News of Green, Mobile, IT and Data Centre Technology - at eWEEK Europe UK
Large + Energy
Will BT’s Wind Farm Come To Grief?
[...] The CRC cap-and-trade scheme also needs a lot more thought, he said. All large energy consuming companies that aren't already covered by an emisssions-trading scheme will go into a cap-and trade system from 2010 onwards. If any organisation has a consumption greater than 6000MWhr per annum, it will have to buy the right to use that energy. [...] Power utilities are not going to build on other people's sites. they are only interested in large wind farms. Ironically, renewable energy works better if the generation is distributed, so there should be more incentive for companies like BT making their own electricity, he said. [...] BT's energy use is a complex matter. Half its energy use goes on running the network and removing the heat produced by its computers, from its data centres and offices, said Tuppen. The company has worked to reduce the energy used in its networks, and data-centres. [...]
AMD Claims 20 Percent Emissions Cut
[...] For every gram of a microchip, 630 grams of fossil fuels are used, whereas for every gram of an automobile, only 2 grams of fossil fuels are used, the groups states. This is due to the fact that making very pure, organized and hence low entropy structures from high entropy materials require large energy inputs. [...] Automobiles, while made with heavy materials, do not require the level of purity and sophistication of materials as a microchip. The energy used in producing nine or ten computers is enough to produce an automobile. . [...] While computer companies such as AMD are keen to focus the IT environmental debate on energy efficiency - and discuss how computing tools such as video conferencing can be used as an alternative for commuting for example - there is growing pressure amongst environmental IT experts to move the debate onto cutting back PC refresh cycles and sweating assets . [...]
Performance Management Might Help Get You Through The Crisis
[...] Performance Management helps companies work smarter for better business outcomes across industries. For instance, we have a large energy company that is using our Performance Management solution to track expense management and determine profitability by rig. [...] Yes. Midsize and small businesses in a wide range of industries can use performance Management software to manage operational costs, improve performance and gain competitive advantage just like the large enterprise organisations. We find that these size companies want flexible deployments that fit their needs and budgets, and can grow with their business. [...]
IBM Puts Electric Car Plan In Drive
[...] In a statement released this week, the tech giant announced that it has joined the Edison research group based in Denmark. The consortium includes Denmark's largest energy company DONG Energy, the Technical University of Denmark, Siemens and the Danish Energy Association. [...] Edison wants to see how an electricity grid based on renewable energy will cope with the demand from a large number of electric vehicles. The group is keen to point out that the tests will be simulation-based and not impact the electricity needs of the island's 40,000 inhabitants. [...] For its part, IBM will be supplying smart technologies that synchronise the charging of electric vehicles with how much electricity is being supplied to the grid through wind power. IBM has also contributed hardware to the Technical University of Denmark to run simulations of how the energy grid on the island will be impacted by large numbers of electric vehicles. [...]
Lenovo Develops New “Green” Desktop
[...] Select EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Gold-rated M58e models offer improved energy efficiency, which in large deployments can offer accumulating savings. Combined with a ThinkVision L1940pW monitor, the new system can save businesses about $40 (£29) a year over other Lenovo desktop and monitor offerings, the company said. [...] The ThinkCentre M58e, intended for large and midmarket companies, combines all the technologies of the A58 with green features that meet Energy Star 5.0 specifications, which go into effect on 1 July. [...] Lenovo has developed two new desktops - one of which the company is touting as energy efficient. [...]
Energy Star 5.0 Debunked
[...] Energy Star is a standard that concentrates on energy efficiency of products. Energy consumption represents around 80 percent of the carbon footprint of most IT equipment. Saving energy is probably the most important criteria used for buying equipment, as it has a large global warming impact and can result in savings in the total cost of ownership. [...] Energy Star 4.0, the previous standard, is now viewed as quite relaxed. Energy Star 5.0 equipment uses at least 30 percent less energy. [...] Energy Star 5.0 splits equipment into 4 categories. A, B, C and D. In short these categories represent single, dual, triple and quad core systems respectively. The Energy Star 5 standard revolves around a metric called Total Energy Consumption (TEC) an estimate of how much electricity you'll use per year, in KWh. [...]
Companies Warned About Christmas Switch Off
[...] You need someone in the office to make sure equipment is switched off, said Elliott. Some large companies are installing energy management systems to monitor who is leaving their computers on overnight. But in reality smaller businesses have got more important things to worry about than energy management systems. [...] Elliot said that if businesses were to switch energy suppliers, they can in theory reduce their energy bill by as much as 50 percent. It is worth remembering that these evergreen contracts automatically renews unless the customer takes action to terminate it, and they often renew at more expensive rates, he said. [...] You only have to feel the heat of a mobile phone charger to know that it's still sucking up electricity even when it's not attached to your phone, said Jonathan Elliott, MD of Make It Cheaper. And leaving a PC monitor on all night wastes enough energy to microwave six cold turkey dinners. [...]
Greenpeace Admits Using ‘Dirty’ Power
[...] And by criticising Facebook, it has gained valuable publicity by making renewable energy a front-of-mind issue for large companies building new data centres. [...] In Greenpeace's defence, it feels that the data centre industry's largest power users have a higher obligation to utilise renewable energy to power their servers, and that Facebook has a much bigger energy choice to make because of the size of its data centres. [...] Greenpeace's beef with Facebook's data centre was that it is not using renewable energy, which led the environmental group to reportedly say that the only truly green data centres are the ones running on renewable energy. [...]
Can Technology Be Green In Troubled Times?
[...] The CRC is a proposed mandatory cap and trade scheme that will apply to large non-energy-intensive organisations (following on from recommendations announced in the 2007 Energy White Paper) in the public and private sectors. Set to be launched in January 2010, the CRC aims to reduce carbon emissions in these organisations by 1. [...] When it comes to making energy savings, many organisations look at obvious quick fixes like installing energy efficient light bulbs, ensuring computers aren't left on standby and turning lights off. These work fine in a domestic setting, but barely scratch the surface in a business environment. [...] Of that 60 percent, just over a third said they were concerned about their company's energy usage and only a minority of 16 percent said they actively sought to purchase environmentally friendly IT products. [...]
Desktop Power Cuts Beat Server Savings
[...] Google clearly uses more energy in its data centres, but a company with large call centres, or an educational establishment, might use more on the desktop. . [...] All the quoted savings are relative to workload, agreed Lawrence. There are very few cases where overall energy has been reduced and stayed down. People cut - then grow back with new apps. They will in almost all cases increase the workload to take up that energy - but at least they aren't building a new data centre. . [...] It is quite clear that most companies are finding it very easy to save energy, said Lawrence. They find they are very inefficient, and can save a lot of energy by using new technologies. The US government has proposed users should aim for 40 to 50 percent savings, based on same workload, and trials by Accenture have backed this up, said Lawrence. [...]
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