail channel soon, beefy wall mounts and hefty pedestals (usually made of or containing copious amounts of metal) may be a thing of the past.

Let's hope. Oh, and I'll take one.

[Source: CrunchGear]

Boldly proclaiming that the "WEB 2.0 heyday is over" from a venture capital perspective, the New York Times' Claire Cain Miller writes that the VC community is turning its attention to cleantech and enterprise IT.

Venture capitalists are still chasing clean technology. Through September, $3 billion was invested in technologies that create alternative energy and conserve power, up from $1.9 billion the year before, according to the National Venture Capital Association. But big, expensive projects like building factories to manufacture solar panels or biofuels are falling out of favor.

“The economic arguments for those businesses literally went upside down in a year,” said Paul Holland, the general partner in charge of the clean tech practice at Foundation Capital.

On the enterprise side of things, cloud computing and open source and other cost-cutting technologies that don't demand full-scale datacenter build-outs will see the seed money flow.

Some crafty hackers got Google's mobile OS, Android, to run on an Asus EEEPC 1000H. A neat accomplishment in and of itself, but what does it mean for the netbook and mobile handset ecosystem and are lines starting to blur?

VentureBeat posits that Google has definite netbook plans for Android, perhaps as early as 2010. Interesting stuff, but the real kicker is the handy Android netbook FAQ that addresses some of the technical and ecosystem aspects of the discovery, like why Android doesn't employ Linux.

Speculate away!