green computing

Brewing up a Green Revolution: Biofuel for the Masses

Green Your Network — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:51:04 -0500

Whether a paragon of the overexuberant eco-chic or a bright ray of hope in a failing economy, Amyris stands out from the pack for the sheer ambition and scale of its plan for biofuel production.

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Wal-Mart blows into wind power in a big way

Layer 8 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:16:20 -0500

Wal-Mart today said it will power up to 15% of its massive stores in Texas and other locations with 226 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind power. The power will come from wind farm being built by Duke Energy in Notrees, Texas. The site is expected to be producing electricity by April, 2009.

Duke said the Notrees project includes 55 Vestas turbines that operate 1.65 MWs each.

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60 Minutes Visits the Place Where Old Computers Go to Die

Green Your Network — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:20:44 -0500

It is true that we have covered the epidemic of e-waste here before, on more than one occasion. But lacking the resources of a major television network we never gave it the depth of treatment that it received on CBS' 60 Minutes this week. Brace yourself for some very disturbing coverage of the direct impact your old, discarded computer equipment is having on hapless Chinese laborers and their families.

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How IPv6 will heal the digital divide and reduce global energy usage

Microsoft Subnet — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:18:57 -0500

Can IPv6 change the world? Reduce excessive energy consumption? Spend a little time chatting with IPv6 champion extraordinaire Geof Lambert and you will soon be convinced it can. Lambert, an executive recruiter by trade, has always had a love of technology. He combined that with his philanthropic leanings to become one of the best–known advocates of IPv6 as a tool for ending the digital divide.

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An Inconvenient Truth: Sustainable Energy Not All That Very Sustainable

Green Your Network — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:52:08 -0500

TThe recent election of Barack Obama and the sweeping if ill-defined change that he is expected to usher into American affairs has had a highly invigorating effect on the apostles of “green” or “renewable” energy.

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Most Global IT Companies Could be Doing More for the Environment

Green Your Network — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:10:33 -0500

Given the frequent press releases and dramatic declarations by leading technology corporations, it might come as some surprise to learn that a recent study by Gartner and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) found that most could be doing a good deal more in the way of lowering their carbon footprint.

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Logistics Companies Announce Green Initiatives

Green Your Network — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:47:08 -0400

Stop the presses! Literally. Global shipping company DHL has announced its plans to offer paperless billing to customers across Europe. By eliminating monthly paper invoices for millions of customers every year, DHL hopes to save 2400 tree and 600 tonnes of C02 each year. (source) Of course it is reasonable to assume that DHL will reap some benefits from this initiative in cost savings and customer satisfaction.

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Personifying the Green Computer- LawnPC

Green Your Network — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:49:00 -0400

Lest it be thought that the ethical burden upon those who labor to bring you the latest news in green computing is lightly borne, please note that deciding between meaty stories of ecological significance and sexy gadgets is always fraught with the utmost solemnity. Nevertheless, good people- the LawnPC is here. The LawnPC! Or not really quire here, exactly, despite whatever conclusion might be drawn from innumerable breathless reviews and reports which have already preceded ours to the world wide web.

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Busted! Government Raids Suspected E-Waste Exporter

Green Your Network — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:38:15 -0400

This article is a follow up to the piece we ran last month, and it beat out some other very interesting topics because it seems we owe it to some government agencies to let people know when they try to live up to their mandate.

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Motorola, HP are the greenest vendors in Wi-Fi and data center, respectively

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:30:19 -0400

So it turns out that ABI Research, which crowned Cisco as the greenest network switching vendor (beating Nortel and HP) has released other reports rating the greeness of vendors in other categories, including Wi-Fi and data center.

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Xerox Developing a Paper that Erases Itself for Reuse

Green Your Network — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:33:58 -0400

Have you ever stuffed a stack of paper into a n “interoffice mail” envelope that had passed through many hands before? In doing so you are saving your office money on envelopes and reducing the number of trees being cut down to produce the envelopes- but just imagine if you could do the same thing with the paper that fits inside.

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Cisco is the jolly green giant

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:17:25 -0400

Cisco is the greenest of them all, according to a new Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research. Cisco is ahead of Nortel and HP, which came in second and third place, respectively, in ABI's evaluation of network switching vendors' internal green initiatives as well as the greenness of their switches.

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Recycle those Keystrokes- and Generate Electricity!

Green Your Network — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:38:18 -0400

This link was sent to us by an alert co-worker. Hopefully also a co-worker schooled in Physics, because most of the article linked below is all but unintelligible to the layman. Nevertheless, the idea is so cool and so original that we have rolled up our sleeves and dove in to bring this news to you, here, possibly for the first time in the blogosphere. Also, there is a decent Abstract and Introduction which spells it out for anybody who doesn't have a PhD in Physics.

