Algorithmic efficiency is key in green IT

Today's world of IT relies on software as the key aspect which makes it powerful, adaptable and interesting. All of this software is programmed by engineers who have developed a way to make sure that whatever you do on the computer gets translated into electrical signals and put into action. The more the efficient software is, the less electricity we use and the more green our IT becomes.

One of the aspects of software efficiency is algorithmic efficiency. It sounds more difficult than it is. Lets break this down with a metaphor. Say you take a Taxi to the airport. If you have an experienced and good driver, he will take the shortest and quickest route. If you have a bad driver, he will take a longer route. In the same way, software can be programmed with algorithms that work fast and efficiently or algorithms which are slow and inefficient. Good software is algorithmic efficient.

Lets take Google: two searches produce about the same amount of emissions as boiling a kettle of water. Although Google is probably very efficient in its algorithms, it could reduce the emissions by trying even harder.

One technology that is noteworthy in light of algorithmic efficiency is Hadoop. Hadoop is a highly efficient software project aimed at big data. Big data is obviously a great trend at the moment and the more efficiently we can use it, the greener and better. Without getting into the details of Hadoop, the concept is to be more efficient with algorithms. This video of IBM provides an overview:

Especially for companies in the data business (such as social networks or data storage) this is a very lucrative business proposition. It provides greater efficiency in retrieving and using data and thereby yields two benefits that interest managers: cost-saving and efficient resource allocation.

The difficulty here is that Hadoop is fundamentally very different from other software structures and would require businesses to completely change their IT systems (at least on a software level). A risk is also that if companies were to switch, they might be unfamiliar with the new system or have difficulty to maintain it. This is why cloud providers, like IBM, have specialized in providing Hadoop solutions.

Hadoop is a classic example of algorithmic efficiency and, or similar solutions, should be considered by all software businesses. It will not only make your software more green, but it also makes it more resource efficient (therefore requiring less servers) and quicker (increased consumer satisfaction). Algorithmic efficiency is therefore key in green IT and one of the most interesting technological trends out there.

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Making data centers and server rooms more green

Data centers are very inefficient in their nature and require huge amounts of energy. It is therefore of essence to try and make data centers itself very efficient. Emerson, a company specializing in setting up data centers, is providing solutions to reduce these inefficiencies.

Emerson has developed a method called energy logic (introduced in a white paper) which traces the dissipation of energy and optimizes these negatives effects in a logical manner. The results speak for itself. The energy logic approach reduces the footprint of a data center by two thirds of floor space and cooling requirements by more than 40%. This is illustrated in the following diagram:

The solution reduces the number of servers by a huge amount and thereby saves space, costs and energy usage.

There are clear benefits to businesses who have data centers to implement this technology solution:

• Reduction in power, cooling and space. These three aspects are the key drivers that cause the high requirement for energy in a data center. By reducing these aspects, energy is saved and the entire data center becomes more green.
• Costs are saved as less servers are required for the same amount of processing power. In addition, less cooling and space is required. These are great cost savings for a company.
• Consultation is a positive investment as it brings expert knowledge to a very complicated topic.

This technology approach already present in the business world and as a result there are no big challenges or serious risks associated in implementing this. It is certainly a cost issue in initially consulting a firm like Emerson to implement such solutions. If the data centers or server rooms are however set up in a proper way since the beginning, the costs will depreciate over a much longer time period.

A general problem with less servers is that each server is used more to maintain same processing capacity. This means that the servers might have to be upgraded to faster processors. This would be costly for a business and therefore difficult for management to implement.

Approaches like that provided by Emerson are basically an optimization of resource allocation. This is one of the pillars of green IT. Thus, a server room or data center is ideally not just a room of computers. It is a highly optimized room that builds the surroundings in such a way that output is maximized at both efficiency and processing power.

