Latest Updates from Green IT

Apple $ 1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina, will have a 20 MW solar installation, located on 100 acres which will supply 42 million kWh of renewable energy each year. Apple is also building a 5 MW fuel cell installation adjacent to the data center, which will be powered by 100% biogas and provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually.

The facility has already earned the LEED Platinum certification. The data centre’s chilled water storage system is designed to improve chiller efficiency by transferring 10,400 kWh of electricity consumption from peak to off-peak hours every day. Outside air is funneled into the building at night and during cool-weather hours. Use of outside air and the water storage system allows the chillers to be turned off more than 75% of the time.

The data centre also boosts white cool-roof to reflect sun, high-efficiency LED lighting equipped with motion sensors, and power distributed at higher voltages to increase efficiency by reducing power loss.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/apple-reveals-details-on-solar-powered-data-center/13294

in Fuel Cells Solar PV Green Data Centers

Facebook has officially announced the data center that it’s building in the chilly climate of Lulea, in Northern Sweden, and it’s going to be powered “primarily from renewables.” Woot woot! No, not solar or wind but good old hydropower (water and dams), which is still the hands-down cheapest kind of clean power available.

Facebook says it chose Lulea because of the low-cost clean power prices and also because the cold climate can enable Facebook to use the environment to cool the data center, cutting out many of the power-hungry chillers that are commonly used to power data centers. Cooling gear can sometimes account for half of a traditional data center’s power needs.

http://gigaom.com/cleantech/facebooks-swedish-data-center-mostly-powered-by-clean-energy/

in Green Data Centers

Is it all about only improving efficiencies? Is it a facebook attempt to get a peek into google's data center "secrets". In any case, everyone's benefiting out of it!
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/10/28/intel-dell-join-facebooks-efficiency-project/

in Green Data Centers

Apple and environmental watchdog group Greenpeace waged a public battle over how "green" Apple's products were over several years while Jobs was CEO. Environmental groups continue to pressure Apple to improve on some issues, but Apple's products today do not have the toxic chemicals that were there before regulations and environmental groups prodded the electronics industry to change.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20116690-54/how-apple-and-greenpeace-made-peace/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

in Green Computers

Alternative energy was mentioned during Paul Otellini’s (Intel CEO) presentation (webcast link - http://intelstudios.edgesuite.net/idf/2011/sf/keynote/110913_pso/index.htm ). The CEO said the company has created a chip that can power a computer processor on a solar cell the size of a postage stamp.Otellini said the solar power CPU could draw sufficient power to run animation and other Windows applications from two small overhead reading lamps. Other parts of the computer were powered through a traditional power supply.
Why do I have a feeling that we are soon going to see significant amount of interactions between IT and cleantech, and not just in smart…

in Green Computers

The world's first solar-powered netbook, Samsung Electronics’ NC215S laptop, is the ideal product for a continent where electricity access can be limited, but sunlight is never in short supply.

The solar-charging capability means that it is also the first genuine environment-friendly product of its kind, with a lower carbon footprint than any other laptop on the market.

in Solar PV Green Computers

Before making deliveries in the past,
highly trained experts had to perform
manual compliance checks on all products,
even those that are not hazardous.
This checking took place at shipping time,
risking delivery delays, and was an allconsuming
task for these experts who
had much to contribute on higher levels.
Therefore, Dow Corning made dangerous
goods management its next priority.
Using integration to materials data, it
used rules to segregate nonhazardous
from hazardous products. Now the 70%
of products that are nonhazardous are
checked automatically on receipt of order,
and the experts spend time only on the
30% that are hazardous – for big savings.

http://download.sap.com/download.epd?context=DCD5A79E439BBFDDD67D9B8C57C87DE94851853F055E14DDE431811515AEA652C26516C0192E574257480FB630896FBC03C52DAB3F906235

in Green Computers

Do software companies have a standalone software to track their environmental footprint?

in Green Data Centers

What are the plans by tech heavyweights such as IBM, MS, Goog, Amazon etc., for making data centers more green? Are there specific programs that they have which could result in significant improvements in this area in the near future?

in Green Data Centers

Once you settle on your finalist list using some great ZDNet reviews, take a peek at the EPEAT ratings to see which systems do best for energy efficiency, toxic materials and recycling credentials.

Realistically, unless the college or university that you or your college-age child attends (or will attend) starts REALLY late, you probably have already made whatever notebook computer purchase you were going to make this fall.

But if you procrastinate or you are already thinking about Christmas presents, the team behind the EPEAT rating system has come up with some suggestions for things to consider that will help you find the greenest notebook possible.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/green/5-criteria-to-guide-your-green-notebook-purchase/18646

in Green Computers