Green Notes

Since our last blog, one of the biggest energy acts in history, The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 was passed by the House of Representatives on Friday. We already discussed last week about how the act encourages renewable fuels opportunities and requires major U.S. industries to reduce carbon emissions by 17% by 2020 and over 80% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.This certainly makes our services at Green Rack Systems more relevant and valuable than ever.Here in California where we are located, we’ve been taking aggressive steps in pioneering several consumer driven eco friendly initiatives. For example, the proposed AB920 Assembly bill is designed as an incentive to encourage consumers to install solar panels. The bill advocates that special meters be placed in roofs to calculate the excess solar power generated by home panels, so that utilities can compensate individuals who generate excess power beyond their own needs. This has especially been a problem valid for many owners of California’s sprawling mansions who end up giving away surplus power for free . Another Californian green initiative is the launch of the E-Fuel Microfueler with the intention of installing ethanol distribution systems to produce organic fuel from wastes in California residences. Residents become a part of the eco movement by producing alternative energy from their own personal wastes. Then there is the California’s Digital Textbook drive to provide schools with a state-approved list of digital textbooks .Whichever State you live in, there are numerous Government and non-profit bodies that support green consumers and enthusiasts.

Here are some useful resources that could help you:

1. http://www.dsireusa.org/ DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

2. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/how-clean.html With the help of your zip code , a power Profiler will determine your power grid region, compare the fuel mix and air emissions of the electricity in your region to the national average and calculate the impacts of electricity use in your home or business. Based on the report electricity customers can choose their provider of electricity or can purchase green power from their utility .

3. http://www.goodtobegreen.com/ Good To Be Green is a directory for green building products, sustainable building materials and green building service providers.

4. http://earth911.com/ A comprehensive website with information about recycling programs organized by zip code.

5. http://www.freecycle.org/ Online bulletin boards, organized by city, where you can give away your old stuff for reuse to keep it out of a landfill.

6. http://www.solarnet.org/Audit.htm By using the site’s energy audit form we can calculate the amount of energy we waste in our homes and find ways for increased energy efficiency.

7. http://www.thegreenguide.com/golocal Search here for local food, events, recycling facilities, transportation, jobs and much more. Think of all the energy saved in transportation by using local resources.

If you are a Californian, be sure to check out http://www.risingsunenergy.org/cyes.htm . The California Youth Energy Services is a phenomenal program that will help you save on your energy bills for free. Sign up for a summer ‘green house call’, and they will send you a pair of professionally trained Youth Energy Specialists to meet you at your house to educate you on how to save energy, install energy and water-saving equipment and even install energy-saving CFL lightbulbs, water-saving showerheads, retractable clotheslines etc at no cost to you.

The US budget plan for fiscal year 2010 makes clean energy and environmental protection a priority. The plan includes an estimated $646 billion in revenues over 10 years from reducing global warming emissions by requiring polluters to pay for allowances to pollute. A $150 billion from global warming revenues would be invested in clean energy industries such as wind, solar and geothermal power sources and other initiatives to increase energy efficiency such as including support for loan guarantees towards innovative, clean technologies; advancement of Carbon Capture Storage (CSS) technology that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Further there is an Energy bill before US congress right now called American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. It hopes to establish a cap and trade system to reduce green house gases by setting a cap on total emissions from industrial and utility sources. Gradually the government would keep lowering the cap and number of allowances until the target is met. If emissions exceed allowances, businesses can buy allowances , in other words pay for polluting the environment. The idea is that trying to stay under the caps would prove to be too expensive and impractical for businesses to continue in this current trend and urge them to explore alternative resources. Also renewable electricity standard would require States to get 20% of electricity from renewable energy sources. The Bill aims at reducing green house gas emissions by 17% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

Investment in new energy efficient technology and alternative resources becomes unavoidable going forward. Green Rack systems is ready to help you every step of the way in building a more cost effective, energy efficient and environmentally friendly business. You may also take advantage of our optional co-location service that is totally solar powered.

Did you know that only about half of the energy used in a data centre goes to the IT loads? All the rest is lapped up by your hungry network-critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) equipments. It makes sense therefore to reassess and reprioritize the NCPI devices to maximize energy efficiency. Some of the common NCPI that you will find in Data Centers are transformers, UPS (uninterruptible Power supplies), wiring, fans, pumps, humidifiers, lighting, air conditioners and all other non-IT equipment that are required for the proper functioning of the IT components. You can increase efficiency of your NCPI by improving your basic design of the NCPI, picking the right size devices to match correctly with the IT equipment and using the right equipments. Sounds simple enough. But the reality is that the information provided by most manufacturers is not enough to put together an interconnecting infrastructure that works in total cohesion with the IT components to reduce power consumption.
One handy data center wisdom is that it is not always about the individual devices but how they all work in relation to each other that is the key. Here’s another one for you- the right sizing of the devices and not just the brand could help reduce as much as half of your energy bills. In fact most data centers have many “no load losses” based on the NCPI size be it your lighting, generators etc irrespective of the data center load. So size becomes extremely critical to prevent useless expenses so that you do not end up paying for something that was never in use. Also ill fitted infrastructure design could relentlessly deplete your power supply. Cooling systems for example are a classic victim of ill fitted design.There is a lot of talk about new and improved cooling equipments and methods. But a lot of wastage of power actually is due to poor design that inherently fails to separate the hot air from the cold, than the devices themselves. In such a scenario, alternative design solutions like correct positioning ,direction and containment of devices to segregate the hot segments from the cold can be applied. Then there are problems that sometimes arise because of multiple air conditioners that undermine each other’s performance. It is always beneficial to enlist the help of Power and cooling experts like the ones at Green Rack and leverage their technical expertise to weather the complications that arise from design nitty gritties which may escape the novice eye.