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The top 3 greenest and top 3 dirtiest cloud vendors

There is currently an intertwining trend between cloud computing and big data. More and more companies take a big data business model approach that focus on high-value customer relationships. This requires ever more storage space for data and a local server is barely enough. This is why demand for cloud computing, as the last resort for infinite data storage, has grown by almost 30% in 2013 alone.

The classic options for a cloud solution are Amazon, Google and Apple. In regards to green IT, Apple for example states that all its data centers are running with renewable energy. Amazon though, does not even report carbon emission numbers. This can be taken as a sign that they are not using green energy for their energy supply.

So to shed some light on who's green and who's not, here is a list of the top 3 green cloud vendors:

1. Google: As mentioned in one of our previous articles, Google's focus on green energy is high and they do try to use as minimal unclean energy for their services.
2. Rackspace: High focus on green energy as well. It is the leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the second year in a row. 
3.  HP: One of their business propositions is to provide green energy.

On the contrary, we have the bad boys in the industry:

1. Salesforce: They show no focus on green IT at all.
2. Oracle: "Green is not in Oracle's vocabulary" as experts have said.
3. Amazon: Amazon is actively using coal as one of its main energy sources.

The ratings are based on a scorecard system developed by Greenpeace to measure their "greeness" in cloud services.

While companies have great economic benefit in this fast growing sector, they have a unique opportunity and great responsibility to become more green. Managers have the decision power to influence this by always picking the provider which is more green. It is not about having to pay more, it is just about making the right decision.

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The energy need of Google, Apple and other tech giants

Tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple advertise renewable energies and the environment on their website. Is this because they are hugely dependent on energy or is this just a marketing campaign?

Recently, Google invested almost $80 million to build a gigantic solar plant. It will not only provide clean energy to the people around the area, but it also provides a reliable and clean source of energy for its data centers. These data centers require energy because they have a lot of power-sucking servers and air conditioning units. And cooling a huge warehouse to fridge temperatures (which is when computers work best), requires a lot of energy. The amount of energy required is overwhelming.

Companies like Apple are planning to move completely off-grid and produce their own energy. Apple in particular plans to use a green energy source for itself and use the normal power grid as backup. In that way, none of their 24/7 services and productions will come to a halt. Apple is even implementing innovative technologies in buildings so that natural ventilation is promoted and as efficient as an AC. That is break-through development to build a sustainable campus.

Looking at these two examples, it becomes evident that benefits of a energy source owned by the company itself include:

• Integrated energy production exactly matches production and service requirements. There is no power wasted and demand is always met.
• Optimization of the energy production to the business model means that the key requirement for reliability is met.
• Own energy sources are independent of energy price fluctuations and other market factors. They can also be continuously re-adapted to meet new business needs.
• Lower carbon emissions means lower tax rates and hence less costs. 
• Green energy sources, such as solar panels, require low maintenance and allow the company to focus on its core business (and not energy production).

It therefore makes sense for tech giants to invest in their own energy sources.

Obviously, not every tech company can have its own energy source. Certain economies of scale need to be achieved first before anything remotely similar to the examples above can be achieved. Nevertheless, even solar panels can be worth an investment. Even household consumers are already implementing them successfully.

The key takeaway here is though that the companies are not going for massive coal plants. They are going for solar panels and hydrogen cells. They require less maintenance, are independent of oil prices and are highly sustainable. For a company where energy production it is not its main focus, most of the green energy sources, anything from wind mills to dams, are ideal to produce its own energy.

In conclusion, to ultimately become fully green in IT requires a company to optimize every aspect of its IT structure. As outlined here, this starts with the green energy production and moves to optimization of every chip on a server.

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Microsoft’s Trial with Fuel Cell Energy

Microsoft experiments with methane-powered fuel cells are extremely fascinating. Without further a a due, lets get into the topic:

So what is Fuel Cell?

