CAN GREEN COMPUTERS HELP SAVE THE WORLD? ; Computer Makers Are Waking Up to the Fact That Their Products Emit As Much CO2 As Aviation. By Nic Fildes ++ Business Analysis
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By Nic Fildes  The drive to make computers more environmentally friendly has been given an extra boost after the technology giants Google and Intel joined the rush to prove their green credentials.   The move was widely welcomed by environmental groups.
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Being "green" is all the rage with technology companies these days, but what's not clear is whether or not the environment-friendly approach is bringing in more greenbacks.
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Researchers look back millions of years to predict how the Earth may react to current elevated levels of carbon dioxide. They say our planet appears more vulnerable to the greenhouse gas than previously believed. By Stephen Leahy.
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TONY EASTLEY: Scientists have confirmed there has been a dramatic and unexpected increase in carbon dioxide levels. It&#39;s raised fears that the ability of the earth&#39;s oceans and plants to absorb carbon dioxide may be declining.
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(InfoWorld) - I recently moved from a small apartment in Oakland to a new house in Sacramento. The cat and I are adjusting quite well, thank you, though for about one month, I was without a kitchen. Or a water heater. Or downstairs flooring. It may not have been the best-laid renovation plan. I do have new kitchen appliances, which spent quite some time looming largely and uselessly off to the side of the future kitchen. They're very shiny, which is nice, and they're Energy Star certified, of course I say "Of course," because in this day and age, Energy Starred fridges and stoves and the like are incredibly easy to come by. Plus, they come with little tags that tell you how much you'll save in energy bills per year. Oh, and the local utility will give me money for buying them. So how could I go wrong investing in a green kitchen? Alas, for IT, it's not nearly so easy being green. Swapping out a fridge isn't as quick, straight-forward, or nondisruptive as swapping out a server rack or farm. Determining the potential long-term savings for a bunch of new laptops isn't as simple of figuring out how much you'll save with a new stove (it's right there on the tag). Deciding where to place the dishwasher is pretty much a no-brainer whereas figuring out how to set up your server racks to maximize energy efficiency can be exceedingly complex. In fact, it's likely that you, or whoever runs your business, has seemingly more important things on the brain than developing a strategy for a greener, more energy-efficient operation: boosting sales; keeping the network secure and running; and figuring out who's been stealing Hot Pockets from the Energy Star fridge in the break room. Perhaps youâre not sure where to begin. Or perhaps you're not even convinced that going green -- or greener -- is a worthwhile endeavor, or something you can really afford. Well, let's explore the question -- or rather some answers to the question -- of why going green should matter to you in the first place. 1. Going green really can save you money. For many organizations, that benefit may well be the foremost argument for adopting more eco-friendly practices. Less energy consumption means lower bills -- and hereâs the kicker: You're likely burning (or cooling) away thousands of dollars each year paying for energy that's really not contributing to your bottom line. One of the biggest culprits: cooling costs for the datacenter. In fact, by 2010 IDC predicts that companies will be spending an additional 70 cents per dollar invested in a new server. That's up from 50 cents on the dollar in 2005 and 21 cents per buck in 2000. You'll certainly want to prepare as those costs creep up. It doesn't end there: Waste abounds at organizations, and research has found that companies that work to reduce their environmental impact tend to perform better than their counterparts. Fortunately, there are cost-saving strategies out there. Among them is re-thinking the kind of equipment you can buy (more energy-efficient hardware and standards are coming out all the time), the technologies you employ, such as virtualization and thin clients, and even the way you lay out your datacenter. 2. Going green will help reduce the impact of the imminent energy crisis. Yes, I know: Crisis is often one of those words that media types throw around to cause panic and sell magazines or newspapers or drive Web site traffic. Nevertheless, based on the research I've seen, crisis is an apt word. Right now, energy supply looks to be struggling to keep up with demand. A recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concludes that, thanks to the industry shift to low-end servers, global power consumption has doubled since 2000 to more than 123 million kw/hours. Power demands are expected to increase by 40 percent come 2010 -- and that's assuming that per-server power consumption remains at 2005 rates. Or consider what Gartner proclaimed at the end of 2006: Half of datacenters will run out of power by 2008. As explained by Timothy Morgan at ITJungle: "Gartner did not, by the way, literally mean that datacenters would go dark in two years after blowing some fuses or melting under their own heat. What Gartner did say was that by the end of 2008, 50 percent of the datacenters in the world would not have enough power to meet the power and cooling requirements of the high-density computing gear that vendors are increasingly peddling." Although this prediction doesn't mean it's time to get hysterical, or start training an army of hamsters to power your server farm, it should certainly be a compelling reason to start looking at ways to conserve energy. Want more information? Check out this Webcast from The Uptime Institute about "The Invisible Crisis in the Data Center." (Registration is required for viewing.) 3. Going green is good PR. Both environmentally- and economically-conscious people like a good news article about the ways companies are leveraging green technology, be it simply investing in more energy-efficient gear, or putting solar panels on top of their datacenters. That kind of positive publicity is good advertising, which also can offset some of the cost of investing in green IT. (These kinds of case studies can also provide useful guides for other companies looking for ways to cut energy costs.) 4. Going green is good for the environment. Ah yes, the environment. Trees. Oceans. Fresh air. Turtles. I'm personally in favor of all of those things (even those vicious snapping turtles that would bite off a toe without a second thought). And IT commerce in general has a huge impact on the environment, such as landfills piled up with improperly discarded computers and servers, wasted printer paper, as well carbon dioxides contributing to global warming. Yes, I do realize that some people remain skeptical as to whether or not global warming is real and a concern. (Some people also remain skeptical whether the Earth is flat and whether it revolves around the Sun.) Too flippant? Perhaps. Let's just say that even the previously skeptical political leaders of the world are acknowledging that global warming warrants consideration, and that it requires reducing the carbon dioxides and toxins we spew into environment (and later inhale). And even if you disagree with those who proclaim global warming a concern, you'd best prepare for forthcoming regulations on reducing energy waste -- or risk legal headaches. Yes, there may be a significant up-front cost required to switch to leaner, greener machines -- but there are also incentives out there (federal and local) to help you get the job done. I'll help keep you abreast of those in the coming days and weeks. So there you have it: four simple reasons to consider embracing green IT at your organization. Be sure to check in regularly at my Sustainable IT blog for the latest news and analyses about green IT.
