Washington State Data Center bill passes Senate House off to Gov for signature

Washington State's Data Center Bill passed the Senate.

Data center bill passes Senate

DateTuesday, March 16, 2010 at 4:54PM | AuthorWNJ-Editor

We have great news coming out of Olympia today on the second day of special session. SB 6789, the data center tax exemption, passed out of the Senate on a 39-4 vote. This is an exciting development, and now it is on to the House for consideration.

The Associated Press wrote about the bill's passage. Sen. Tom was interviewed in theAP story:

"Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, said the measure would draw companies and jobs to the state.

"The key to this is to incentivize them to build," he said. "Once we get them to make that commitment to go ahead and build, in this difficult economic environment, we can get those good construction jobs."

And House.

Data center bill passes House, off to governor for signature

DateWednesday, March 17, 2010 at 5:31PM | AuthorWNJ-Editor

So happy news to report: the data center legislation passed the House today on a 91-2 vote and now goes to Gov. Gregoire for her expected signature. This is obviously a great development, and we are so happy that people rallied around the legislation, which will help not just rural counties but the entire state.

After the Governor's signature.  We'll see if it gets data center construction started in Washington State.

Here is the pdf for the bill 6789.

13 (2) There is currently an intense competition for data center
14 construction and operation in many states including: Oregon, Arizona,
15 North and South Carolina, North Dakota, Iowa, Virginia, Texas, and
16 Illinois. Unprecedented incentives are available as a result of the
17 desire of these states to attract investments that will serve as a
18 catalyst for additional clusters of economic activity.

Read more

Navy Seals adopt open and transparency to improve yield of candidates

Many people question the approach of being open and transparent for our Open Data Center Initiative. One group that has been known for its secrecy, but has changed to open and transparency is the Navy Seal program.

Here is video by MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here is the newly launch Navy Seal web site with twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and forums to improve the social networking connection.

image

And, a written interview with the Navy Seal command.

"The new site was created to improve the information that is available online about Naval Special Warfare careers so that young men who might be interested in joining have as much information as possible to help them make informed choices and prepare," Navy SEAL Cpt. Adam Curtis, director of Naval Special Warfare Recruiting, told OhMyGov. "We want young men in our target audience to interact with us. Social networking sites provide a platform for that interaction. We can post information on Facebook, and our audience can let us know, in real time, what they think of it."

Another benefit to social networking is the ability to ask questions and hear thoughts from not only recruiters, but people going through the same decision making process. This interaction keeps people "engaged" as Cpt. Curtis said, helping those interested to decide better if a career as a Navy SEAL is for them.

Also included on the site is a PDF attachment of the SEALs Physical Training Guide, including nutrition information, and strength guides for swimming, running, and injury prevention. Plus, you can take the SEALs PST calculator to see if you could really hack it through basic training.

All of these Web features are designed to help young men understand more about the SEALs program, and how to prepare for the training better than ever before without knowing a SEAL personally.

I am sure there are many ex-Seals who question the next approach, but the Navy Seal command recognized it needed to grow faster. The old way was too slow.

Read more

Is Smart Grid opportunity in Residential or Commercial? I voted Commercial, but the popular media topic is Residential

I’ve watched the industry come up with energy monitoring solutions over the past few years, and I am amazed at how much attention the residential market gets vs. commercial.  I determined that the commercial market and data centers being the epitome of the right place for energy efficiency.  Which is part of what got me to spend more time in data centers.  Data Centers are the early adopters of the ideas, and we’ll get the rest of commercial to follow next like Hospitals.

After sitting in multiple presentations at conferences on energy efficiency and monitoring, I figured out that this was a futile effort to educate the masses.  The comparison I’ve used in consumer behavior terms is when you get your monthly bills how much effort do people spend on their credit card & bank bills vs. the utility bill.  Think about.  How many people spend even a tenth of the time on their utility bill vs. bank/credit card bills?

Why is smart grid in the consumer space popular?  It is easy for the media to talk about and relate to, making it a popular topic.  There are tons of appliance and electronic vendors who see the money to be made by selling smart grid features.  Utilities are viewed as progressive to come up with residential smart meter solutions.  Google and Microsoft are throwing efforts in as well.  Does this make residential the right one just because it is popular?

