Human Spirit and Creativity applied to leveraging hidden assets

November 2, 2010 Dave Ohara

if you discuss energy efficiency and greening a data center you’ll get a long list of PUE, hot-cold aisle, power systems, air side economizers. Rarely do you get creative work. What do I mean by creative? Consider this post on Design Steps to Heaven.

Design steps to heaven

I recently visted Luzern, in Switzerland, for a workshop at the oldest art and design school in Switzerland, Hochschule Luzern.

My host, Andy Polaine had asked me to set students in the first semester of the MA Design a challenge.

The task I gave them was as follows: find a neglected asset somewhere in Luzern, and design a service to increase its value to the city.

The author had a specific area he thought the students would leverage.

As the workshop began, I assumed that some groups of students would focus on the city's new cultural centre [photo above]. Designed by Jean Novel, the building had taken twenty years to conceive and plan. With an overhanging roof 35m 100 feet) above the ground, the building had cost the city 130 million euros to build.

This was an iconic building with a capital "I". I thought it must surely have potential as the focus of some new kind of civic activity.

But, he was surprised by what one first prize. A church turned into a climbing wall.

The first joint winner was called 'Straight way to heaven'.

The team had identified a church as their neglected asset,and proposed to increase its value as a meeting place by opening it up to bouldering in the city.

The group did not expect the church authorities to be thrilled by their idea, but our jury found their service communication to be so engaging that they were made joint winners.

How many hidden assets (ideas) are there in the data center industry?

2nd prize was won by students who created a closed-loop service concept for a cemetery.

The second winning project in Luzern, Graveyard Alive, was especially enchanting. The group had discovered that the city's Friedhof Cemetary contained a lot of as-yet-unused space.

They came up with a sublime closed-loop service concept: offer people the opportunity to donate their bodies, once buried, as nutrients to save endangered plants and cultivate biodiversity.

anti-Green Brown Energy supported by Coal lobbyist, affect future data centers

November 1, 2010 Dave Ohara

Greenpeace has been attacking Facebook on its use of coal power in the Prineville, OR data center.

The social networking site chose the high-desert timber town of 10,000 to take advantage of its cool nights and dry air in hopes of making its first-ever data center an energy efficiency landmark.

But the concept failed to impress Greenpeace.

In a report posted on the Internet last month, the environmental group praised Google and Yahoo for tapping hydro power - but challenged Facebook for building in coal country.

Greenpeace has a 500,000 plus Facebook community in English, French, and Spanish. Will the Coal lobby start a 100% coal energy Facebook page? Here is news on the Coal Lobbyists.

Coal Industry Spending to Sway Next Congress

By JOHN M. BRODER

Published: October 29, 2010

WASHINGTON — The coal industry, facing a host of new health and safety regulations, is spending millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign donations this year to influence the makeup of the next Congress in hopes of derailing what one industry official called an Obama administration “regulatory jihad.”

Multimedia

Graphic

The Coal Shovel

Political spending by the coal industry is on track to exceed that of the 2008 cycle, when the presidency was at stake and Congress appeared determined to move forward with a national energy policy designed to address climate change by cutting back on the use of coal and petroleum.

Over the last two years, the coal industry, along with its allies in oil and gas, electric utilities, manufacturing and agriculture, effectively killed any prospects for climate change legislation in the near future.

Will a pro-coal lobby make it easier to build coal powered data centers? Don’t expect a pro-coal government to make Greenpeace to back-off.

Greenpeace’s recent actions have made many reconsider carbon impact in site selection.

Can you afford a high carbon data center?

Oregon's offense as a Speed Advantage, should data center support be faster?

October 29, 2010 Dave Ohara

College football is more fun to watch given the creativity coaches try for a competitive advantage. This got me thinking after talking to a data center executive and how some of the most difficult changes can be caused by people who want to keep things the same as the status quo protects their jobs.

WSJ has an article analyzing the speed of the Oregon Duck offense.

Oregon's Offense: Gone in 23.2 Seconds

Top-Ranked Ducks Hustle Between Plays to Tire Opponents; the Next Great Innovation?

By DARREN EVERSON

Getty Images

LaMichael James (center) of Oregon runs the ball against UCLA last week in a game that the Ducks won 60-13.

Like any endeavor, college football has a number of traditions and standard practices that don't make perfect sense.

Take, for instance, the pace at which most teams run their offenses. On average, it takes about 34 seconds from the end of the previous play for a conventional college team to start the next one—an interlude in which players walk to the line of scrimmage, catch their breath and convene a short staff meeting known as the huddle.

