Sustainable Technology

The San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego and CLUMEQ, a Canadian High Performance Computing consortium, will collaborate to design an ultra-efficient data center as part of a program to promote green IT initiatives.  …

… “Under the partnership, SDSC and CLUMEQ/McGill University researchers will design and build a business case and a conceptual design for a jointly-managed, ultra-efficient data center to be built in Quebec, which has an abundance of green hydroelectric power and an ideally suited cool climate that can provide free cooling to the data center’s high-performance computer systems for much of the year.

Hydro Quebec, Quebec’s state-owned utility, Rumsey Engineering of Oakland, California, and ClimateCHECK, an Ottawa-based firm specializing in green house gas ( GHG ) emission standards and measurement, are collaborating on the project. “   …

Via SDSC: Green Data Center (Link).

Allstate Insurance achieves LEED Gold for its new data center in Rochelle, Illinois. The datacenter deploys efficient hardware, virtualization techniques, effective cooling systems, white roofing, natural lighting, and a native landscape design to achieve its sustainable facility design. …

… “The Allstate facility, which opened in 2009, is one of the few mission-critical data centers in America to receive the Gold designation from USGBC. It’s a key component of a larger strategy to reduce the number of Allstate data centers to two by the end of 2010 and to increase power efficiency and computing capacity. ” …

Via Allstate Insurance Company: LEED Building Certification

Symantec deploys a portfolio of green IT projects to create a tangible impact on its energy consumption, power costs, and carbon footprint. …

… “decommissioning of hardware from a major data center closure reduced Symantec’s overall device power utilization from approximately 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) to 168 kWh … ” …

Via Environmental Leader: Green IT Efforts

Establishing the baseline for your performance is a critical first step in the green journey. Have you plateaued in your green initiatives? A maturity test may inform you of your performance level and suggest means to breakthrough to the next level of green IT achievement. …

… “The crucial first step is assessment — understanding the state of green IT policies and practices within your organization. ” …

Via Greener Computing: Green IT Maturity Test

Don’t miss out on simple, yet effective, ways to green your IT strategy. The UK initiative is realizing benefits from their techniques, such as turn-off and printing policies. The next set of initiatives will require additional mindset changes and technology shifts. …

… “Cabinet Office minister Angela Smith told the Greening Government ICT conference in London today that simple initiatives such as extending the lifecycle of PCs, making double-sided printing the default option, and turning computers off at night have contributed to the savings. ” …

Via Business Green: Green IT strategy

IBM studies the current thought patterns of chief information officers and, not surprisingly, energy efficiency strategies are top of mind. …

… “CIOs also are continuing on the path to dramatically lower energy costs, with 76 percent undergoing or planning virtualization projects. ” …

Via IBM: Top CIO Priorities

Internap Network Services is implementing green initiatives in conjunction with its expansion of the company’s New York City data center. …

… “The Manhattan facility has been fitted with an ultrasonic humidification system, which uses less energy than traditional methods for balancing humidity. Energy-efficient electronically commutated (EC) fans and variable frequency drives (VFDs) within the air conditioning systems were also installed. EC fans provide an immediate energy savings of up to 30 percent over units using conventional technology, while VFDs adjust motor speed to better match output requirements, resulting in further energy savings.” …

Via Internap: Green Data Center Push with New York City Facility

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts extends its corporate sustainability initiative to the information technology function, setting strategy and creating an aggressive implementation plan that will deliver improvement in its carbon footprint. The company will leverage its centralized IT management model to enable an enterprise energy management policy across its workstation and laptop assets. …

… “Aimed at limiting waste, purchasing responsibly, conserving energy and reducing the company’s overall carbon footprint, Fairmont’s Green IT plan includes the introduction of a workstation power down schedule, electronic waste diversion in markets where programs exist and the development of donation standards aligning with qualified and respected recycling companies and charities. In addition, Fairmont will optimize purchasing efficiencies, including crafting a green procurement policy to ensure the brand uses technology products that are either EPA Energy Star or Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-rated as well as services that address Extended Product Responsibility (EPR) programs. The Green IT initiative at Fairmont will be rolled out property-wide throughout 2009 with full implementation expected by the end of the year. ” …

Via Fairmont Hotels & Resorts: Fairmont Announces Green IT Strategy:

Symantec releases findings of its 2009 Green IT Report, based on survey results from senior-level IT executives. The information technology functions is implementing multiple green IT strategies focused on cost reduction and sustainability. …

… “Core Green IT Initiatives: IT professionals are regularly deploying several key initiatives for green IT purposes. Replacing old equipment was the most popular strategy, with 95 percent reporting new energy efficient equipment as part of their strategy, followed by monitoring power consumption (94 percent), server virtualization (94 percent), and server consolidation (93 percent). Additionally, more than half (57 percent) of respondents see software-as-a-service offerings as green solutions. ” …

Via Symantec: Green IT Study Findings

The Green IT initiative cuts across the technology disciplines, involving members of the business intelligence team. Measures, analytics, and dashboards have a role in visualizing IT’s carbon footprint and the impact that sustainability improvements deliver. …

… “The green BI team should be able to not only identify the green metrics to be generated but also emphasize injecting the green element into every data point in the whole supply chain. ” …

Via Insurance Networking: Business Intelligence Strategy

SAP is working with its customers to understand how to harness virtualization for ERP system landscapes and leverage this technology for business value and sustainability objectives. To foster this customer collaboration, SAP is sponsoring a Green IT community. The company expects to generate innovative green IT solutions beyond the traditional data center space and views this horizon as green IT 2.0. …

… “The foreground of energy efficiency and waste reduction – the green IT 1.0 zone where many strategists focus today – will soon be eclipsed by a broader horizon. IT will drive new sustainability value in business processes and public infrastructure projects in the world of green IT 2.0, that will spur IT innovation and growth for years to come. SAP will use the new, SAP-led Green IT community to drive sustainability research and development initiatives with partners and customers. SAP will continue to promote innovative optimization technologies like virtualization together with its partners and offer relevant services, such as system landscape optimization, which help customers maximize the use of their computing resources. ” …

Via SAP: Green IT Strategic Focus Area

An IBM and Sun combination would bring two strong sustainability strategies under one roof. …

… “IBM and Sun both have jumped into the green IT arena over the last few years, albeit from different angles. ” …

Via Business Week: IBM Takeover of Sun