CNET news has an article that provides a perspective on the smart grid that supports the opportunity in commercial.

Businesses offer best path to money in smart grid

by Martin LaMonica

BOSTON--For consumers, the face of the smart grid is most likely to be a home energy monitor that gives people insight into home electricity use. But from a business perspective, there may be more action catering to business customers, rather than homeowners.

A panel of smart-grid company executives here at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen East conference on Tuesday said saving commercial, industrial, and business customers is an easier sell than helping consumers save on utility bills.

Images: The many faces of the smart grid

View the full gallery

Home energy monitoring systems and Web applications such as Google PowerMeter let people get details on where home electricity is going. But it's unclear at what point consumers are willing to make changes in their behavior based on that information.

And raises the issue of consumer behavior.

"I think we need to temper our expectations," said Tim Healy, the CEO of energy efficiency company EnerNoc. He noted an "apathy found by consulting company the Shelton Group, which found that consumers would be willing to spend $129 more a month on energy bills before taking actions, such as buying an EnergyStar appliance or scheduling dishwasher or dryer jobs to take advantage of off-peak rates. (Click for PDF of study.)

And, here is a big wake-up call from an Accenture survey.

Consumers Reject Lower Energy Use As The Answer to Reducing Reliance on Fossil Fuels and Energy Imports

* Related Assets

March 09, 2010

Consumers call for strong government intervention in energy market

NEW YORK; March 9, 2010 – Three out of four consumers are concerned by energy and climate change issues, but nearly two thirds say that using less energy is not the answer to reducing reliance on fossil fuels or foreign energy supply, according to global research by Accenture (NYSE: ACN). The survey of 9,000 individuals in 22 countries also shows that almost nine out of ten consumers want more government intervention in the energy market.

The survey reveals this interesting consumer behavior.

· When asked why they think reducing reliance on fossil fuels is important, 60 percent of Americans say dependence on foreign oil while 26 percent say climate change and reducing emissions.

· Globally, 49 percent of respondents say lowering emissions is the chief reason to reduce dependence on fossil fuels while 32 percent say dependence on foreign oil.

· In the U.S., extreme concern for climate change declined to 36 percent from 53 percent in the past year.

· U.S. consumers see new forms of energy as a better solution than reducing demand, with 62 percent favoring alternatives and 38 percent favoring curbs on demand.

I am so glad i lowered my expectation in the residential scenario for energy efficiency.  Just because I turn off the lights, watch my energy consumption like a lot of you doesn’t mean the rest of the public will change their behavior.

There is no Prius badge people can wear by shaving their electricity use by 10-20%.

Read more

Al Gore is a Meme for Environmentally sensitive business, results at IBM and Apple events

I have modified one of “M” in what is GreenM3 to represent Memetics.

Memetics purports to be an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer.

Al Gore acts as a Meme.

A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream"[1]) is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.

Al Gore represents environmentally sensitive business, and just presented on Feb 24, 2010 at IBM Pulse 2010 conference. 

image

Below is a video from the beginning of his entertaining presentation I sat in.  Al Gore was good salesman for the concepts of IBM’s Smarter Planet, and the audience said good things about his presentation.

Two days later in Cupertino, Al Gore attends the Apple shareholder meeting, and his meme follows him.  Environmentally Sensitive Business.  But, does Steve Jobs want environmental issues brought up in his shareholder’s meeting.

February 25, 2010 12:40 PM PST

Al Gore a lightning rod at Apple shareholder meeting

by Erica Ogg

CUPERTINO, Calif.--The presence of one of the world's pre-eminent environmentalists at Apple's shareholder meeting Thursday was the subject of much of the morning's pointed discussion.

As expected, Apple's attitude on environmental and sustainability issues was one of the main concerns of the stockholders present Thursday, followed closely by the company's immense pile of cash. But early harsh comments about former Vice President Al Gore's record set the tone.

Gore was seated in the first row, along with his six fellow board members, in Apple's Town Hall auditorium as several stockholders took turns either bashing or praising his high-profile views on climate change.

