Dan Keldsen's Library tagged sustainability →  View Popular, Search in Google

Awfully smart data center design. Very thoughtful in it's flexibility to adjust for both outside/inside conditions, heating the office space during winter, venting out in warmer seasons.

"By Clint Boulton on 2011-04-08 (eWeek) Facebook's Prineville, Ore., data center is almost finished, and to celebrate the ambitious project the social network decided to do something special April 7. As part of the Open Compute Project, Facebook is publishing specs and mechanical designs used to construct the motherboards, power supply, server chassis, and server and battery cabinets for its data center. That's unprecedented enough for a company of Facebook's growing scale, but the social network is also open sourcing specs for its data center's electrical and mechanical construction. The move is somewhat shocking because Facebook so closely defends behind its walled garden the information inside its network. Who would have thought the company would open source the technological blueprint for how it delivers and supports that data in the cloud? Indeed, Facebook's seeming largesse is a departure from strategies of other Internet companies. Google, Twitter and Amazon closely guard their data center and hardware specifications to maintain a competitive edge in the cutthroat cloud-computing market. Why is Facebook giving away its specs to other companies? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains why in this presentation..."

facebook open_computer energy_efficiency sustainability

Interesting way to flip many of the problems around alternative energy and sustainability around with a 180 degree approach. Penalizing does seem to make people want to dig in their heels and defend the old way of doing things. Focusing on new approaches that are better, faster and cheaper should make it that much more obvious that the new way is the direction to move in.

"Forcing countries to agree to emissions caps will never work, argue Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. Instead, they say, the focus should be on technology innovations."

change change_management sustainability sustainable_energy alternative_energy ted_nordhaus michael_shellenberger AoS

In partnership with Armstrong Ceiling Systems, Johnson Controls (JCI), and other companies, Savage is demonstrating his vision in 31 locations around the world, including a Ford (F) factory in Detroit. In the pilots, the AC energy coming from the grid is converted to DC by one of Nextek's $1,550 power modules, which resembles a supersized power strip. The partner companies develop the equipment that delivers the DC power to devices throughout the home or business. Savage says he's planning to retrofit several homes in Detroit to run on DC as part of a green energy project run by a local nonprofit. Because DC is safe, some of the demonstration projects feature ceiling tiles with energy constantly coursing through them as if they were wires. They're safe to touch, so lights, ceiling fans, speakers, and other power-hungry items can simply be clipped into place.

Savage estimates that if DC systems take hold, they could cut the amount of energy needed nationally by 8.3 percent. Brian Fortenbery, program manager at the Electric Power Research Institute, considers Savage one of the leaders of the DC movement. "There's a pretty sizable push [for DC] from vendors" who sell power supplies, he adds. American Power Conversion, which makes AC power supplies, counters that improvements in AC technology can raise efficiency without having to invest in new DC equipment.

innovation dc_current ac_current alternative_energy sustainability paul_savage nextek_power_systems AoS

Thousands of Repower America members around the country took a stand for clean air and submitted their photos and videos in support of the Clean Air Act. This new video is a declaration that we won't stay quiet and lose our last, best line of defense against big polluters.

repower_a erica sustainability clean_air_act

sustainability energyefficiency energy_intelligence climate_change jyri_engestrom

In May, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change released a very detailed report on the topic of energy efficiency called “From Shop Floor to Top Floor: Best Business Practices in Energy Efficiency.” The report, based on extensive surveys of roughly 50 major companies as well as in-depth studies of six companies from a diverse set of industries, identified the seven habits of highly efficient companies. These are:

Efficiency is a core strategy.
Leadership and organizational support is real and sustained.
The company has smart energy efficiency goals.
The strategy relies on a robust tracking and measurement system.
The organization puts substantial resources into efficiency.
The energy efficiency strategy shows demonstrated results.
The company effectively communicates efficiency results.
These habits describe a business’ strategy, sponsorship, organization, processes and communication that are critical to the success of an overall energy efficiency program.  The fourth habit – the “robust tracking and measurement system” – is all about the information requirements that are lifeblood of such a program and enable this all to work.

energyefficiency energy_intelligence business_intelligence BI sustainability robert_ferris hitachi_consulting

The man who helped usher in the environmental movement in the 1960s and '70s has been rethinking his positions on cities, nuclear power, genetic modification and geo-engineering. This talk at the US State Department is a foretaste of his major new book, sure to provoke widespread debate.

stewart_brand whole_earth_discipline sustainability sustainable_energy nuclear_power hydro_power TED

Found out about this via a press release by Iron Mountain, which has built an underground data center that takes advantage of the naturally cooler climate underground to greatly reduce their power consumption and heating/cooling needs.

"InfoWorld's 2010 Green 15 Award winners, in alphabetical order:

* Aflac pushes for paperless practices, yields productivity gains
* Andhra Pradesh overcomes resource limitations with virtual desktops
* CLUMEQ transforms rundown particle accelerator into high-efficiency cooling enclosure
* Dell spurs efficiency by pulling the plug on unnecessary apps
* EPA's Energy Star for servers and data centers illuminates sustainable paths
* Ericsson drives a greener supply chain
* Intel pinpoints thousands of unproductive servers
* Iron Mountain finds limestone a natural fit for data center efficiency
* KPMG scores sky-high savings with telepresence
* Palo Alto takes a unified approach to shattering carbon-cutting goals
* Provider Enterprises steers fleet toward fuel savings
* Raytheon's companywide green efforts reach Antarctica
* Standard Bank enlists thin clients to avoid costly AC upgrade
* State Street banks on sustainability
* Syracuse University turns to DC power in constructing its Green Data Center"

green sustainability iron_mountain aflac andhra_pradesh clumeq dell epa_energy_star ericsson intel kpmg palo_alto provider_enterprises raytheon standard_bank state_street syracuse_university

"On show in Milan last week were Ecomat's Lego-esque building bricks. They're made from sustainable materials, are earthquake-proof, and suitable for both permanent and temporary structures. Do you think the fact that some of the bricks have been manufactured in United Nations blue is a subtle hint by Ecomat's Italian creators that the bricks would be suitable for refugee camps in disaster zones?

Although they are light enough not to cost the earth for transportation, they've got good thermal and acoustic insulation (perfect for a playroom for your kids so they can play Lego Rock Band without disturbing you too much). There seems to be one problem, however: no roof tiles."

lego ecomat sustainability milan temporary_structuers permanent_structures disaster

Interesting, if incomplete, list of various energy production (or loss reduction/transmission) companies.

reinventing energy sustainability alternative_energy green_energy renewables innovation

Interesting holistic approach by Vale (NYSE: VALE), a mining company, has partnered with Biopalma da Amazonia S.A. to make a significant (and ultimately, total) switch to biodiesel fuel to power it's own operations. Combined with replanting to equal or exceed their carbon footprint, they are making serious investments and commitments to changing the way their business is powered.

innovation casestudy vale energy sustainability biodiesel

Sobering thoughts on the rise of China to the "western norms" of consumption... "Today, China -- which is roughly the same size as the United States -- is almost one-quarter desert, and the desert is advancing at more than 1,300 square miles, approximatel

cnn economics environment disaster china water sustainability

Appears to be an unofficial IBM blog - focusing on areas of global concern that are sidelines (sustainability, water conservation/re-use, and others) somewhat off my normal beaten path. Hunting down the latest Global Technology Outlook from IBM led me her

ibm economics aquanomics sustainable_energy sustainability global gio research

Nice collection - but it's gone dormant.

energy alternative_energy sustainability sustainable_energy