Archive for the 'electrics' CategoryPage 2 of 2

Toyota as a case study in complexity. Is prius just a greenwash halo?

Published
by
monkchips
on October 25, 2007
in North America, automotive, carbon and electrics
. 0 Comments

Great piece today at movementdesign’s re*move blog about Toyota. It tells us a lot about bright green, and the danger of kneejerk reactions. There are plenty of lessons for any industry there.

Right now there’s a petition going on in the States, calling for Toyota to support a proposed bill requiring ‘CAFE’ fleet average ‘gas mileage’ for cars and small trucks, to rise to 35mpg by 2020.  Toyota is doing its green image absolutely no good by trying to derail this bill, and supporting an alternative, which calls for the average to rise to 32mpg. Could it be that the self-styled green giant Toyota, is not as green as it likes everyone to think it is?

It seems its all about the trucks, with Prius as nothing more than window dressing.

Sadly, like everyone else auto-wise when it comes to the United States market, Toyota is actually rather keen on truck sales - specifically its big Tundra truck - which it recently launched a new version of. While Ford and GM have been taken to the cleaners by greens and press alike over their poor gas mileage, and reliance on selling inefficient trucks and their lack of hybrids, Toyota has sailed merrily on, positioning itself as the big green giant, basking in the halo effect of the Prius.

Joe though avoids knee-jerk conclusions. Its not either, or.

So although this fuel economy episode is unlikely to do Toyota’s green image much good - and although it indeed seems rather hypocritical of them to oppose the tougher gas-mileage bill, I wouldn’t kick Toyota too hard. They are ahead of the game - in terms of alternative power plants, advanced research and future mobility ideas. Just because they oppose the regulations now, doesn’t mean they won’t hit, or even exceed the legislation come 2020.

Toyota is of course undoubtedly a leader in green automotive technology, and green automotive sales, but we have to remember the company’s job is to sell as many vehicles as possible. Until it becomes deeply embarrassing to drive one of those huge trucks in environments where they aren’t absolutely necessary people will keep buying them. Toyota it seems to me is a company we should be encouraging to do better. But then signing the petition is perhaps a way to do just that.

Somehow I can’t see a computer company lobbying to reduce energy consumption targets on servers, but stranger things have happened. Environmental leadership is complex and only going to get more so.

by-sa

The UK Gets A Green IT Conference: w00t!

Published
by
monkchips
on October 1, 2007
in electrics and sustainability
. 0 Comments

Exciting. Green IT 08 is a new UK conference for “IT leadership in Environmental Age.” Its really good to see this conference in London - its surely one of the first in the world, let alone the UK.  They are looking for green pioneers, sponsors and all sorts.

One of the thing I think is cool is that they are starting small, evidently trying to start a snowball to roll downhill, rather than pus a rock uphill. Its at the business design center, a small but perfectly formed venue in Islington.

The fact they put a web site online, without feeling the need to have every tab complete, is goodness. The community will drive the content, which is a good grassroots approach. All I can say is- I know what I am doing 9th and 10th April next year.

by-sa

I want me some Blue Sky

Published
by
monkchips
on September 17, 2007
in electrics and hardware
. 0 Comments

I am a Thinkpad fanboy. The machine to me is a stone cold industrial design classic (warm palm issues on the X60s notwithstanding). What is more, you can pour an entire glass of water into the keyboard and you’ll probably get away with it. Thinkpad Looks Good, Works Well. The machines tend to be light, too- thus the current weightless ad campaign.

When it comes to desktop machines I have no such preference but I have to say I am excited by the new Blue Sky thinking from Lenovo. ComputerworldUK has the story here.

A desktop machine which at 45 Watts can potentially be powered by a solar cell - sweet. Perhaps even cooler Lenovo claims its made up of 90 percent reusable or recyclable materials, and its packaging is 90 percent recyclable,so it got a Gold EPEAT rating.

Small is beautiful. Low power is beautiful. Blue sky is beautiful.

photo courtesy of papalar, Creative Commons attribution no derivs license.

by-sa

Turn Servers Off When You Don’t Need Them Part 2

Published
by
monkchips
on September 6, 2007
in IT, North America, electrics and energy
. 2 Comments

I recently blogged about the fact its common in Japan to turn servers off at night, so I found it interesting that Cassatt, the data center automation vendor launched by BEA founder Bill Coleman , has just announced a power management play- claiming “customers have experienced up to 50 percent reduction in their power usage, simply by allowing Active Power Management to turn off servers when idle, and then confirm a successful power-up when they’re needed again.”

According to the release the The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported last month that data centers are consuming up to 1.5 percent of all the electricity generated in the U.S.

But Europe is actually ahead of the US in some areas of efficiency and greening. BT, a leader in the field, now looks for always available, rather than always on in its equipment purchasing. One of the strangest arguments of the last ten years came from the Washington lobbyists and politicians claiming efficiency initiatives harm the economy. I am glad this argument is being won by the other side - green power can save money whether you’re a small or large business. As this Computerworld story says vendors such as Sun and Fujitsu are now showcasing their own initiatives. It doesn’t matter whether you turn electricity off to save money or save the planet.

Why do I find the Cassatt pitch interesting? Partly because it answers a key counterpoint to “turn you server off” thinking. Thus Mike Gunderloy, in comments to my earlier blog post, asked:

Has anyone looked at the labor costs of this? I know that even on my tiny little dozen-machine network, I am reluctant to power everything off at night simply because it takes so bloody long waiting for the damn things to boot up in the morning. Seems like actual working fast-boot technologies would go a long way to sell this initiative.

IT labor costs of course will kill energy efficiency initiatives every time, if they are too high. That’s where automation software comes in. We can expect automation vendors of all stripes to pursue similar power management strategies, which is a good thing.

Power off.

picture courtesy of r3wind’s creative commons attribution license.

by-sa

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.

by-sa

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…

by-sa