DOE: No need for regulation to curb energy use
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) is stressing incentives over regulations to improve the energy efficiency of datacenters. The DOE's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) gathered the top technology companies in Silicon Valley Wednesday to promote collaboration on strategies to improve overall energy efficiency.Â Datacenter energy issuesÂ are a growing concern for businesses and users as computers get more powerful, and the cost of running them and keeping them cool continues to increase. Technology vendors represented at the forum, including rival chip makers Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, along with server vendors such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, andÂ Sun Microsystems, have each been developing more energy-efficient products. But they and the DOE representatives acknowledged that datacenter energy usage needs to be addressed holistically. The DOE can be a resource to the industry, not a regulator requiring datacenters to meet energy efficiency goals, said Andy Karsner, head of the EERE program. "I donât know that right now thereâs a dramatic need for a regulatory move, particularly when you have the leaders of the industryâ¦coming here with a sense of purpose,â said Karsner. Industry representatives said they work independently on improving the energy efficiency of individual products but that the federal government could provide tax credits, other financial incentives, or other resources to enhance overall energy efficiency. "AMD and Intel keep doing their best to improve the performance [of processors], but the CPU is only half the story.â said Kris Singh, director of strategic platform technology programs at AMD, which hosted the daylong energy conference at its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Because this was the first meeting of what the DOE called a "tech industry working group," no specific recommendations were made and the schedule for future work remained open. The DOE can fund research that individual product makers can't fund to look at how different components could work better together, said David Rodgers, acting deputy assistant secretary of EERE. "A hardware company might improve theÂ energy efficiency of a blade serverÂ and another company might improve the energy efficiency of a transformer to convert AC to DC. Right now very few people are doing research on how to integrate those two together," said Rodgers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsors theÂ Energy Star programÂ rating the energy efficiency of home appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners and some commercial equipment. But some participants in the working group are skeptical that a comparable program could be applied to datacenters. âIâm not sure about that," said Roger Schmidt, chief thermal architect at IBM. Because datacenters are much more complex with components from different manufacturers, it'd be hard to develop one Energy Star rating everyone would agree upon. "What if [the rating] is bad, what do you do? Who are you going to point the finger to?â Schmidt asked.
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It is a favored tactic in the Bush White House to take on tough criticism by boldly asserting the opposite. Keeping clean air regulations from forcing further cuts in emissions is labeled a &quot;clear skies&quot; initiative.
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VIENNA, Sep 4 (IPS) - Despite its new willingness to participate in a  UN-monitored regime for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,  the U.S. government continues to oppose legally binding caps.
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The FutureGen Alliance finally announced the site of what would be America's first utility-scale zero-emissions coal-powered electrical plant. But there are those who doubt that this magic bullet will ever work.
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The Bush administration yesterday finalized a plan that seeks to protect Columbia River Basin salmon without resorting to removing any dams - even as a last-ditch option.
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The Environment Ministry unveiled a carbon tax Friday to discourage use of fossil fuels and promote the use of energy-saving appliances so Japan can meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
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By Tom Incantalupo, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.  Feb. 9--Another federal government agency is criticizing as flawed a study by federal energy regulators that concluded the controversial Broadwater Energy liquid natural gas terminal could be built with minimal environmental impact.
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The Bush administrationâs plan to build a commercial-scale coal-fire plant that would emit no carbon dioxide â also known as the FutureGen project â was scratched.
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Energy law sets efficiency levels for cars and homes but environmentalists say measures are too limited
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Science & environment: The energy from some micro power equipment would not operate a lightbulb, says official study
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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved on Thursday the first site in over 30 years that could eventually house a new nuclear power plant, but the United States is still far away from breaking ground on any new reactors.
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In their weekly radio address, Democrats on Saturday called for a new direction in energy policy, away from gas-guzzling automobiles and reliance on foreign oil.
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US researchers demonstrate a system to transfer energy to devices without the need for wires.
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Science & environment: Government expected to approve building of coal-fired power station without emissions limits
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The government says it has no need to increase its nuclear power capacity for at least 10 or 15 years but future expansion of nuclear power cannot be ruled out altogether.
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US hedge funds do not need more regulation or monitoring, the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, said in written responses to questions from lawmakers.
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Blog: Federal Trade Commission, in 169-page study, concludes that means there's no need for extensive regulations of the sort that the Republican-controlled Congress considered, and rejected, last year.