Universities Power Down, Videos Fire Up

There are two basic facts that keep the Climate Savers Computing team marching forward each day: The average desktop PC in use today wastes nearly half the power it pulls from the wall – and there are currently over 1 billion PCs in deployment globally and 2.25 billion expected by 2015.

These realities have us focusing on the world of higher education through April as we challenge students, faculty and staff across the globe to Power Down for the Planet.

Colleges and universities around the world have been asked to make a dent in climate impact by powering down campus computers. In collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program we are educating and engaging college students on a large scale about their computer power consumption and how that affects the environment.

Why the focus on this population? College students in the U.S. alone can collectively make a one million-ton reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by better managing their computers.

Who has stepped up for the challenge to date? Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, University of California at San Diego, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Maine, University of Maryland and California State University, Chico.

One winning university will be selected based on the highest percentage of on-campus staff, student and faculty pledges toward use of computer power management tools.

But, in addition to a winning university (and a winning planet) we’ll have some additional winners – provided they can tell a big story on the small screen.

Our Power Down for the Planet video contest challenges participants to develop original and creative videos that educate, entertain, and/or inform others about the importance of energy efficient computing to the global environment.

Winners will be on the receiving end of cold, hard cash, as well as up to five 2009 Globe Vienna 1 bikes powered by Specialized, HP TouchSmart tx2z laptops and Microsoft Expression Studio software. Submissions are open until April 17.

Win a trip to Washington D.C. for the Weather Channel’s Forecast Earth Summit

Our friends at the Weather Channel asked us to spread the word that they are selecting 20 high schools students to win free trips to the Forecast Earth Summit in Washington D.C., Dec. 5-7, 2008. The summit will bring together environmental experts and students who are passionate about the environment to share ideas and thoughts on major environmental issues.



To get involved, visit www.forecastearthsummit.org and tell the Weather Channel what you’re doing to save the planet. While you’re there, you can also download a cool “Green Tip of the Day” widget to plug into your Facebook page, blog or other web site. The Climate Savers Computing Initiative supports the Weather Channel’s efforts to create an open dialogue around environmental issues.



After you’re done submitting your essay, don’t forget to do some good for the earth with your computer. You can reduce your carbon footprint today by setting your computer to automatically go to sleep when you’re not using it. Just follow our step-by-step instructions. In addition to power management, make sure to look for an Energy Star qualified computer the next time you are in the market for a new PC or laptop.

Fuel Cell Powered Laptop is Here, Almost

By Jaymi Heimbuch
EcoGeek

We’ve been waiting around for awhile for a laptop that uses methanol fuel cells. Finally, PolyFuel has finished up a working prototype for a fuel cell-powered laptop, the Lenovo T40 ThinkPad. The laptop runs on direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), and each methanol cartridge provides power for about 10 hours of use. There are some great features to this, and some not so great features.

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We’re One Year Old!

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative celebrates its first anniversary this month! The relevance of our mission has never been higher. Since our founding in June 2007, the cost of a barrel of oil has doubled, climate change has continued to intensify, and the global demand for energy efficiency has accelerated. In response to these growing challenges, many organizations, governments, and individuals have stepped forward to join us and share their resources and expertise.

In the past 12 months, we’ve grown our membership to nearly 250 companies, published best practices for power management, completed our first round of technical specifications for more energy-efficient computers, and formed alliances with organizations who share our vision. Starting with a small membership base and small marketing budget, we have steadily increased the visibility of the organization, and with the help of new members, have also raised our worldwide impact and goals moving forward.

Tokyo, Hanover, Beijing, Taipei, Stockholm, Shanghai, Melbourne, not to mention Kansas City, New York and San Francisco – just some of the places where we’ve promoted energy efficient computers and use of power management. The organization has become more and more global as we’ve added active sponsor and associate members outside the U.S. Regional Committees are driving the Climate Savers Computing agenda in Japan, Europe and Asia.

CeBIT gave us a big boost in Europe and just last month we signed an MOU with the Green IT Promotional Council in Japan. And we formed an alliance with the China Electronics Energy Saving Council in China who will carry out the Climate Savers Computing effort there. In the U.S. we’ve aligned with the EPA to promote common efficiency targets and power management.

We are in the middle of compiling the results of our first member survey to calculate the performance against our energy savings goals. We should have an update for you on that in the next few weeks, but the early data looks very good.

