Archive for the 'carbon' CategoryPage 3 of 4

Europe’s Second Largest Web Host Goes Carbon Neutral. Sun helps.

Published
by
monkchips
on September 26, 2007
in carbon
. 0 Comments

Wow.

STRATO, Europe’s second largest web host, is becoming the first company to power its high performance computer centres entirely with renewable energy. From January 2008 STRATO data centres will be 100% C02 free, enabling STRATO to reduce its CO2 emissions by approximately 15,000 tons per year.

I first met the folks from Strato as alpha customers for Sun’s lower pow consumption Niagara/T1-based multicore servers. The company data center is based on the banks of the Rhine, which gets really hot in summer.  But how do you keep servers cool when its hot outside? One method is to build a state of the art air cooling system, which Strato is doing.

I love the fact Strato has done the maths, and decided to pay more for carbon-neutral electricity, knowing its going to save enough in other areas to more than compensate for the slightly lower margin.  I haven’t talked to them about this yet, butI see a follow up and some RedMonkTV in our future.

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Fantastic Serendipity: What’s Your Global Action Plan

Published
by
monkchips
on September 19, 2007
in UK, carbon, footprint and global warming
. 0 Comments

Anyone that uses social software tools knows how they sometimes create interesting coincidences. Someone will write about the same thing, on the same day, and mention you, say, when you blogged about them without seeing their post first. That kind of thing.

I was really pleased, and not a little bit surprised this morning when i went over to check out the ComputerWorldUK Green zone, where this blog is syndicated, and came across a call to action from Global Action Plan.

GAP is carrying out a survey - let’s hear your green plans. So please fill it in here.

This survey, by the newly formed Environmental IT Leadership Board, aims to find out the level of awareness of IT impact on the environment that exists between IT managers.

Chaired by the environmental charity Global Action Plan and backed by internet solutions provider Logicalis, the Environmental IT Leadership Board is the UK’s first end user green IT team. The group is comprised of members from Lloyds TSB, British Medical Association, John Lewis Partnership, E. ON UK and others, making up a diverse and influential group, committed to creating a positive change in the IT sector.

The Environmental IT Leadership Team aims to create an independent expert user group focused on exploring and publishing best practice sustainable IT strategies. While there have been other groups driven from the manufacturer side, this is first from the user perspective.

It is brilliant to see major UK organisations showing this kind of leadership.

You’re probably wondering what is the big coincidence? Well, about a month ago I volunteered to help GAP with a couple of projects, and seeing them here at my digs at ComputerWorld dovetails so brilliantly with that. I am looking forward to working with them.

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Introducing AMEE, the avoiding mass extinctions engine

Published
by
monkchips
on September 11, 2007
in carbon and footprint
. 1 Comment

Its a core Greenmonk idea that open data will be crucial to the success of environmental initiatives. We need a scientific, commons-based approach, rather than proprietary data, in order to work effectively on the really big (and really small) problems.

A great example of this kind of thinking is AMEE, the somewhat scarily named Avoiding Mass Extinction Engine, which is a an open source back end data service for calculating carbon footprints. One of the really interesting elements of the AMEE model is the fact the UK public sector is getting involved in the shape of DEFRA, and Hertfordshire Council. The Royal Society too.

AMEE uses the GNU Public License and Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike licenses to ensure its data can’t be strip mined. What’s not to like? Certainly it would make a great deal of sense if competing Carbon Calculators out there used the service rather than build their own models and databases. I wrote up AMEE in a bit more detail over at GreenForge.

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Green From The Ground Up: On your Bike

Published
by
monkchips
on August 22, 2007
in North America, Uncategorized and carbon
. 1 Comment

Some people argue that we can’t make a difference, that only corporations or governments have the muscle to work on the huge ecological problems we’re all facing, that carbon emissions are someone else’s problem. So its refreshing to see someone that sees things differently and acts on the difference. Credit to 21st Century Citizen for writing about someone worthy of the name: Steve Loo.

We’re all part of the problem, so therefore we must be part of the change.

Pedal power - that’s roots. Here are Steve’s trails to sustainability:

1. Using my bike as my main form of transportation including winter time (I still drive once a week through carsharing)

2. Using less paper (in fact, I haven’t bought any new paper in 3 years);

3. Having not just shorter showers but also having staggered and fewer showers; recently we bought a dual flush toilet. Woohoo!

4. Creating my own artistic notebooks reusing old materials

5. Becoming more integrated with my local economy – not just local foods but also locally made products and services (yay Calgary Dollars)

6. Organizing and promoting documentary screenings focusing on social justice and environmental issues, and showcasing local activists working on local causes

7. Gardening (with mixed success but still trying)

8. Questioning and challenging our politicians, journalists, teachers and other “professionals” (along with fellow students) regarding government policy and media portrayal of all the issues

9. Encouraging my friends to take up more sustainable lifestyles while emphasizing that this is progression rather than perfection.

Just because the world is speeding up doesn’t mean you have to.

Photo courtesy of sandcastlematt. This post is nigh on perfect for the car obsessives over at Re*Move.

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Go Green Nippon Style: Turn Your Server Off at Night

Published
by
monkchips
on August 14, 2007
in Asia, IT, SMB, carbon, electrics and sustainability
. 9 Comments

I recently met with Fujitsu Siemens Computer about green data initiatives, based on what the joint venture calls IT with a sense of responsibility. The underlying hook to the narrative is Japanese/German engineering excellence (not a bad peg, I am sure you’d agree).

Bernhard Brandwitte, director of product marketing for FSC and perhaps more importantly in the context of behavioural change an excellent story-teller, told me something that really rocked me on my heels: in Japan its common to turn production servers off at night. Yup- apparently the Japanese insurance industry tries to avoid fires in plants at night by offering much cheaper cover for companies that power down after dark.

What does that mean in practice? A much more coherent backup and recovery strategy for one. A commitment to not 24/7, not follow the Sun, not have uptime for its own sake.

I have been thinking about this issue for a while, but it was a tweet from Chris Dalby this morning that pulled the trigger:

yellowpark is going green. I’m turning my server off each night :)

Chris is someone I deeply respect. Another cool thing is that he won’t shop at supermarkets- all his shopping is packaging free, from a local farm shop. When he tweets a delicious lunch menu you know the vegetables were never wrapped in plastic. That is a pretty good metaphor for Chris: He is very real, very passionate, and focuses on local issues. He is all about change from the grassroots.

Chris’ commitment to server-off computing is cool because he is an expert in technologies such as Windows Small Business Server, which he sells into small and medium-sized businesses. I wonder if he could set up a service helping SMBs become more green, given his bona fides?

All I know is that much as we should all turn off our appliances at night, and our cellphone chargers, so we should ask - do we really need that server on all night?

 

picture credit: Chris’s dog, from his moo cards, saying… “Turn that bloody server off, I’ll be your watchdog…”

disclosure: Chris is a friend.

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Why Don’t You Just Turn Off The Television And Do Something Less Boring Instead?

Published
by
monkchips
on August 8, 2007
in carbon, electrics, global warming and sustainability
. 2 Comments

From 21st Century Citizen come suggestions for small things that could make a difference in the fight against global warming. One of the suggestions is turn off the TV and do anything. Join the Anything But TV club. Seems fair. We need to engage with challenges, not just watch them flickering past.

My own favorite small thing to make a difference is turning off the plugs at the wall when I leave the office, and when we turn off the TV in the evening at home. There is no need to power all of those appliances-or more pertinently their power supplies-overnight. Its good to turn off the plugs rather than just devices because otherwise you forget about phone chargers and so on…

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