Why Green can have Difficulty at the Executive Level, environmental movement is not always guided by science

WSJ has a column written by Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace who left in 1968 and now works for the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition.

Why I Left Greenpeace

By PATRICK MOORE
April 22, 2008; Page A23

In 1971 an environmental and antiwar ethic was taking root in Canada, and I chose to participate. As I completed a Ph.D. in ecology, I combined my science background with the strong media skills of my colleagues. In keeping with our pacifist views, we started Greenpeace.

But I later learned that the environmental movement is not always guided by science. As we celebrate Earth Day today, this is a good lesson to keep in mind.

At first, many of the causes we championed, such as opposition to nuclear testing and protection of whales, stemmed from our scientific knowledge of nuclear physics and marine biology. But after six years as one of five directors of Greenpeace International, I observed that none of my fellow directors had any formal science education. They were either political activists or environmental entrepreneurs. Ultimately, a trend toward abandoning scientific objectivity in favor of political agendas forced me to leave Greenpeace in 1986.

The breaking point was a Greenpeace decision to support a world-wide ban on chlorine. Science shows that adding chlorine to drinking water was the biggest advance in the history of public health, virtually eradicating water-borne diseases such as cholera. And the majority of our pharmaceuticals are based on chlorine chemistry. Simply put, chlorine is essential for our health.

My former colleagues ignored science and supported the ban, forcing my departure. Despite science concluding no known health risks – and ample benefits – from chlorine in drinking water, Greenpeace and other environmental groups have opposed its use for more than 20 years.

Patrick continues his venting.

Sadly, Greenpeace has evolved into an organization of extremism and politically motivated agendas. Its antichlorination campaign failed, only to be followed by a campaign against polyvinyl chloride.

and closes

We all have a responsibility to be environmental stewards. But that stewardship requires that science, not political agendas, drive our public policy.

Keep this in mind if you are working on a Green Initiative and you are looking for executive support. Green has negative perceptions in some circles. 

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Survey Quantifies Energy Waste in IT Development and Test Centers, 59% would consider turning off idle Computers

Cassatt ran a survey of of Data Center professionals, and published a press release.

Cassatt Survey Finds Massive Data Center Energy Waste in Development and Test Centers, but 59 Percent Would Consider Turning Off Idle Computers

Two-thirds of Data Centers Are Addressing Energy Efficiency Concerns With Long-Term Projects Like Server Consolidation and Virtualization, but Some See Quick Benefits of Server Power Management

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 22, 2008 – Nearly two-thirds of IT and facilities personnel consider their data center energy efficiency “average” or worse – and their development and test environments might be the biggest cause of that, according to a survey conducted by Cassatt® Corporation, a leader in providing software to make data centers more efficient.

More than a quarter of survey respondents said that greater than 60 percent of their development and test servers are idle during off-peak hours.  There is some good news, though:  62 percent are working on a data center energy-efficiency project now or expect to within the next year, according to the “Cassatt 2008 Data Center Energy Efficiency Survey.”   And, contrary to conventional wisdom, 59 percent would consider turning off computers that are idle.

One of the first areas I advise clients is to start energy savings projects in their performance, development, and test labs to quantify the savings, allowing them to  filter the greenwashing from real savings. Even though everyone wants to get solutions in the data center, it makes sense to take the first steps in your labs. Few labs need to run 24 x 7, and there are multiple servers that can be turned off.  But, as Cassatt mentions in its study.

“Less expected,” Coleman continued, “and very problematic for the industry, are the findings that show that many companies simply don’t measure their power consumption at all, or do so at a very superficial level.  If you can’t measure it, as they say, you can’t manage it. And it may be that companies are fixing only part of the problem with initiatives based on incomplete information. While organizations are showing a willingness to try some new ideas, many are still ignoring simpler solutions that could help them with energy efficiency almost immediately.”

The biggest problem is people are not measuring their power consumption. A Toyota Prius works because its instrument panel gives you feedback on your performance and efficiency.

Other interesting parts from Cassat's survey are:

  • “Green” motivation = money:  Cost and capacity constraints are the two strongest motivators for an energy efficiency strategy, cited by 68 percent and 57 percent of respondents, respectively.  Even so, 39 percent of companies are motivated by environmental responsibilities.
  • IT and facilities still aren’t talking much:  Almost half of respondents (46 percent) said their facilities and IT teams touched based infrequently, not at all, or they weren’t sure how often.
  • Self-serving advice?:  End users say they get their primary guidance regarding data center energy efficiency from parties with a stake in their spending – system vendors (49 percent) and power and cooling vendors (46 percent).  Other experts, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Uptime Institute, and the Green Grid, ranked much lower.
  • Missing good advice?:  More than 38 percent of respondents are unaware that the EPA recommends turning off idle or unused servers to save power.
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    Google Data Center IP, Is Secrecy Required to Protect Their Secrets from Ex-Googlers?

