Sustainable IT in Universities and Colleges June 21, 2008
Posted by Paul Cheeseman in: Events, General, Green Computing, 1 commentTags: carbon-footprint, co2-emissions, electricity-usage, Green Computing, green credentials
Sustainable IT is a subject that is going to be more and more important for all Higher Education institutions.
I must admit I didn’t realise how important Sustainable IT was until I attended an energy efficiency workshop at Cardiff University. The workshop is part of a series of events, all of which are part of the Managing environmentally sustainable ICT project by JISC and Sust-IT
All of the presentations were really interesting, Cardiff University also arranged a tour of their brand new server room and High-performance computing (HPC) cluster. It was really good workshop and I’m already signed up for the next event about New Ways of Working
Apparently the use of natural gas in power stations is decreasing and the use of coal is on the increase. When one of the panel described computers as being ‘Coal Powered’ it certainly made me look differently at IT. I’m now planning a complete review of our server rooms and an investigation into exactly how much electricity we use, and where the inefficiencies are. The panel also made the point that going green is not only good for the environment, there are also huge cost savings that can be made by adopting greener practices. As students become more and more interested in the green credentials of an institution the electricity usage, efficiency and carbon footprint of an institution will become a factor that students begin to consider when selecting an institution.
The rising cost of electricity means that we all have to start taking notice of the electricity we use, if we don’t then energy bills will spiral out of control and cuts in other areas will have to be made to enable institutions to pay their bills. This might sound like doom mongering, but the panel explained that in the private sector decisions to cut staffing and other resources are already being made because of the high cost of electricity.
The British Computer Societey are working on an EU Code of Conduct for server rooms / data centres. Institutions will be able to sign up to the code of conduct when a final version of the document comes out later on this year. I will be looking into this Code of Conduct, and if possible I would like to get Edge Hill signed up to the document. Institutions signing up to the code will be given some EU marketing materials to display withing the institution. Signing up for this EU recognised Code of Conduct would further enhance the green credentials of the institution.
Going Green – How hard can it be? June 9, 2007
Posted by Paul Cheeseman in: Green Computing, 5 commentsTags: carbon-footprint, co2-emissions, electricity-usage, Green Computing, virtualisation
We are all obliged to look after our planet and to minimise our impact on the environment. There are a number of campaigns and environmental groups telling us that we should reduce our CO2 emissions by taking public transport, reducing car usage, lowering our heating thermostats and installing energy efficient light bulbs. We are also obliged to recycle as much waste as we can.
The life blood of the service my team provides is electricity. We’ve got racks and racks of electricity consuming hardware that sucks in electricity on one side and throws out waste heat on the other. This waste heat then has to be cooled by electricity guzzling air conditioning units. All that electricity usage has an effect on CO2 emissions and there will be a carbon footprint associated with it. Sounds bad doesn’t it, but I’m not done yet. Most desks at Edge Hill have a Personal Computer on them and then we have the numerous open access areas filled with PCs. Each of these PCs comprises of base unit and a monitor both of which use electricity all day. Some of these PCs will be left on at weekends and in many cases overnight.
The good news is that Core Services is going to start to look at using more energy efficient servers, server virtualisation and recycling old servers. This will all help to reduce our carbon footprint and CO2 emissions.
The best news about going green is that it most people at Edge Hill can make a difference without any effort. According to the Carbon Trust, one PC left on all day will cost about £37 a year. But if switched off at night and at weekends, this drops to nearer £10 a year and saves an equivalent amount of energy to making 34,900 cups of coffee. We do need to start some where, and as it turns out it is not hard to start going green. To start you should simply;
Turn off your computer when it’s not being used !
