Will Midwest Heat wave shift Republican views on Climate Change?

July 17, 2011 Dave Ohara

There is record heat wave in the Midwest.

CHICAGO — An oppressive and potentially deadly summertime mix of sizzling temperatures and high humidity baked a large swath of the country again on Sunday, pushing afternoon heat indexes in dozens of cities to dangerous levels.

Forecasters warned the heatwave would persist through much of the coming week and cautioned residents in more than three dozen states to take extra precautions.

The National Weather Service posted excessive heat warnings for much of the country's midsection, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, as well as South and North Dakota, where forecasters predicted heat indexes could hit 115 degrees.

"This will likely be the most significant heat wave the region has experienced in at least the last five years," the weather service said.

The Midwest tends to be Republican political views.

As you pick through various polls, what's interesting is how little America's political landscape has actually changed. Take this map from the USA Today polltracker. The orange is "too close" and the gray is "not enough" data. Red is Republican and blue is Democrat, of course.

And, here is a difference in belief in global warming.

Status of Green Data Centre in Australia

July 13, 2011 Dave Ohara

DatacenterDynamics reports on the Green Data Centre movement in Australia.

Australia’s data center industry and carbon tax

Exactly what affect could a carbon tax have on Australia’s data center industry? We spoke to one market expert to find out

Published 12th July, 2011 by Penny Jones

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Australia introduced its carbon tax this week, which from July next year will see its top 500 polluters pay AU$23 for each tonne of carbon emitted. There is little doubt that countries such as the UK, considering own version of a carbon tax – the CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) -will be interested to see how the move pans out.

Australia has one of the largest sources of Uranium Ore, but there are no nuclear power plants in Australia, leaving coal as the dominant power source.

“One of the world’s most polluting power plants is in Victoria. Most of our energy is supplied by coal power plants,” Oostveen says.

It appears the dominant action is to focus on energy efficiency.

“Overall, there is some excitement amongst new players in the marketplace because they realise than energy efficiency is becoming a hot topic again.”

When you can’t breath, Green becomes a priority

November 19, 2010 Dave Ohara

MSNBC/AP report on a change in twitter post by the US Embassy in Bejing.

U.S. Embassy: Beijing air quality is 'crazy bad'

Twitter post later changed to 'beyond index'

Alexander F. Yuan / AP

A man walks on a pedestrian overpass on a hazy day at Beijing's central business district Friday.

By CHI-CHI ZHANG

BEIJING — Pollution in Beijing was so bad Friday that the U.S. Embassy, which has been independently monitoring air quality, ran out of conventional adjectives to describe it, at one point saying it was "crazy bad."

The embassy, which issues hourly pollution reports via Twitter, later deleted the phrase from a post, replacing it with "beyond index," and saying it was an "incorrect" description. The embassy said it would also revise the language to use when the air quality index goes above 500, its highest point and a level considered hazardous for all people by U.S. standards

It will be interesting when the health issues get big enough to drive greener behaviors.

"Beijing needs to place more of a priority on the environment. The health of Beijing residents is no less important than the health of those athletes who were here for a few weeks," Ma added. "We can't just expect wind, snow or rain to wipe out the pollution when it gets bad. The city must take pollution more seriously and implement preventive measures."

One Beijing resident said he was suffering breathing difficulties.

"I feel like I'm having some problems with breathing and distress in my chest," said a high school teacher who only gave his surname, Qiao.

How big is a planned data center? Look at the Air Permitting for Diesel Generators, Microsoft receives permit for 13 generators in Quincy, WA

November 7, 2010 Dave Ohara

I have been having fun researching the top data center users, seeing how much power they use. One of the techniques I use is publicly disclosed information for USA data centers from the State Ecology groups who issue air permits for diesel generators.

Here is a news report on Washington State's ecology department issuing a permit for 13 diesel generators.

Generators OK'd at Microsoft data center in Quincy

The state Ecology Department granted Microsoft a permit to install 13 backup power generators for the expansion of its data center in Quincy in central Washington.

The Associated Press

QUINCY, Wash. —

The state Ecology Department granted Microsoft a permit to install 13 backup power generators for the expansion of its data center in Quincy in central Washington.

The diesel-powered generators would be used in case of an electricity outage.