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Global emissions of carbon dioxide from shipping are twice the level of aviation, new maritime research says.
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Global warming is real. We did it. Now it's time to talk about repairs. By David Wolman from Wired magazine.
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Columnist Bert Latamore explores environmentally unfriendly computing practices and possible actions that companies can take now to address the problem and save money at the same time.
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Whatâs greener than HFCs for refrigeration? Carbon dioxide. Thus the public relations problem.
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This is where computers go to die a green death. Inside Hewlett-Packard Co.'s cavernous recycling plant in the Sacramento suburbs, truckloads of obsolete PCs, servers and printers collected from consumers and businesses nationwide are cracked open by goggled workers who pull out batteries, circuit boards and other potentially hazardous components.
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Comment is free: George Monbiot: The middle classes congratulate themselves on going green, then carry on buying and flying as much as before.
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Green tech financiers share tips for spotting sustainable startups.
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Rethinking some banal and non-techy energy stuff, such as corn and wood, and you get ... a corn-powered house, anyone? Plus: The green glow, from environmental economics to using algae as a solar collector. Mark Anderson reports from the MIT Energy 2.0 conference in Autopia.
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By Hazimin Sulaiman  TECH companies are gradually moving towards a greener Earth with a little push from the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) pioneered by Intel and Google. The initiative is rapidly gaining momentum among major IT players.
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Buy new servers more often - it'll make you greener.... Intel has kicked off a campaign to make data centres more efficient and less environmentally damaging. Paradoxically, one of its key messages seems to be that companies need to refresh their servers - ie. buy new ones - more often.â¦
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Investor's Business Daily - The Environment: As a touted effect of global warming melts under the glare of science, Bill Clinton says we must slow the economy to save the earth. How's that again? Hillary, call your husband.
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IT vendors can play a major role in reducing the world&#39;s energy consumption, but information about the benefits of technology has been lacking in an ongoing environmental debate in Washington, D.C., three tech CEOs said Wednesday.While IT consumption of energy in the U.S. has grown in the last decade, technology also displaces more than its share of energy-consuming activities in other sectors, members of the Technology CEO Council said. The advocacy group highlighted a report, released Wednesday, saying that every kilowatt hour of energy used by IT replaces 10 kilowatt hours of energy that would have been used elsewhere.IT currently uses about 6 percent of U.S. electricity, up from 2 percent to 3 percent in 2000, said John &quot;Skip&quot; Laitner, co-author of the report and director of economic policy analysis at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). But through a wide variety of IT products, including tech that enables video conferencing, telecommuting, and e-mail, technology results in a net decrease in energy consumption, he said.Instead of flying to a conference in Sweden recently, Laitner attended by video conference, he said. And in preparing the ACEEE&#39;s report, Laitner received thousands of pages of documents by e-mail or downloads, instead of having them delivered.Few studies have explored the energy efficiencies created by IT, he added. &quot;We have to look at what that&#39;s displacing,&quot; he said.Users of computers and other tech products should expect more energy savings in the future, said Dell CEO Michael Dell. He joined Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials, and Joe Tucci, chairman, president and CEO of EMC, at a press briefing focused on green technologies.&quot;As an industry, we have begun to take up the [environmental] issue in a serious way,&quot; Dell said. &quot;It&#39;s an issue that customers care about.&quot;The IT industry has come under some criticism for its energy use, particularly at large data centers. In January 2007, U.S. Senator Wayne Allard, a Colorado Republican, introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to analyze and report to Congress about the growth and energy consumption of computer datacenters by the federal government and private companies.Congress needs to &quot;more fully understand the impact that the growing number of computers in use throughout the country has on energy consumption,&quot; Allard said then.The Technology CEO Council isn&#39;t concerned about congressional mandates because the IT industry is already taking steps to reduce its energy consumption, said Bruce Mehlman, the group&#39;s executive director.But the U.S. government has a huge impact on energy consumption by adopting more green technologies, said Applied Materials&#39; Splinter. &quot;The government is the largest user of energy in our country,&quot; he said.In addition to the ACEEE report, the Technology CEO Council released its own report, called &quot;A Smarter Shade of Green.&quot; The report lays out the group&#39;s environmental policy principles, including:*&#160;The president should select a federal agency as a center for energy efficiency excellence, a model for other agencies going green.*&#160;The government should invest more in green research.*&#160;Governments across the world should reduce tariffs on green technologies.*&#160;The U.S. government should explore tax incentives for deploying energy-saving technologies.*&#160;Companies shouldn&#39;t wait for government mandates or incentives but should adopt energy-efficient strategies on their own.