Friday Jan 05, 2007
Non-bloggers wonder sometimes why read other people's blogs when you can just read the news. Well, case in point. I completely missed an important story over the holiday had I not read ddnotes today.
CNET has a story on December 26 that is quite interesting, since Sun is a leader in this space when it comes to energy-efficient servers and has been working with the EPA.
<snip from C|NET>
In a letter to computing-industry representatives Thursday, the federal
agency said it "is initiating its process to develop an Energy Star
specification for enterprise computer servers." Energy Star certification is a voluntary program identifying products that meet EPA-set efficiency requirements.
Thursday Dec 21, 2006
Today President Bush signed an important bill for the tech industry - HR5646 - today.
Big pat on the back to Sun as I know we certainly helped inspire/propose this bill to legislators, working
with others in the tech industry to make sure it was a single voice. Now the EPA has been directed to
study and promote energy efficiency in servers.
HR 5646 was one of about 20 bills the President signed yesterday.
Under the bill the EPA study and recommendations are due 180 days from
enactment, so mid/late June.
There is also a WSJ Story that is subscription only here
Today, large companies spend 15% to 20%
of their data center's operating budget on power and cooling, and by
2009 businesses in the U.S. will spend twice as much for power and
cooling as they did to buy the data centers' server hardware in the
first place. This trend makes it more apparent now than ever that
energy efficient and environmentally responsible computing will no
longer be just an option, but rather an imperative needed for companies
to remain competitive.
This measure offers an opportunity for the Environmental Protection
Agency to examine the environmental impact of data centers, explore
ways to reduce energy demand, and encourage the adoption of more energy
efficient server technology. The mandate will serve as an important
step toward promoting not only more environmentally responsible
computing for government and industry, but also better fiscal health as
a result of the tremendous savings possible through more energy
efficient technologies. It is important that we take action now to
promote these goals to help keep both our energy use and costs under
better control. This, in turn, will help drive U.S. competitiveness and
economic growth.
Sun is a leader in energy efficient computing technologies and is
committed to reducing global climate change through innovation. Our
Eco-Responsibility initiative is focused on reducing environmental
impact by designing products that require less power, manufacturing
products with less harmful materials, and encouraging reuse and
recycling in our industry. We look forward to working with leaders in
the 110th Congress to develop other legislative initiatives that will
encourage government and industry to adopt more energy efficient and
environmentally responsible policies and best practices for information
technology.
Sunday Dec 10, 2006
Source: New Scientist.
According to New Scientist, grass may be the best source of biofuel. According to the researchers, it is actually "carbon negative" even after you use fossil fuels to transport it to the refinery.
"The use of fossil fuels to power the process releases 0.3 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year - but the growing grasses store 4.4 tonnes of CO2
in the roots and soil, meaning the net result is 4.1 tonnes removed
from the atmosphere. The stems, leaves and flowers of the grasses also
absorb CO2 but this is then released again when the grassland biofuel is burned later on – meaning no net gain or loss of CO2."
<snip>
Humble grasses may be the best source of biofuel, say researchers, who
estimate grasses could provide 19% of global electricity needs at the
same time as soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. <unsnip>
Corn as the crop for biofuel has been criticized because of the amount of energy it takes to grow it, harvest it, etc.
It's definitely going to take a mix of innovations to reduce our impact on the environment or to return earth to how it once was. With every innovation that is seen by some as positive there are immediately those who see negatives. Are there innovations out there with no negatives? My definition of innovation is that which improves on something that already exists. But by improving something the most obvious naysayers are those whose previous innovation now has little value.
Should innovation with no negative impact be a goal, given the limited amount of resources on our great planet? After reading Cradle to Cradle, it makes me think that humans should make this our goal.
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