At the first opportunity for audience participation just several minutes into the proceeding, a longtime and well-known Apple shareholder--some would say gadfly--who introduced himself as Sheldon, stood at the microphone and urged against Gore's re-election to the board. Gore "has become a laughingstock. The glaciers have not melted," Sheldon said, referring to Gore's views on global warming. "If his advice he gives to Apple is as faulty as his views on the environment then he doesn't need to be re-elected."

Another shareholder immediately got up to defend Gore and endorse his presence as an Apple director. And that wasn't the end of it. Two different proposals from shareholders were presented in regard to Apple's environmental impact. One was from the nonprofit As You Sow, which for the second straight year asked Apple to publicly commit to specific greenhouse gas reduction goals and publish a formal sustainability report; the second came from Herrington Investments, which proposed that Apple's board establish a sustainability committee, just like a compensation or personnel committee.

As You Sow's representative, Conrad MacKerron, praised Gore, but also challenged him on not doing more to encourage the company to set specific public commitments. Forest Hill, Herrington Investment's senior portfolio manager also addressed some of his comments directly to Gore, saying making board members responsible for Apple's envronmental impact "would make Apple a corporate leader."

This was not a serious enough issue to jeopardize Al Gore’s Board position.

Despite his apparently polarizing nature, Gore was re-elected with the rest of the slate in preliminary results.

BTW, at IBM’s Tivoli event every IBM employee had a Lenovo Thinkpad except the creative designers who had Macs.  I know a few Apple employees would grin knowing even the creatives at IBM choose Apple Computers.

Read more

CA, WA, and MO Sales Tax Exemptions for Data Center IT equipment used to lure customers

Winning a data center deal is many times a matter of a few percentage points difference between sites.  Sales tax exemptions is one area that can help one site win vs. another.  A few examples of state sales tax exemptions for data centers are:

Advanced Data Centers in Sacramento, CA on a McClellan AFB has a sales tax exemption under LAMBRA.

Being located on a former Air Force Base, LAMBRA, an acronym for "Local Agency Military Base Recovery Area", allows our customers to claim a credit equal to the sales or use tax paid or incurred to purchase up to $20 million of qualified property. Qualified property includes high technology equipment, such as computers and electronic processing equipment.

Columbia, Missouri is evaluating an exemption for data centers.

Data centers could get tax exemption

Columbia site would benefit.

By TERRY GANEY

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

JEFFERSON CITY — Columbia would have a better chance of attracting a data center to Ewing Industrial Park if Missouri offered a sales and use tax exemption to those types of businesses, a Senate committee was told yesterday.

Jim Grice of Kansas City-based ARG Investments LLC told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that a data storage company is considering locating in Columbia while also weighing possibilities in Denver and Chicago. Grice said a sales tax exemption might provide sufficient incentive to the business to make Columbia the successful bidder.

Source: Regional Economic Development, Inc.

Center of Attention
A bill making its way through the Missouri General Assembly would grant a state and local sales and use tax exemption for all machinery equipment, computers and utilities used in new data storage centers and "server farm" facilities. Local economic development officials and developers hope to secure such a facility for Columbia's Ewing Industrial Park.

and Washington has a 15 month sales tax exemption proposed legislation change.

Washington State proposes legislation to restart data center construction, 15 month sales tax exemption

In Olympia, Washington there are two bills introduced with bipartisan support to allow a 15 month sales tax exemption on the purchase and installation of computers for new data centers.

Legislation to boost rural counties

DateWednesday, January 27, 2010 at 5:23PM | AuthorWNJ-Editor

Today is a good day. The bills that we support -- SB 6789 and HB 3147 -- were introduced in Olympia with wide bipartisan support. The 13 sponsors of the bills are from all over the state, from Seattle and Spokane to Walla Walla and Wenatchee. And the state Department of Revenue requested the bills.

The bills allow a 15-month sales-tax exemption on the purchase and installation of computers and energy for new data centers in rural counties. As the bills state, they provide a short-term economic stimulus that will sustain long-term jobs. In other words, the exemption will be temporary, but the jobs and tax revenue from the centers will boost rural counties for years and years to come.

Read more