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Will Politics Slow the Wind?

Explore Article Science News, Articles and Information (7 hours, 28 min ago) Wind

Not many years ago, there wasn't enough wind power coming from the Great Plains to worry about. Now there is, and lots of people are worrying. A group of mostly East Coast utility companies calling itself the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy fears that the prime conditions in the Great Plains will make the region's wind power too cheap for its members to compete with, unless developers there are made to pay the costs of moving wind power eastward. (Read Full Article)

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Greenpeace Loses Round Two in Tiff with Facebook

Explore Article greenercomputing.com (9 hours, 20 min ago) Wind , Servers

Glass houses, stones, etc. That's the sort of lesson coming out from the latest round in the Greenpeace vs. Facebook skirmish currently afoot on the internet. To recap, briefly: In January, Facebook told the world it was opening a green data center, one that set a target of a highly energy efficient 1.15 power usage effectiveness ratio. In mid-February, advocacy groups including Change.org as well as Greenpeace called Facebook out for not using renewable energy to power its planned data center. As I wrote back then: (Read Full Article)

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OpenGate Targets Hot Spots for Switches

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (9 hours, 30 min ago) Networking

Data center cooling specialist Opengate Data Systems today introduced a new cooling product focused on addressing “hot spots” associated with networking equipment. SwitchAir Network Switch Cooling Solutions was developed to provide in-rack cooling support for high-density network switches, which can present cooling challenges as data center operators run their facilities at warmer temperatures to improve energy efficiency. High switch port density has led many data center operators to position network switches facing the rear of rack to simplify network cabling. Due to the high switch port density, intake air typically enters at the sides of the switch chassis and heat ... (Read Full Article)

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Intel's single chip cloud computer

Explore Article GigaOM (11 hours, 17 min ago) Cloud Computing

Tilera, a startup building chips that contain anywhere from 16 to 100 cores, said today it’s raised $25 million in a third round of funding from investors including Broadcom. Chips made by Tilera, which we named as one of five multicore statups to watch two years ago, are aimed at boosting performance and energy efficiency for networking and cloud computing, which is likely why Broadcom invested. But as Tilera spends more time emphasizing the cloud and big players like Intel do the same, we have to ask: Do cloud computing and web-scale computing need their own chips? (Read Full Article)

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Tuning the energy innovation engine at MIT

Explore Article Technology News (Mar 8 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Nuclear , Solar , Wind

"China speed," climate change, financing gaps, government policy, nuclear and natural gas, and, of course, science experiments. The MIT Energy Conference on Saturday had a little bit of everything, as entrepreneurs, business people, and academics tried to get their arms around big-picture energy challenges. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has become a hotbed for clean-energy innovation over the past four years, attracting students and faculty to the energy field, some of whom have spun out promising companies. At a showcase, local companies and researchers working in wind, solar, biofuels, storage, and efficiency displayed some of their ongoing work. But at ... (Read Full Article)

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Generators Installed at Yahoo NY Site

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Mar 8 2010) Construction

There’s just something about generators. They’re the huge engines providing the last line of defense for the data center and the thousands of web sites inside. They’re big, loud and powerful, and attract lots of attention during tours and installations. And sometimes, they serve as a sign of bigger things to come. Last Friday the backup generators arrived at the new Yahoo data center in Lockport, New York. Three 2-megawatt gensets were installed, generating coverage in The Buffalo News. (Read Full Article)

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Could Green Hurt Co-lo? By Peter Judge

Explore Article Views and Opinions on Green IT (Mar 8 2010)

I met up this week with someone who manages data center facilities and power for a large mostly-online business. I came away with a feeling that his drive to reduce his company's carbon footprint could be very bad news for co-location providers. He's a lucky guy, because his company has lined up facilities and IT, so the CTO sees the power bills and has an incentive to reduce them. He also gets to compare the relative efficiency of the data centre services the company guilds in its own data centres, with what it buys in from co-lo services. (Read Full Article)

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Europe 'supergrid' hopefuls cast fate to wind

Explore Article Technology News (Mar 8 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Wind

Ten companies pushing to build a pan-European offshore power network that could help cut carbon emissions and cost customers over 20 billion euros got together in London on Monday. The Friends of the Supergrid (FOSG) brings together companies that want to build the High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) infrastructure together with those that hope to develop, install, own, and operate it. Building interconnectors to link offshore wind farms across the North Sea from Sweden and Denmark to Britain could cost 15 billion to 20 billion euros, according to a report commissioned by Greenpeace, in addition to the tens of billions ... (Read Full Article)

