RoboGeek

The new systems and "eco-responsibility" Okay, we got this new buzzword to attach to computer systems:  eco responsibility.

Hurm, it may sound a little strange to attach that word to something meant to stay running 24/7 regardless of whether it's doing anything useful or not.  Leaving a server running full time is kind of like leaving a lightbulb on all day while you're at work.  That electricity got wasted, you just wasted some money, and the fossil fuel burned to provide that electricity still poisined the air even though it was pure waste.

On the other hand, if you're going to have a machine turned on and doing something it is ecologically responsible to study how to optimize the energy use of that machine.

And, it's not just ecologically responsible, but the power savings will contribute to the corporate bottom line in lower costs.

And just why is this important?  Let me spin your mind back a few years -- California, late 90's, the .COM is booming before the .BUST.  But one of the strange things happening is the rolling blackout phenomenon.  The newspapers are full of stories about the power situation.  It wasn't until later that we learned that GW Bush's buddies at Enron were ripping off California. 

What instead the newspaper discussed was how with the rise of "server farms" the power needs density metrics the electric power industry had lived by were going out the window.  A server farm is a dense packing of servers into a building, with air conditioning out the wazoo to keep it all from melting down.  The power needs of a server farm tended to equal the needs of small towns, in just one building.  THIS, the newspapers claimed, was the source of the blackouts, the rapid rise in power demands.

Clearly the hotter each individual computer runs, the worse the problem is.  Each hot computer heats the room, meaning more air conditioning, and more air conditioning means more electricity required for cooling.  It doesn't take an air conditioning specialist to understand that.

On the other hand if the servers run cool, not as much air conditioning is needed, meaning less power than the hot computers.  That to me, as a part-time environmentalist, is the gold of the Niagra announcement.  That the chip has all those threads and can so gracefully interleave thread execution is great and I'm sure will mean for a huge jump in system performance.  But to also do so with lower direct power consumption, as well as lower indirect power consumption (air conditioning) is the icing on the cake.

See, the fossil fuels that get burned today to create the power we use - that stuff isn't going to be replaced any time soon.  When the fossil fuels run out "we", the modern societies, had better have developed alternative energy technologies that makes sense (and, no, nuke power just doesn't make sense).  If we don't do so, well, let me remind you of the Mad Max movies. 

In fact it appears the world is a lot closer to the oil peak, and perhaps the natural gas peak, than the world's people understand.  I think there's a lot of denial going on, with the SUV problem being a symptom of that denial, and that stupid illegal war in Iraq being another symptom.  (Not to mention the threat to invade Syria and/or Iran).  In denial, "we" the modern societies would continue to wastefully assume the fossil fuel power industries can supply us with power forever, and continue to stupidly refuse to do anything about it.  Witness our idiot President and the oil-laden National Energy Policy.

I for one am glad to work for a company that wants to do something positive about this issue.

There's some web pages to help you understand what the official line on this is.  The official line is obviously not going to be quite as rabid as I am on this issue.
(2005-11-14 08:43:23.0) Permalink Comments [1]