Smart 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, an architecture best practice buried in the press release

http://www.smart2020.org/ has launched with a press release.

Smarter technology use could reduce global emissions by 15 per cent and save global industry EUR 500 billion in annual energy costs by 2020

Friday 20 June 2008 – Transformation in the way people and businesses use technology could reduce annual man-made
global emissions by 15 per cent by 2020 and deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses of over EUR 500 billion [GBP
400 billion/USD 800 billion], according to a new report published today by independent non-profit The °Climate Group and the
Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).

The report – SMART 2020: enabling the low carbon economy in the information age – is the world’s first comprehensive global
study of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector’s growing significance for the world’s climate.
The report’s supporting analysis, conducted independently by international management consultants McKinsey & Company,
shows that while ICT’s own sector footprint - currently two per cent of global emissions - will almost double by 2020, ICT’s
unique ability to monitor and maximise energy efficiency both within and outside of its own sector could cut CO2 emissions by
up to five times this amount. This represents a saving of 7.8 Giga-tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2020 –
greater than the current annual emissions of either the US or China.

One of better architecture points made is in the press release.

KEY FINDING 3: Getting SMART about ICT
Going forward, the report recommends a SMART framework is implemented, outlining key actions required by the ICT sector,
national governments and industry. Transformation of the economy will occur when standardisation (S), monitoring (M) and
accounting (A) of energy consumption prompt a rethink (R) in how we optimise for energy efficiency and how we live, work and
play in a low carbon world. Through this enabling platform, transformation (T) will occur when the business models that drive
low carbon alternatives can be developed and diffused at scale across all sectors of the economy.

It’s too bad they made this the 3rd of 3 findings listed, and last in the press release.

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More Silicon, Less Carbon – IT use reduces overall Carbon Emissions

The IT industry is starting to justify its carbon footprint by providing information on how IT reduces carbon emissions in other areas. The Economist has an article on this.

How computers can help to cut carbon emissions

HOW much computing can mankind afford? That is a question the computer and telecoms industries hate to hear. They do not see themselves in the same dirty league as airlines or carmakers, sources of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, but instead as part of the solution. In a pre-emptive strike, a group of technology firms calling itself the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI) has joined the Climate Group, a non-profit environmental club, to examine how information and communications technologies (ICT) affect climate change. Their research, released on June 20th, confirms that ICT could in fact do much to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions—but not in the way you might think.

When it comes to emissions, ICT is on a par with aviation. In 2007, according to the report, the world's electronic gear (including PCs, their peripherals, telecoms networks and devices, and the warehouses of corporate machines known as data centres) produced 830m tonnes of CO2—about 2% of total emissions from human activity. Even with technology that uses energy more sparingly, this is expected to grow to 1.4 billion tonnes by 2020. Although PCs, mobile phones and networks will account for most (56%) of this, emissions from data centres will grow the fastest.

And provides specifics in the areas where it sees it removing carbon emissions.

Yet these numbers look much less frightening if, in the words of the study, ICT's “enabling effect” is taken into account. The study calculates that ICT could help to reduce emissions in other industries by 7.8 billion tonnes by 2020, or five times ICT's own footprint. Perhaps the best-known of these enabling effects is to replace face-to-face meetings, which require carbon-belching air travel, with low-emission alternatives such as videoconferencing. John Chambers, the boss of Cisco, a big maker of network equipment, says his company has reduced its carbon footprint by 11% by using its own “telepresence” gear. It also means higher productivity and reduced “wear and tear” on executives, he adds.

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A CIO Recommends Avoiding kW based Pricing. Why?

Duncan Scott, CIO at DTZ, a global real estate company is quoted in UK’s Computing web site to avoid kW based pricing in the short term.

“Datacentre providers have started to price by kilowatt and not by server footprint and performance, and those prices have gone up by 30 per cent in the past month,” said Duncan Scott, CIO at global commercial real estate management company DTZ Holdings.

“Inevitably we will have some kind of formula such as that used by the airlines that includes distress and passes the costs on.

“It is a bit of a stand-off at the moment. The question is what the price of oil is going to do next. Are the providers going to completely change their business model based on the oil price? My advice is avoid kilowatt pricing at the moment but accept that it is going to come eventually.”

The author of this article supports this idea that the shock of what the bills actually are would be a change IT cannot adapt to So delay the inevitable.

A $200-per-barrel oil price would be a jolt for IT, said David Tebbutt, programme director at analyst Freeform Dynamics. “This may wake people up to the true cost of IT, and move the cost of electricity from facilities budgets to IT,” he said.