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Washington Tax Break Proposal Nears Decision

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Mar 8 2010) Cloud Computing

The push to restore a key tax break for data center projects in some areas of eastern Washington state is coming down to the wire, and the measure is encountering some challenges as it nears the finish line. The sales tax exemption for data centers is included in a house revenue bill being debated in Olympia, and has gained support from key lawmakers and editorial boards. But the nature of the tax break, which only includes rural counties, has raised late objections from data center projects in other parts of Washington State. Seattle developer Benaroya Companies is building a $100 ... (Read Full Article)

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When The Power Goes Out at Google

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Mar 8 2010) Cloud Computing

What happens when the power goes out at a Google data center? We found out on Feb. 24, when a power outage at a Google facility caused more than two hours of downtime for Google App Engine, the company’s cloud computing platform for developers. Last week the company released a detailed incident report on the outage, which underscored the critical importance of good documentation, even in huge data center networks with failover capacity. Most of Google’s recent high-profile outages have been caused by routing or network capacity problems, including outages in May and September of last year (see How Google ... (Read Full Article)

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Computing's Swinging Pendulum

Explore Article Forbes.com (Mar 8 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

The stampede to outsource computing into the cloud has some interesting consequences. Rather than further distributing computing, it's actually centralizing much of the data, and more importantly, the control of that data. It took almost four decades to fully distribute computing from mainframe computers to PCs and then to a slew of portable devices such as smart phones. The whole argument for the client/server era of computing was that it moved computing closer to the user, distributed the processing and provided universal access to corporate data that used to be regulated by IT departments. (Read Full Article)

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Data centers tackling cyber terrorism, slowly

Explore Article sfgate.com (Mar 6 2010) Power and Cooling , Cloud Computing , Servers

The data center is receiving more public scrutiny than ever before, with IT managers facing a range of challenges from making systems run more efficiently to protecting computers from cyber terrorism, says AFCOM chief executive Jill Eckhaus The 30-year-old organization for data center managers is holding its twice-yearly Data Center World show from March 7-11 in Nashville, Tenn., where IT folks will learn about the most pressing issues facing data centers today and share their own experiences. Gov't builds secret database to fight cyber-terrorism Cyber terrorism is one of the topics Eckhaus is looking forward to examining further. AFCOM's recent ... (Read Full Article)

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Google is going to trade energy - Say What? By Doug Mohney

Explore Article Views and Opinions on Green IT (Mar 5 2010)

Not satisfied with dominating the search engine world, dabbling in wireless services, pledging to install gigabit broadband services in neighborhoods across America, threatening to pull out of China because it's been cyberattacked (and cooperating with the NSA on the side) and upsetting copyright experts over its digital library plans, Google is now going to buy and sell electricity. Is it just me, or do you hear some "Danger, Danger Will Robinson!" in the background? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authorized Google Energy to buy and sell electricity in bulk like any other utility, reports CNet. The subsidiary of ... (Read Full Article)

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Google Steps Up Data Protection With Synchronous Replication

Explore Article Home - eWeekEurope.co.uk (Mar 5 2010)

Google on said on 4 March that it has added a storage disaster-recovery feature that’s growing in demand - synchronous data replication - to its Google Apps lineup, which includes Google Docs, Gmail, Google Sites, Calendar and several others. The search and web services giant told eWEEK that it, in fact, has been using replication for Gmail for a few years, but that it is has now extended the feature to all of its online tools and services. (Read Full Article)

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Microsoft ‘All In’ on Container-Powered Cloud

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Mar 4 2010) Cloud Computing

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today emphasized that “when it comes to the cloud, we are all in.” He shared that message first in a speech at the University of Washington, later in an all-staff email, and also in a major ad campaign the company is launching today. Most of Ballmer’s talk focused on the end-user experience of cloud computing services. But he brought a data center with him: one of the next-generation containers that Microsoft data center GM Kevin Timmons described yesterday in a presentation in New York. The prototype (seen above) is the latest in a series of evolving ... (Read Full Article)

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ACS Opens $3M Green Data Center in UK

Explore Article Web Host Industry Review (Mar 4 2010) Carbon Footprint , Cloud Computing

- Business process outsourcing firm Affiliated Computer Services (www.acs-inc.com) announced on Thursday it has opened its new flagship green data center in Telford, UK. The company invested $3 million (£2 million) in the 4,500 square feet facility combines "best-of-breed technology with the highest calibre green credentials," says ACS. The data center will help save up to 70 percent in energy costs, resulting in a carbon footprint reduction of about 4,200 tonnes annually. (Read Full Article)

