Green Data Center Timeline from Greenpeace

Green Data Centers have come along way since i started blogging on the subject in 2007.

Greenpeace has a timeline from their perspective on the green data center here.

Here are some of their early entries.

“September, 2011: Google increases transparency on its data center energy use

Google releases information on exactly how much energy it takes to provide searches, email, youtube videos and all other Google services, as well as its energy mix.

December, 2011: Facebook to renewable energy siting policy for data centers

Facebook commits to a siting policy with a stated preference to locate data centers in areas with renewable energy available, bringing to a close the 20-month Greenpeace Unfriend Coal campaign.

May, 2012: Apple commits to 100 % renewable energy for iCloud

Apple announces a doubling of its solar installation at its North Carolina data center, along with a commitment that all of its data centers will be powered by 100 % renewable energy.

June, 2012: eBay quits the coal grid for its Utah data center

eBay installs fuel cells for its Utah data center, setting them up in a way that allows the facility to run independently from the electricity grid, which is heavily powered by coal there.”
— http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/A-Green-Internet/Green-Internet-Timeline/



Intelligent Cooling Algorithms, Google Data Center and Honda Manufacturing

Saving energy is something everyone knows is good when you can maintain environmental conditions for equipment.  Here are two different examples.  One is Google in a data centers with its servers and another from Honda in its painting process.  

First Google’s Joe Kava explains what was done to improve the cooling system performance.

2nd is Honda explaining what it did to save 25% energy consumption in its cooling system for painting processes.

At the 1:21 mark the Honda Engineer explains the energy savings. http://youtu.be/bKLPXvZytIs?t=1m21s

NewImage

This Honda video was so good it won an award.

Honda's Environmental Short Film Series Receives National Award Recognition

Telly Award recognizes outstanding "Green/Eco Friendly" video content

6/24/2013 12:00:00 PM

 

 

The first film in Honda's Environmental Short Film Series, Paint by Numbers, has been awarded two Telly Awards in the Green/Eco-Friendly and Social Responsibility categories. The Telly Awards, now in its 34th season, honors the best film and video productions, groundbreaking online video content, and outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs.

Honda's Environmental Short Film Series highlights some remarkable initiatives - dreamed up and developed by Honda associates - that fulfill the company's vision for reducing its environmental impact and creating a sustainable future. Paint by Numbers, the first film in the series, tells the story of how Honda engineer Shubho Bhattacharya was inspired to develop technology to reduce the energy needed to operate the auto body painting system at Honda's manufacturing plant in Marysville, Ohio. Auto body painting accounts for the most energy use in Honda's production process. With the help of his fellow associates, Bhattacharya conceived Honda's Intelligent Paint Technology, which has cut Honda's North American manufacturing CO2 emissions by about 10,000 metric tons per year.

"Honda associates are always dreaming up innovative ways to reduce our environmental impact," said Marcos Frommer of Honda North America, Inc., one of the producers of the film series. "Short films are a great way to share our associates' sustainability initiatives, and we're honored to receive this recognition from the Telly Awards."

Oops, Supply and Demand problems for EV chargers at Bay Area companies

I grew up in the SF bay area and live there for 32 years before making the the move to Redmond and now I work from home.  Back when I used to commute to Microsoft, I had a less than a 3 mile drive and used to gas the car up every other month.  This would in theory a good scenario for an electric car, but I don’t think an electric car pays for itself when you drive less than 3,000 miles a year.

When I go to the bay area I borrow one of family’s cars and can get 45 mpg in a VW diesel.  When driving I see lots of EV.  Given Bay Area commutes there are probably many who count on getting a charge at work.  All sounds good until you get to work and find there are no EV spots.

Here is a MercuryNews article on the problem of not enough EV chargers.

'Charge rage': Too many electric cars, not enough workplace chargers

By Dana Hull

dhull@mercurynews.com

SAP is one company highlighted.

Just three years later, SAP faces a problem that is increasingly common at Silicon Valley companies -- far more electric cars than chargers. Sixty-one of the roughly 1,800 employees on the campus now drive a plug-in vehicle, overwhelming the 16 available chargers. And as demand for chargers exceeds supply, a host of thorny etiquette issues have arisen, along with some rare but notorious incidents of "charge rage."

"In the beginning, all of our EV drivers knew each other, we had enough infrastructure, and everyone was happy. That didn't last for long," said Peter Graf, SAP's chief sustainability officer and the driver of a Nissan Leaf. "Cars are getting unplugged while they are actively charging, and that's a problem. Employees are calling and messaging each other, saying, 'I see you're fully charged, can you please move your car?'"

This is probably just the beginning of EV charging problems.  Can you imagine running power all over a parking lot?  EV charging tends to be close to a building.

Warp your thinking, Oil Companies could be the solution for Carbon Capture

Technology Review has a post on a discussion with Shell Executive that they could be the ones who can solve the carbon capture problem.

Wouldn't that be interesting if environmental groups are supporting the transformation of oil companies.

Shell Exec Says Oil Companies Might Become Carbon Capture Ones

An expert from Shell says that oil companies, with their deep knowledge of geophysics, are well-suited to pioneer carbon capture and storage technology.

 

WHY IT MATTERS

Carbon capture and storage could help reduce emissions, but it will require huge resources.

dirk smit

Dirk Smit speaking today at the EmTech conference at MIT.

Oil companies’ expertise in geophysics might be invaluable in addressing climate change and other civilization-scale challenges, according to Dirk Smit, vice president of exploration technology at Royal Dutch Shell.

Speaking on the sidelines of MIT Technology Review’s EmTech conference today, Smit described a future in which fossil fuels provide a smaller fraction of the world’s energy needs—not because the world will run out of them but because a range of factors, including improved technology and concerns about climate change, make alternatives to fossil fuels more competitive.