EPA says GHG are harmful, what is the impact to the data center?

December 7, 2009 Dave Ohara

Updated: Here is my post regarding the announcement. /2009/12/what-most-will-miss-in-epas-ghg-announcement-impact-on-water-and-power-infrastructure.html

What most will miss in EPA’s GHG announcement, impact on water and power infrastructure

It is pretty cool that you don’t have to be official press event on Dec 7, 2009 to see news events like EPA’s GHG announcement. I could watch a live feed through MSNBC.

The official press announcement makes warnings to health and environment, but in the report is impact to water and power infrastructure both of which you need for data centers.

EPA executives have a news conference scheduled today.

TODAY: Administrator Jackson to Make Significant Climate Announcement

Release date: 12/07/2009

Contact Information: EPA Press Office, press@epa.gov, (202) 564-6794

WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson will make a significant climate announcement at a press briefing TODAY, December 7. The media briefing will be held at U.S. EPA Headquarters at 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
WHO: EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
WHAT: Media Briefing on significant EPA climate announcement
WHEN: Monday, December 7, 1:15 p.m.
WHERE: U.S. EPA Headquarters
Ariel Rios South Building
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C.

AP/MSNBC have a news article before the press conference.

EPA says greenhouse gases are harmful

Announcement comes as Obama prepares to attend climate conference

The AES Corporation 495-megawatt Alamitos natural gas-fired power station stands on Oct. 1 in Long Beach, Calif. The Obama administration has announced that rather than wait for Congress to act, it has authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to move forward on enacting new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions emitted from hundreds of power plants and large industrial facilities.

David Mcnew / Getty Images file

WASHINGTON - The Environmental ProtectionAgency has concluded greenhouse gases are endangering people's health and must be regulated, signaling that the Obama administration is prepared to contain global warming without congressional action if necessary.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson scheduled a news conference for later Monday to announce the so-called endangerment finding, officials told The Associated Press, speaking privately because the announcement had not been made.

Is regulation coming?

Under a Supreme Court ruling, the so-called endangerment finding is needed before the EPA can regulate carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases released from power plants, factories and automobiles under the federal Clean Air Act.

The EPA signaled last April that it was inclined to view heat-trapping pollution as a threat to public health and welfare and began to take public comments under a formal rulemaking. The action marked a reversal from the Bush administration, which had declined to aggressively pursue the issue.

Vendor information for NSA Utah Data Center

November 29, 2009 Dave Ohara

Salt Lake Tribune has an article on NSA’s data center in Utah.

The secretive NSA went public earlier this month with its plan to build the data center, which could consume as much power as every home in Salt Lake City. Its task: Processing information collected in an effort to prevent attacks on the nation's cyber networks.

Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, both Utah Republicans, hailed the center as key to protecting the nation's digital infrastructure.

mlaplante@sltrib.com

The Utah Data Center Industry days has passed.

But, you can find the information here if you didn’t make it to Industry day.

On November 17, 2009, the Rocky Mountain Region, Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration (GSA) will host an FBI Industry Day in Salt Lake City, Utah. The purpose of the Industry Day is twofold: First, it is intended to educate industry partners (i.e., private sector developers, contractors, architects, etc.) on new FBI program and construction requirements. Attendees will gain an understanding the GSA two-phase Source Selection bid process and how the FBI requirements should be met during the offer period. Second, it is GSA's further intention that a minimum of 60% of contract labor for the project must be Utah-based. The meeting will provide an open forum for developers and potential contractors to exchange information and form partnerships.

Pre-registration is not required. However, due to space limitations a maximum of three members from each firm may attend. It is not a requirement to attend the Industry Day to participate in future project phases. Registration on this Federal Business Oppotunities website (www.fbo.gov) is necessary to take advantage of networking opportunities.

Distribution of marketing materials is permitted among developers and potential vendors. Neither GSA nor FBI will accept any marketing materials, business cards, etc., from any source.

The Industry Day event will be held on November 17, 2009, in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the Marriott City Center located at 220 South State Street. The event will run from 8:00 to 11:00 AM, Mountain Time.

For further information please contact:

Shelley Smith
Contracting Officer
Mountain Plains Service Center
303-236-8000 X5302
Shelley.Smith@gsa.gov

Added: Nov 09, 2009 3:43 pm

The planned Industry Day is in direct support of the proposed construction of an FBI facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. The information disseminated at the meeting will be a combination of general (i.e., applies to all current and future FBI projects) and very basic information related directly to the the Salt Lake City project.
[Please note: As a matter of agency mission-related security, technical specifics will not be addressed during this meeting. Only development team offerors prequalified on the basis of the Phase I SFO will be given access to the technical information, detailed in the Phase II SFO.]
Appropriate meeting notes will be posted as an amendment to this notice after November 17.
It is not necessary to attend the Industry Day in order to receive the Phase I SFO for development team prequalification. The Government's preferred method of distribution for the request for offers and the Phase I SFO, along with all necessary forms, will be a post to this Federal Business Opportunities website later this month. Therefore, you must be registered on FedBizOps to receive an electronic notification and attached SFO. Paper copies will also be made available.
For informational purposes an advance copy of the flyer to be distributed by the Government during the Industry Day is posted as an attachment to this notice.
Given the limited availability of space in the Marriott City Center a second session may be added at the discretion of the Government. The first session will begin promptly at 8:00 AM. If a second session presenting the same information is required it will commence promptly at 9:30 AM.

Added: Nov 24, 2009 5:51 pm

DUE TO SYSTEM LIMITATIONS, THE NUMBER 6UT0033B COULD NOT BE REUSED TO POST THE TEAM PREQUALIFICATION SFO.
PLEASE SEARCH UNDER 6UT0033BB FOR THE TEAM PREQUALIFICATION SFO POSTED NOVEMBER 24, 2009.