    The Ex-Googler news just keeps coming, and news.com has post about the magic of 3 Googlers getting together to start a company.

    So it seems only fitting that ex-Googlers--of which there are many these days--are setting a new trend when it comes to starting their own companies. The equation? It takes at least three former Googleheads to start a start-up. It's like forming a triangle of Google juju.

    The latest upstart to be formed in this mold is Mechanical Zoo, a social search application company started by Nathan Stoll, former product manager of Google News. Stoll is joined by Max Ventilla, a former Google business development executive, and Fritz Schneider, who worked on application security at the search company for more than five years. Like many other fresh companies from Google exes, Mechanical Zoo is still in stealth mode, but it plans to launch a beta product next month.

    It takes a cue from Cuill, a stealth start-up based in Palo Alto, Calif. Cuill was founded by Anna Patterson and Russell Power, former technical leads of Google's large index search engine, TeraGoogle. Its Google threesome is completed by Louis Monier, who technically is better known for being the founding CTO of one of the Web's first search engines, AltaVista. Monier was a high-profile hire at Google, but he worked there only briefly on search design.

    And closes with

    Triangulating a new service that Google hasn't thought of yet, or simply hasn't devoted the resources to yet, seems to be another common theme of many of these start-ups. "It's stupid to try to outdo Google. I can do more good outside Google than inside by doing something complementary," said Max Ventilla, CEO of Mechanical Zoo.

    Which got me thinking, maybe the real area Google needs to keep their data center secrets from are the start-ups from ex-Googlers. One of the biggest help to ex-Googlers would be a data center infrastructure that looks just like the one they left. Most developers have no idea what the infrastructure looks like, but they do know how they want it to work. So, there is a demand for Google type of environments.  This is a Amazon's AWS. And Wired writes.

    Just across Highway 101 from the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, a banner fluttering from a nondescript building heralds yet another high tech dream: Ooyala. Inside, a dozen software engineers wearing headphones pore over screenloads of code while grazing on M&Ms and organic treats served in plastic tubs. The three founders, all Google emigres, are chasing a suitably big idea — interactive "hypervideo" with seamlessly embedded links. What they're not doing is blowing capital on shiny hardware. They built their television killer using little more than the desktops in front of them, plus major slices of computing power courtesy of Mr. Bezos. "You can't execute fast when you're running to the data center every night to fix machines," says Ooyala engineering chief Sean Knapp. "Infrastructure is the big guys' most powerful asset. This levels the field."

    Or at least if they are going to subscribe to a cloud service, they'll use google's service.

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    Are Containers a Strategic Advantage for Rackable?

    Canaccord Adams upgrades Rackable Systems (NASDAQ: RACK) from hold to buy based on container sales opportunity to Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, Facebook.

    Canaccord Adams upgrades Rackable Systems (Nasdaq: RACK) from Hold to Buy with a $12.20 price target.
    Analyst Mark Kelleher said, "We are upgrading RACK shares to BUY from Hold as we believe Rackable's container business will become a key growth driver for the company. We believe that adoption of modular data centers by Internet-based companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo will provide Rackable a differentiated product, and a path to top-line growth. We believe Rackable will meet our expectations for Q1 and will be able to attain its guidance for F2008. Additionally, we are raising our F2009 estimates given our growing confidence in Rackable’s opportunity for container sales at its top customers (Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, Facebook) and other potential adopters." [LJ]

    This is kind of scary to think that an analyst figures Rackable will be able to grab server sales based on a container strategy. I wonder if Rackable will paint every container with a bright logo to advertise what is in each container? If they do, can Rackable apply for co-advertising dollars for Intel Inside.

    thanks again to data center knowledge for their post getting my attention.

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    Socially Responsible Outsourcing, Green IT makes the list

    ComputerWorld has an article about Socially Responsible Outsourcing, and how Green IT is making the list of IT requirements.

    Is your outsourcer an IT sweatshop?

    Adherents say an ethics-based approach to outsourcing is good for your conscience and your company

    "We just got into IT outsourcing within the past couple of years, and we're trying to apply the same ideas: giving back to community, supporting the economies in which we live and work, green initiatives," says Kifer, who is a group vice president at Applied Materials Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based company that creates and commercializes nanomanufacturing technology. "We need to make sure that our suppliers are operating to the same high standards" as the company, he says.

    The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) lists socially responsible outsourcing as the No. 1 trend in the field for 2008. The association predicts that companies providing, using or offering advice on outsourcing will increasingly develop standards that go beyond pure business objectives to address ethical questions. It expects that these standards will touch on topics that indicate how a company interacts with people, the community and the environment, such as labor policies and green initiatives.

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