Fuel cell is a device that generate electricity through chemical reaction. Fuel cell has gained intrigue and popularity through its environmentally healthy benefits. Unlike fossil fuels the by products of fuel cells are just simply heat and water. The beauty of a fuel cell is the fact that the flow of chemicals is constant, this means that it never goes dead - as long as there is a flow of chemicals into the cell, the electricity flows out of the cell.

With a growing trend and consumer expectations for large companies to take more proactive steps for green efficiency, Microsoft has take the initiative and is building a data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming that will be powered by methane generated at a waste water treatment plant. Microsoft has also released a research paper indicating its plans to construct smaller methane fuel cells right in their server racks - essentially putting tiny power plants inside of the data centers. The Cheyenne data center will be powered by 300-kilowatt fuel cell located near the waste water plant, the new concept would use thousands of 10 to 20 kilowatt fuel cells.


Microsoft have claimed that this initiative could save about 20 percent of the cost of the data centre, but also argue that they win out because of reliability. The set-up would be based around multiple fuel cells, so there would be no single point of failure.

“Why this hasn’t been done before is that the fuel cell technology has evolved to the point that the power efficiency that would normally need a large turbine can now fit in a rack,” Sean James, a senior research program manager for Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services, told the magazine.

So with this exciting trial underway, it’s success or failure will undoubtedly pave the way for further improvements in green technology.

Ref:

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/11/microsoft-fuel-cells/

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/fuel-cell1.htm

http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/microsoft-fuel-cell-data-centre-131728

The Smart Grid: Linking electricity with IT

There is little doubt of the impact that our increasing electricity usage has on the environment and to utility bills. Often, electrical companies are stretched thin when many consumers are drawing power at the same time (peak demand) and often rely on additional fossil fuels to assure this demand is met without issues. The advancement of IT systems has allowed the growth of the “smart grid” that links information and electrical infrastructures to optimize energy loads across the grid.

With the new technology, companies are able to receive live data transmitted from smart meters on homes and can regulate demand more smoothly. Better links in the grid allow for home owners to feed power back to the company when possible. For example, a battery storage source could be brought online if connected to the grid at home and then recharged at lower demand times. This possibility has become even more appealing to electric car owners who are even starting to receive reduced rates in some areas to charge their car at night and allow energy providers to use their stored battery during peak demand loads.



The smart grid also makes home power generation through solar panels or windmills more attractive with the possibility of selling additional power back to the grid. These features allow for better demand management of electrical power and show how new, live information can lead to great efficiency.

The smart grid is a blend between efficient software and IT. In this case, programming methods and algorithms are used efficiently to perfectly match demand and need. New technology provides the physical backbone. Green software can be seen as one of the constituent parts of green IT. It harnesses the power of information technologies and uses it for the benefit of being more green.

One company which provides smart grid solutions is Cisco.  It has grid architecture blocks that allow the building of such a smart grid. For energy companies like RWE or UK Power Networks these products are an interesting business value proposition to optimize their power networks. They get to benefit from:

• Reduced production costs. Energy can be stored locally more easily and end-users can input power into the network. This reduces the requirement to run expensive power plants. Therefore production costs are reduced.
• Less power dissipation. There is less energy dissipated as energy can be produced and stored locally and therefore has less travel distance. It is known that power is lost easily through long distance power grids. Overproduction of energy to compensate for dissipation therefore drops and revenues increase.
• Demand can be matched more closely. Prediction patterns can be traced to very high details through software similar to that developed by the University of Iowa. This allows correct calibration of energy production and yields the same benefits as above.

The difficulty with smart grids though is that it is hugely costly to implement. It is basically about digitizing something which has been analog for over a hundred years. This will take years for the energy companies to complete this. Additionally, currently it is just cheaper to produce dirty energy instead of investing in the smart grid to yield the benefits above.

The real benefits of this technology however reach the end consumers and businesses. They can save energy costs by up to 25% and therefore have great interest in this technology.

In general though, the smart grid is a novel green technology benefiting businesses and consumers at the same time.

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