Please consult the list of document viewers if you cannot open a file.

Industry Day Flyer

Type:

Other (Draft RFPs/RFIs, Responses to Questions, etc..)

Posted Date:

November 9, 2009

Salt Lake City Publication.pdf (256.80 Kb)

Description: Industry Day Flyer

Slide presentations, bidder's lists, Q&A

Type:

Other (Draft RFPs/RFIs, Responses to Questions, etc..)

Posted Date:

November 23, 2009

Industry Day Presentation 8x11.pdf (7,015.80 Kb)

Description: Industry Day slide presentation

Industryday Sign In sheet.pdf (1,173.58 Kb)

Description: Industry Day attendee list

Industry Day Q.doc (25.50 Kb)

Description: Industry Day Q&A

Contracting Office Address:

Denver Federal Center, Building 41, Room 272
Denver, Colorado 80225

Place of Performance:

220 South State Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
United States

Primary Point of Contact.:

Shelley Smith,

Contracting Officer

Shelley.Smith@gsa.gov

Phone: 303.236.8000 x5302

Fax: 303.236.1774

If you didn’t make it you can see who did attend here.

Pacific NW gets $89 mil of the $620 mil DOE Smart Grid grants

November 24, 2009 Dave Ohara

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will manage the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration project.

NW power grid project gets $89 million from DOE

A project to examine how high technology can improve the Pacific Northwest's electric power grid has received an $88.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

By The Associated Press

RICHLAND — A project to examine how high technology can improve the Pacific Northwest's electric power grid has received an $88.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The money, to help pay for the $177.6 million Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, was the largest among 32 grants DOE announced Tuesday as part of $620 million in stimulus aid.

The grant will go to Battelle Memorial Institute's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, which will manage the project. The remainder of the project's cost will be borne by energy providers, utilities, technology companies and research organizations taking part.

Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center

Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center by PNNL - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center at PNNL is a user-based facility dedicated to energy and hydropower research, operations training and back-up resources for energy utilities and industry groups.

Smart meters are part of the project.

Among those taking part in the project are the campuses of the University of Washington in Seattle and Washington State University in Pullman. At both schools, "smart meters" will be installed to provide real-time information on power consumption, along with software and other gear to automate and monitor the electricity distribution system.

I wonder if anyone has thought including the Pacific NW data centers in Washington and Oregon in the project? Problem is almost all the big data center operators wouldn’t want the public to know the power consumption of their data centers.

I hope someone proves me wrong and signs up with PNNL.

New NSA $1.5 Bil Data Center has Green Requirements

October 29, 2009 Dave Ohara

InformationWeek Government has an article about NSA’s new $1.5 billion data center.

NSA To Build $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center

The massive complex, comprising up to 1.5 million square feet of building space, will provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats across government.

By J. Nicholas Hoover
InformationWeek
October 29, 2009 01:07 PM

The National Security Agency, whose job it is to protect national security systems, will soon break ground on a data center in Utah that's budgeted to cost $1.5 billion.

The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The budget document specifies green features.

Facility design goal will be to the highest LEED standard attainable within available resources and will include: sustainable site characteristics, water and energy efficiency, materials and resources criteria, and indoor environmental quality.

And even the generators have exhaust scrubbers.

Generators will include Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) pollution control equipment, chemical storage tanks and feed
system.

Google positions itself #1 in Green Data Centers, hosts Secretary of Energy

October 26, 2009 Dave Ohara

cnet news has a post on US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu with Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Google's warm reception for secretary of energy

by Tom Krazit

Google CEO Eric Schmidt (left) and U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu at Google headquarters Monday.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--For a bunch of search engineers, Google employees care an awful lot about energy and the environment.

Google hosted an event for employees Monday featuring Steven Chu, the U.S. secretary of energy under President Obama and a man Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said "may become one of the most influential scientists of our generation, if he isn't already." Chu took about an hour to speak to a packed room of Google employees followinghis announcement of $151 million in funding for new energy-related projects as part of the ARPA-E program.

Part of the format has Schmidt interviewing Chu.

Schmidt, who serves as an adviser to the administration on President Obama's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, asked Chu what it's like being the senior scientist in the government. He's actually the first scientist to hold the secretary of energy position, and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997.

"It's funny in a macabre sort of way. I don't think Congress treats me like your average cabinet member," Chu said with a wry chuckle. He said he's spent much of his first year on the job talking to Congress about the problems with energy use and the environment, and that legislators are receptive, for the most part.

"I think the president has made it very clear that science plays such an integral role in the decisions we have to make," Chu said. He was preaching to the choir at the Googleplex.

On a regular basis I hear Green IT is a fad and not important. Google has done a great job of providing a way for its staff to work together to use less energy for Google services.

What those people who think Green IT is a fad miss is having your staff focus on making things greener, means you have benchmarked your performance. And continually evaluate new ways to reduce energy consumption and reduce your carbon footprint. This saves money over the long haul and makes it easier to provide new services.

The winners in internet services are going to go to those who have the highest performance per watt. Google is in a race and many think the race isn’t worth the effort. Amazon gets it. Who else?

I bet you Eric Schmidt is helping the federal gov’t understand how much more efficient it would be to host services in the Google cloud vs federal data centers.

Can Google be the lowest cost utility for data center services? Who is competing with Google to be the lowest cost? The lowest cost provider will be the most efficient using energy.

Being the greenest is another way to say you are the lowest cost provider of IT services.

Still think Green IT will be a fad?