“The cost of IT infrastructure would go shooting up. But you are not going to solve the problem quickly. You can get staff to behave differently and economise on power, but you can’t transform IT infrastructure at a stroke. It can take years.”

This is a new take on what to do about high power costs.  Don’t tell people, because if they saw the bill, they wouldn’t be able to adapt quickly.  Sounds like internal politics to not put a group on the spot as to what they will do to save energy.

As crazy as this sounds, maybe people do want to hide the energy bill, and avoid the problem. Sounds logical for an IT group that is understaffed, budget limited, and has no idea on what to do to make a green data center and green IT services.

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Power Use is Major Factor in Supercomputer Growth

At the International Supercomputing Conference many of the computers are including power consumption along with their performance numbers. ComputerWorld writes the following article.

June 18, 2008 (Computerworld) Proving that size isn't everything, the Top500 List of supercomputers for the first time is looking at power efficiency.

With the IT industry increasingly looking at growing electric bills and calls for greener machines, the world's most powerful and largest systems are under scrutiny. The latest edition of the twice yearly Top500 List of supercomputers was unveiled today at the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany. At the same time, the list authors also provided energy-efficiency calculations for many of the computers on the list.

"Power consumption is becoming one of the most important aspects of computing," said Jack Dongarra, a co-creator of the Top 500 List and a distinguished professor at the University of Tennessee. "It will be the most important driving force for supercomputing in the future. Without focusing on that, building bigger machines will be prohibitive. We're trying to understand which machines are more efficient, why they're more efficient, and understand the trends in high-performance computing."

Other interesting parts of the article.

As the industry now moves beyond the petaflop barrier toward the loftier exaflop barrier, Dongarra pointed out that increasing power efficiency becomes even more important.

"The projections for exaflop machines [show that they] will require on the order of 100 megawatts of power," said Dongarra. "It will require very special facilities to run that. The cost of running a petaflop machine at a modest electrical price will almost equal the money you pay for the computer."

He noted that engineers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working with Cray Inc. to build two supercomputers -- Jaguar and Kraken. Both are in the early stages of production but are expected to surpass a petaflop. Dongarra said when they are fully functional, which is expected to happen in 2012, the power costs for both will total an estimated $32 million a year.

The list  is here.

For the first time, the TOP500 list will also provide energy efficiency calculations for many of the computing systems and will continue tracking them in consistent manner.

image

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Home Monitoring Infrastructure - Security First, Energy later

In my trip to the Bay Area this weekend, I was able to catch up with friends and family. My brother works at Oracle and my sister works at Intuit. So, we take for granted a lot of our friends work in high tech.

One of the good conversations I had was with Doug Case, VP of Sales for iControl.

Offer Your Customers The Next Generation of Home Protection

Specifically designed for resale by home protection companies and service providers, the Home Security 2.0 integrated solution adds broadband and mobile access, low-cost IP cameras and remote lighting, thermostat and lock controls to traditional monitored security systems for the ultimate consumer experience.

I like talking to Doug and understanding what his company is doing as a strategy. They are putting a monitoring infrastructure in the home which supports a bunch of different scenarios like security, video, temperature/thermostat, and energy. And, their first scenario is security given the marketplace and their target consumer market.  When price points for devices are reached, they will add other monitoring scenarios like energy management. It does make sense their company is called iControl as it is about achieving better control of things in the home.

iControl also reached a milestone by receiving VC funding from Kleiner Perkins and getting John Doerr on their board. Here is some background on John Doerr a big guy in the Green VC space.

His success in venture capital has garnered national attention; he has been and is currently listed on Forbes Magazine's exclusive "Midas List" and is widely regarded as one of the top technology venture capitalists in the world.

Today, Doerr remains one of Silicon Valley's most influential figures. Forbes magazine estimates his net worth to be well over $1 billion. Doerr is a high profile supporter of the Democratic Party in Silicon Valley. Through the TechNet (lobbying organization) he helped found, he has devoted much time and money towards impacting legislation beneficial to the technology and venture capital industries.

Doerr has also invested heavily in "carbon trading" and is a big advocate of its use. In a 2007 TED confrence he was brought to tears using his daughters remarks on "saving the world" urging people to invest in carbon credits as a solution for global warming[[1]].

I am looking to add iControl in my next remodel as it is an interesting way to play around with the same ideas as a data center monitoring system. There are devices out there, but they are not priced for the home market.

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