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US Exporting its E-Waste to the Developing World

Green Your Network — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:57:46 -0400

For a generation already the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) has been calling attention to the environmental cost of the high-tech production boom. Through a combination of research and activism they have monitored the eco-friendliness of major computer manufacturers and endeavored to track the environmental impact of toxins used in electronics manufacturing. Their computer report card published in 2005 revealed that few companies worldwide, and proportionately even fewer stateside assume serious responsibility for the massive amounts of toxic chemicals that their products regularly unleash on the world. Of particular concern to the SCTC for some time now is the exploitation of foreign workers who are exposed to toxins in unsafe conditions, particularly those who refurbish damaged parts in India and China. A recent investigation by the General Accountability Office (GAO ) of the US government has demonstrated, alarmingly that there is good cause for concern. In keeping with the general truculence of the Bush administration regarding international environmental protocols, the US was the only notable holdout among Industrialized nations on a 1989 agreement obligating exporting countries to disclose hazardous waste shipments to the recipient nations. Nevertheless , in an effort to police such abuses internally the EPA is meant to enforce a US law requiring EPA approval of all international shipments of CRTs (cathode ray tubes- which contain copper and lead) .

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English schoolboy is saving the environment one pixel at a time

Green Your Network — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:33:35 -0400

Most of us realize that we do not wield sufficient influence to force green initiatives upon large Chinese manufacturing facilities, to improve the energy efficiency of commercial generating facilities or to improve the fuel economy of shipping fleets and bus companies. Those of us who are conscientious about our environmental impact tend to lean towards more fuel efficient vehicles and appliances, to install compact fluorescent light bulbs in our homes. In this we are aided by market forces that impact upon our buying choices, particularly the increasingly high cost of energy. Another way we can minimize our energy footprint is by turning off our electric devices when they are not in use and unplugging invisible energy leeches. Yet with acrid smoke still rising from factories and tractor trailers and megawatts of energy literally being lost in transmission every day it is sometimes difficult to focus on the impact each and every one of us might have by slightly modifying our most routine behaviors.

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5 practical steps to an energy efficient data center

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:27:11 -0400

Mark your calendars for Thursday, Aug. 21 at 1-2 p.m. ET, for Cisco's TechwiseTV broadcast of Energy Efficiency in the Data Center. According to the write-up of the show, you'll learn five practical steps that you can take right now to reduce your energy consumption. The presenters will discuss how an energy efficient data center could your save organization money and help prolong the life of data center equipment. One of the guests says a 1U server running 24/7, 365 days emits the same emissions as a Toyota Camry driving 15,000 miles per year.

Check out the preview below and sign up for the show here.

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Green with power-consumption -- Linux needs less than Windows

Microsoft Subnet — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:35:51 -0400

Network World published a test today that declared Linux -- especially Red Hat's Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.1 -- was more green than Windows Server 2008. RHEL drew less power on 13 of 16 test scenarios and came in with almost 10 percent savings in power over Windows Server 2008 in some of those cases. The story says:

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Nortel attacks Cisco with green calculator

Cisco Subnet — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:33:28 -0400

Nortel's emphasis on green networking could make the vendor a more credible alternative to Cisco in the enterprise and data center. The company claims its products could provide a 50% boost in energy efficiency over competitive offerings -- Cisco being the No. 1 competitor in this market. Nortel also developed a TurboTax-like software program for evaluating the energy efficiency and resultant cost savings of its switches over Cisco's. So Cisco customers with green initiatives and contemplating a secondary or alternative source for their enterprise switches, may have to give the company a look.

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No standards - but lots of best practices coming

kennyo — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:44:39 -0400

True, not lots of standards. But the Department of Energy will be releasing a draft data center assessment tool shortly, called DC-Pro. And, the EPA Energy Star program is working on a draft spec (to be completed by end of 2008) for Energy Star rated computer servers. PLUS, Energy Star is also developing a rating system for data centers. Details on the programs at http://fountnhead.blogspot.com

Cisco offers relief from carbon footprint guilt

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:06:07 -0400

So you spend your nights laying in bed worrying about the carbon footprint of your network but can't bring yourself to start rolling out so-called "green" technologies. Well, never-you-fear, Cisco has a plan. Neutralize your carbon footprint guilt by planting trees! Or better still, let Cisco plant them for you in exchange for trying out WebEx. The company announced that from April 21 through May 31, Cisco would plant 100 trees for each 100 free WebEx trials that businesses complete. This is in addition to the free tree that WebEx will plant as part of its two-year-old tree-planting program.

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