Articles from news.thomasnet.com

Towards a More Energy-Efficient Data Center

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Feb 24 2012) Construction , Power and Cooling , Solar , Cloud Computing , Servers

We recently saw the European Commission recognize 27 IBM Data Centers for energy efficiency. The commission, the executive body of the European Union, was going by the EU’s Code of Conduct for Data Centers, and we’re not 100 percent sure what requirements that entails, but we do know it’s A Good Thing. In fact, as IBM officials said in a press statement, the honor represents “the largest portfolio of data centers from a single company to receive the recognition.”The idea is to reduce energy consumption “in a cost-effective manner without decreasing mission critical data center functions,” IBM officials said, using certain established best practices.

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Comment Mentions:   IBM   Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency

Will IT Efficiency Slay the Greenwashing Dragon??

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Feb 3 2012) Construction , Carbon Footprint , Emissions

Leafing through the latest environmental news, we ran across six predictions for green IT in 2012. We like that sort of thing, predictions. What we really like is running across "Predictions for 2010" online, and having a good chuckle. Anyway, there it was, Prediction #1 for green IT in 2012: "Greenwashing is dead." Really. Do tell. Nobody invited us to the ecofuneral. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   United Kingdom   Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory   LEED

How "Bring Your Own Device" Is Greening The Enterprise

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Jan 10 2012)

While many companies are implementing – or trying to meet – corporate sustainability plans, either to be good environmental stewards or just to save cash (or both), they’ve found a number of significant roadblocks in their way. Switching to greener sources of energy, for instance, can be expensive. Changing manufacturing processes requires significant upfront capital. Running a green data center yourself often means picking up roots and moving a data center to another part of the country or the world. But there’s one area where companies seeking to keep the energy use down have been surprised, as their employees have happily completed the process for them. The trend away from desktop computers toward more portable devices isn’t new: employees are more mobile today and don’t want to be tethered to a desktop. But increasingly, employees are using their own devices for dual-purpose: personal use and business use. It ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Apple   Gartner   Google

More Companies Bypassing Electric Grid Inefficiencies With Fuel Cells

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Nov 29 2011) Data Center Outages , Carbon Footprint , Fuel Cell , Solar

On October 29, a freak early-season snowstorm hit eastern New York and western and parts of central New England, blanketing some areas in as much as two feet of highly unusual pre-Halloween snow. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory   Bloom Energy   Bloom Boxes

U.S. Tech Giants Become Alternative Energy's Fairy Godfathers

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Nov 8 2011) Fossil Fuel , Geothermal , Wind

While the failure of government-backed solar start-up Solyndra generated a lot of news headlines, it has also encouraged some discussion about the role of government in helping get new industries off the ground. It may also have highlighted the fact that venture capital companies and their investors may be starting to fall out of love with alternative energy, an industry that has proven it needs a long runway for take-off. Venture capitalists and investors, not always the most patient of people, seem to be increasingly wary about investing in technologies that are still in their infancy, or at least in their youth. But as the news last week brought us the knowledge that the seven billionth human being entered the world somewhere in India, the need to move forward with alternative energy remains urgent. And move forward it will: though it may not find itself using government cash or traditional ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Apple   Greenpeace   Google

Mitsubishi UPS Goes Green

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Jun 4 2009)

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Statue of Liberty Chills with Plastic Cooling Towers

Explore news.thomasnet.com (Jun 2 2009) Power and Cooling

Monument to freedom is now independent of galvanized metal HVAC equipment and a ruinous corrosive environment She has put on a nice face for more than 100 years, welcoming seafarers to these shores with dignity and grace. But deep down, the Statue of Liberty was hurting. Standing in the wet, salty environment of New York Harbor left her interior workings vulnerable to massive corrosion and malfunction. Something needed to be done. Fortunately, the American icon did not have to suffer in silence for long. Earlier this year John Culkin, president of C& S Building Services in Farmingdale, NY, led a team of HVAC technicians to Liberty Island to install two new cooling towers. The steel-clad towers that had served the great lady for well over a decade were in a state of rust and ruin. "We needed a corrosion-proof cooling tower. Even the stainless steel towers they had out there ... (Read Full Article)

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