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Greenpeace Admits Using ‘Dirty’ Power

Explore Article Home - eWeekEurope.co.uk (Mar 4 2010) Fossil Fuel , Servers

There are red faces over at Greenpeace International, after the environmental organisation took Facebook to task last month over a data centre it is building in Oregon that will use mostly coal-based electricity. Greenpeace’s beef with Facebook’s data centre was that it is not using renewable energy, which led the environmental group to reportedly say that “the only truly green data centres are the ones running on renewable energy.” (Read Full Article)

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Smart Grids for Smarter Data Centers

Explore Article ecommercetimes.com (Mar 4 2010) Emissions , Cloud Computing , Servers

Computer hardware gets more powerful every day, and with greater power comes a greater appetite for electricity. That's greatly increased the amount of energy needed in the data center, yet many data centers today weren't designed for modern consumption requirements. Smarter, more comprehensive energy planning tools and processes are being directed at this problem. (Read Full Article)

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Study of U.S. Data Center Industry Indicates Widespread Expansion of ...

Explore Article news.moneycentral.msn.com (Mar 3 2010) Construction , Emissions

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. DLR, the world's largest wholesale datacenter provider, has released the results of its annual study of the U.S. data center market. The study is based on a detailed survey of senior decision makers at large corporations in North America who are responsible for shaping their companies' data center strategies. The research was conducted for Digital Realty Trust by the respected research firm Campos Research & Analysis. (Read Full Article)

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Trapping Sunlight with Silicon Nanowires

Explore Article Berkeley Lab News Center (Mar 3 2010) Solar

Solar cells made from silicon are projected to be a prominent factor in future renewable green energy equations, but so far the promise has far exceeded the reality. While there are now silicon photovoltaics that can convert sunlight into electricity at impressive 20 percent efficiencies, the cost of this solar power is prohibitive for large-scale use. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), however, are developing a new approach that could substantially reduce these costs. The key to their success is a better way of trapping sunlight. (Read Full Article)

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Feds Taking Requests for $100M in Energy Efficiency Stimulus

Explore Article environmentalleader.com (Mar 3 2010) Emissions , Servers , Storage

The U.S. Department of Energy is injecting another $100 million into energy efficiency in buildings, electricity storage and other energy saving technologies. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on March 2 opened up the third round of funding under the Advanced Research Project Agency — Energy (ARPA-E), reports the San Francisco Business Times. Chu said that ARPA-E aims to yield technology jumps, such as those that produced the Internet or lasers, reports CNET. (Read Full Article)

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This week, it's all about the standby - by Peter Judge

Explore Article Views and Opinions on Green IT (Mar 3 2010)

A couple of announcements this week seem designed to help data center people think about backup power - and reducing its environmental demands. Backup power is a significant chunk of the energy used by any data center. It's obviously a minor part compared with the 24x7 load of active servers, but there should be great scope for reducing it - simply because it is backup power. If your backup power is not actually required, you should be able to cut the amount of electricity it draws, and when it does, you should be able to make use of better generation. (Read Full Article)

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Microsoft’s Timmons: ‘Challenge Everything’

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Mar 3 2010) Power and Cooling

The building blocks for Microsoft’s data center of the future can be assembled in four days, by one person. The two data center containers, known as IT PACs (short for pre-assembled components) proof of concept, are built entirely from aluminum. The first two proof of concept units use residential garden hoses for their water hookups. “Challenge everything you know about a traditional data center,” said Kevin Timmons, who heads Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services, in describing the company’s approach to building new data centers. “From the walls to the roof to where it needs to be built, challenge everything.” (Read Full Article)

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Greenpeace’s Hosting: Not ‘Truly Green’

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Mar 3 2010) Construction , Carbon Footprint , Wind , Servers

Finding renewable energy sources for huge data centers is a daunting challenge. It’s a far more complex issue than reflected in recent headlines, in which the environmental group Greenpeace International has bashed Facebook over its power choices for a new data center the social network is building in Oregon. In its stinging critique of Facebook’s power sourcing, Greenpeace asserts that “the only truly green data centers are the ones running on renewable energy.” Given that stance, one might expect Greenpeace’s hosting operations to be housed in a “truly green data center” powered entirely by 100 percent renewable energy. (Read Full Article)

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