And that brings me to the point that we’re not finished. We need to stay focused on the 2010 goals! Along with our anniversary comes the first increment in our efficiency goals. All members should review the efficiency criteria for our 2^nd year and be sure to update procurement plans accordingly. Achieving the 50% savings by 2010 requires that we move to more efficient systems each year.

Thank you for the great support of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative’s work over the last year! Thanks to our growing list of members, we have considerable momentum and expertise heading into our second year. Please post comments on any ideas you have to make us more effective. We are in the midst of planning our annual members meeting -- you’ll hear more on this soon. And I hope to meet you soon.

- Lorie Wigle, Intel Corporation

PCs on sleep mode would save power and the climate, PDX Green says

By Shelby Wood
The Oregonian

The quiet box on your desk or in the living room, that thing that helps you work and buy airline tickets and watch funny clips on YouTube -- it's burning through fossil fuels, too.

The tools to slow the power flow are right inside it, accessible with a few mouse clicks. Pay nothing; give nothing up. Yet most of us never make the fix.

To change that, Intel and Google founded the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a nonprofit based in a Pearl District office. In their sights: Your computer, your kid's computer, your sister's . . . all 1 billion PCs worldwide. The technology giants want computers to go to sleep, and consume less energy, when we're not using them.

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The PC's Dirty Little Secret: It Wastes Power Shamelessly

By David LaGesse
U.S. News & World Report

Though it is the smartest device in the house, the desktop computer has been dumb when it comes to conserving energy. It's as if every household has a big, gas-guzzling vehicle (or two) in its driveway, all with engines racing. Most people have more computer than they need, says Bruce Nordman, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "It's like we're all driving sport utility computers."

And those hulking, desktop PCs gulp power because they've traditionally been shipped with their throttle stuck wide open. Of course, the energy wasted is more that of a big light bulb than an SUV. But if desktop PCs glowed like their equivalent 150-watt bulb, we'd think to dim them or even switch them off. They don't glow, and few PC owners bother to automatically power them down.

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The Power Smackdown in the Data Center: IT Department vs. Facilities Managers

OK, it’s not a smackdown like on TV, but it is a power struggle, so to speak. Data centers consume a lot of power in companies. In one corner you have the IT department who is tasked with keeping and meeting the IT needs of the organization, scaling and staying within what is usually a flat budget envelope. In the other corner you have the facilities manager that is trying to manage overall costs, power use, space utilization, and the needs of the organization as a whole. A couple years ago the two rarely needed to talk, except if the data center manager needed more space.

The new smackdown is about power. Not political power but electricity. Globally, electricity prices have risen nearly 60% in the past couple years. Gartner says that 50% of data centers will lack sufficient power by 2008.

IT managers haven’t really had to care too much about power consumption for a couple of reasons. Rarely has power used the data center or any other technology been isolated, so it hasn’t been tracked or measured. The primary focus has been on eliminating business disruption, building IT agility, and meeting business needs. And for most managers, 70% of their budget is spent on maintenance and managing an aging, heterogeneous infrastructure. It’s all about performance.

Facilities managers worry about the physical side of the equation: power costs, getting more compute power out of the same space, and cooling. They wonder where they will get the space, if the utility is going to be able to deliver enough power, if they have enough breakers for new equipment, exceeding rack capacity, and a lot more. For some, the only way to add a new server is to take one out.

So the two sides are forced to talk. The IT manager needs performance. The facilities manager needs control. And what happens if they don’t? Inefficiency, more complexity, and the problems will certainly get worse. But if they do collaborate great things can happen. Here are some examples of what is available today:

• Client desktop systems that use 70% less energy.

• Energy efficient servers that use up to 25% less energy, but deliver the same performance – saving up to $200 per year per server.

• Increasing compute capacity by being able to put five servers in the same power envelope as four.

• Spot cooling solutions that focus on hot spots – saving 30% or more --not on inefficiently cooling the entire room.

• Holistic solutions that reduce energy consumption by up to 75% with the same power usage, or twice the performance in the same space, or twice the number of servers in the same power envelope.

Are there reasons for the two sides to talk? Absolutely. Can the two sides, with the right outside partner, lower costs, increase performance, manage space and meet each others’ needs? Absolutely. Some companies have done a lot of work to simplify this process. But what I’m more interested in are your stories. How is the relationship between facilities and IT? How do you break down the barriers?

-Jeff S. Johnson, Enterprise Strategist at Dell