Here is a video clip that shows the speed of Oregon offense. Watch the play clock in the background.

The speed of football is something that seems like a constant. But, what happens if you challenge the status quo and prioritize speed and agility. The ability to keep the defense off balance.

Based on a sampling of recent games, Oregon's average time between plays is 23.2 seconds—32% faster than the norm. And for them, that's just third gear.

In their most recent game at home against UCLA on Oct. 21, the undefeated Ducks were doing 23 seconds between plays during their first possession until they reached the Bruins' eight-yard line. Then they ripped one off in 14 seconds, while UCLA's players were still getting set. The result: an eight-yard touchdown run that met almost no substantial resistance.

The Oregon coach even distracts from his strategy.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly was coy this week when asked about the thinking behind his team's frenetic pace. "It's just for television," he said. But as the 7-0 Ducks roll through their schedule, exhausting the opposition with their running game and their tempo, it's becoming apparent that Oregon's fast-paced style of play is potentially the next great evolution in the sport.

Look who is fast

Many will say you can't do this in data centers. But, think about this.

And for the man in charge, Oregon's style has further benefits. "As a playcaller, you can call a lot of really bad plays and people will forget about them," Mr. Kelly said, "because we're on to the next one."

Think about who are the most innovative and whether they are willing to make more decisions, understanding the risk. Look how many data centers have problems and they move slowly with a consensus to minimize risk. Being the slowest is not necessarily the best, but it can be the safest to protect the jobs of the team.

How many companies are thinking like this?

"We're playing at a pretty good clip now because our players have a pretty good idea what we're trying to do," said Mr. Kelly, the Oregon coach. "We just try to eliminate that time between plays. Just go play."

Can you imagine a data center support team who moved as quickly as the Oregon Duck Offense?

James Cameron and Eric Schmidt discuss technology and the environment, “We’re the Comet”

October 29, 2010 Dave Ohara

Google’s Eric Schmidt moderated a two hour conversation with James Cameron

James Cameron on “Avatar 2″ and the Impending Environmental Crisis

On stage at a private event in Silicon Valley last night, legendary director James Cameron and Google CEO Eric Schmidt held a fascinating two hour conversation that touched on everything from the technology needs of the upcoming Avatar 2 film to the perils that face the environment if action isn’t taken.

Green was a dominant part of the conversation.

The vast majority of the conversation turned toward ecological issues when Eric Schmidt described Avatar as a narrative about the world’s ecology. “Why do you care so much about it?” Schmidt asked Cameron. “What is your responsibility and why are you using your significant perch?”

“Any movie can be a teaching moment, but it has to be wrapped in powerful entertainment,” Cameron stated in response. He says part of the reason Avatar succeeded was that it spoke to the human psyche and heart. Specifically, it spoke to something he believes we all know: that we’re becoming disconnected from nature and that we are on a precipice.

“If we don’t take control over our stewardship of our planet,” Cameron began, “the planet we bequeath to our children and our grandchildren will be in significant danger.”

The next part of the conversation focused around the statistics supporting Cameron and Schmidt’s positions on the environment. They said that 70% of species will be extinct by the end of this century if we do nothing to stop the rise of world temperatures. Both men pointed out that while an average temperature rise of a few degrees would be devastating, the temperature rise would be three times as great at the arctic and antarctic poles.

We’ll see how green the data center environment is for Avatar 2.

One closing quote stuck with the author.

While they covered a lot of ground (more than I can reasonably type up), there was one quote that really summed up Cameron and Schmidt’s thoughts on our treatment of the environment. It was in reference to the comet that killed the dinosaurs.

“We’re the comet this time,” Cameron said.

Google's Lenoir Data Center, 30 megawatts, 708 Lynhaven St SW, Lenoir, NC

October 28, 2010 Dave Ohara

There is a common belief you can't find a Google Data Center using Google Maps. Well here is the Google Lenoir, NC data center at 708 Lynhaven St SW, Lenoir, NC. Data Center friends estimate the power to be 10 megawatts for the building maybe 15 max.

I found the address here, but Lynhaven is misspelled.

This one was in Lenoir, N.C., nestled in the rolling hills of Caldwell County at 708 Lynnhaven St. Never heard of it? That's okay. Google likes it that way, nice and secretive. For perspective, Lenoir is about 70 miles northwest of Charlotte.

Using Bing Maps you can see what the site looked like before construction.