The Columbia Basin Herald reports neighbors are concerned about air pollution from the generators. The department is requiring Microsoft to meet regularly with the school district and notify it when the generators will be running.

The state Ecology department is making this easier, creating their own news releases.

Microsoft Columbia Data Center receives air quality permit to expand

SPOKANE — The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) has issued the final permit allowing Microsoft’s Columbia Data Center in Quincy to expand operations.

The final permit, called a “notice of construction” order, follows a five-week public review and comment period that included a public hearing. The final permit contains revisions to address the concerns people expressed for air quality.

The notice of construction order is a formal approval document that allows Microsoft to install 13 new backup generators for use during power failures to support the facility’s data servers. The generators are powered by diesel engines. When all the new generators are installed, they will add the capacity for an extra 32.5 megawatts of backup electricity. That’s in addition to the 60 megawatts already available from the existing 24 generators installed in 2008.

Diesel engine exhaust particulate is a toxic air pollutant. Because of this, Ecology required a thorough evaluation of the health risks posed by the expansion project. This evaluation, called a “third-tier review of the health impact assessment,” required approval by Ecology Director Ted Sturdevant before the generators could be installed. Sturdevant approved the third-tier review on Aug. 20, 2010, and recommended approval of the project pending input from the public.

Based on the nearly 40 questions and comments received, Ecology changed the final permit to enable the community of Quincy to be well-informed about scheduled times and duration of maintenance testing of the generators.

“The final permit is built on sound science and a thorough, expert review,” said Greg Flibbert, Ecology’s project manager for the Columbia Data Center permit. “The questions we received from the public were well thought out and helped us make sure we had covered all the bases for protecting air quality while also ensuring that the local economy can gain from the benefits of Microsoft’s expansion.”

Part of the process for Air Permitting is public comment cycle like the Microsoft Quincy permitting.

Public invited to comment on draft permit for Microsoft Columbia Data Center expansion

SPOKANE - The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) invites the public to comment on a proposed “notice of construction” order (permit) for the expansion of the Microsoft Columbia Data Center, in Quincy. The notice is a formal approval document that allows the company to install 13 new backup generators for use during power failures to support the facility’s data servers. The generators are powered by diesel engines.

Diesel engine exhaust particulate is a toxic air pollutant. Because of this, Ecology required a thorough evaluation of the health risks posed by the expansion project. This evaluation is called a “third-tier review of the health impact assessment” and the director of Ecology must approve it before the generators are installed.

The Microsoft Columbia Data Center was built in 2008 after Ecology approved a permit for installing and operating 24 electrical generators, capable of producing 60 megawatts of emergency backup electrical power. The expansion would add 32.5 megawatts of backup electricity.

We'll how big the Dell data center is in its first phase when they get their air permits.

Environmental Impact of Data Center Diesel Generators - Quincy, WA

September 14, 2010 Dave Ohara

DataCenterKnowledge has a post about Washington State's Department of Ecology studying the environmental impact of Data Center Diesel Generator operation in Quincy, WA.

Quincy Generator Cluster Draws Scrutiny
September 13th, 2010 : Rich Miller

An aerial view of the Microsoft data center in Quincy, Washington

Economic development officials love clusters of huge Internet data centers. But environmental officials are less enthused about large clusters of diesel generators. The town of Quincy, Washington has both, serving as home to major data centers for Microsoft, Yahoo and Intuit (with another project from Sabey Corp. on the way).

As much as the big data center operators would like to not discuss any data center details, there is a social and environmental impact the public has the right to review.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has approved Microsoft’s additional permit, but has also scheduled a public hearing in Quincy on Sept. 28 to hear from residents on the topic. The Ecology department conducted an evaluation of the health risks from diesel engine exhaust particulates, and found that the Microsoft expansion, viewed in isolation, is not likely to impact public health.

State officials and Microsoft are required to appear at a public meeting to present and discuss the generator expansion. The Department of Ecology took the opportunity to seek feedback from area residents, citing the growing concentration of data centers.

“Due to the interest expressed by other data companies to expand or build in the Quincy area, Ecology was concerned that the cumulative effect of diesel engine emissions should be assessed,” the state said in announcing the meeting.

Being green means more than your PUE and energy efficiency of equipment.

Here is the presentation referenced. Gary Palcisko is the presenter.

And note this slide for potential future requirements.