At Green Rack Systems, this is our motto:

“If we are going to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk as well.”

If our services are going to be about providing sustainable solutions contributing to a healthy environment, we absolutely want to set an example on the home front beginning with our office. When we think green, we think solar panels and hybrid cars. But it is the small seemingly insignificant ways that we can contribute to a better eco system that really add up at the end of the day. Some of our energy saving office practices that make us so house proud are:

1) Our emails and webpage are hosted by a solar powered web hosting service.
2) Our Business cards are made of recycled paper.
3) We use recycled cardboard for packing and other office uses.
4) We use recycled water for our cooling gadgets.
5) We are big on saving paper at work.
According to a study done by California Integrated Waste management service, Paper is the second largest component of California’s commercial waste stream, accounting for about 26.5 percent of all commercial materials disposed. Furthermore, the commercial sector accounts for approximately 47 percent of all materials disposed in the state. So this is an arena that we believe we can really make a difference in if we all put our heads together. We are very thrifty about paper purchase preferring electronic documents wherever possible, always try to save on printing and go for two sided printing when we absolutely have to print.
6) We recycle and reuse just about everything except ourselves.
7) We use energy efficient fluorescent bulbs.
All our appliances are set in power saving mode and turned off when not in use including computer monitors.
9) We share our stationary
10) We telecommute and teleconference whenever we can.

Of course we are always finding new ways to improvise and initiate. It is really a work in progress but there is no dearth of enthusiasm and dedication on our part to promote the cause of a greener environment.

At Green Rack Systems, there is an expression that we use a lot and that we are very fond of - “Putting Green in your pocket”. We make it a point to stress to our customers that our primary concern remains saving money for them. It is just that we go about doing it by using green principles and green technology. When greener means using less resources and therefore less money, what is the wisdom in downloading huge amounts of cash in the name of sustainability? It often comes as a surprise to many of our clients who have had previous experiences with other green businesses that had them convinced that going green would entail excessive initial investments. They are even more taken aback when they see tangible savings within a reasonable amount of time after engaging our services. We put a lot of thought and knowhow to optimize the efficiency and cost of the solutions we offer. Our low powered CPUs combined with alternative cooling methods can guarantee a minimum of 30% reduction in your power requirements and a 50% decrease in heat emissions. If we say that we can guarantee, we are indeed that sure. Moreover our servers and storage devices are structured to be fully upgradable to avert the need to make additional future expenses in infrastructure. We also make sure we get extra change by working the tax rebates and sales rebates to our advantage. So green does make good business sense, especially the pocket kind…

Some 80 percent of Arctic ice may disappear in 30 years, according to a new study on the impact of global warming. The combination of unusually warm temperatures due to natural causes and industrial emissions have contributed to this colossal ice loss. This will naturally have a wide variety of negative impacts on our environment including shifts in ecosystem, risks of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions etc. The EPA, Environmental Protectrion Agency recently declared that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases sent off by cars and many industrial plants “endanger public health and welfare.” This action by the EPA is particularly significant as it sets the stage for regulating emissions under federal clean air laws and could become the first step toward requiring power plants, cars and trucks to control their release of climate-changing gases, especially carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Congress is considering imposing a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions along with giving industry the ability to trade emission allowances to mitigate costs. Legislation in this direction could be considered by the House before the August congressional recess. We also believe that it is only a matter of time before aggressive federal programs will come into place bringing solar energy to price parity with traditional energy sources, saving consumers and businesses billions of dollars in energy costs.
The founder of the environmental organization, Green Cross International, Mikhail Gorbachev, has urged world leaders and the private sector to make significant investments in solar energy as a means to tackle climate change. The organization also unveiled a Global Star Report Card which highlights the successes and failures in 16 countries’ efforts to create a solar development policy. Germany scored 70 out of a 100 possible points while California came in second following its implementation of a ten-year $3bn rebate program for solar. At Green Rack Systems we are extremely proud to contribute to this growing movement to arrest Global warming. We are big believers in the power of solar as an effective means to combat this problem as it is certainly the cleanest of all renewable energy sources, producing electricity and thermal energy with zero emissions, and no waste byproducts. We are happy more than ever in the light of the release of these valuable study results to have gone the solar route and offering a solar powered co-location service for our customers. And yes the Green Rack website is totally powered by a solar data center as well…

So, is there a way of measuring the exact efficiency of a Data center, you may ask… Green Grid, an association of IT professionals committed to proposing ways to increase the efficiency of Data centers, have come up with a metric called PUE, Power Usage Effectiveness. It is derived from the following:

PUE=Total Facility Power/IT Equipment Power

Total facility power is the total power supplied to the data center in question and IT Equipment Power is the power used by the equipment dedicated to manage, process, store, or route data within the data center such as storage, and network equipment, KVM switches, monitors etc. An ideal PUE value would be a 1 indicating that all power supplied is absorbed solely for the IT equipment. According to Green Grid, most Data Centers have a PUE value of 3 or more. But with proper design a value of around 1.6 is achievable. A 2007 study conducted by analyst firm Gartner revealed that the intense power requirements needed to run and cool data centers account for almost a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions from information and communications technology. It also identified the main causes of inefficiency as lack of floor space, a failure to house high-density servers, and increased power consumption and heat generation.

At Green Rack Systems, here’s how we address these issues. Our data centers use high density blade solutions and low power options to consolidate space. To reduce our power consumption we opt for high efficiency power supplies and low voltage processors. In addition, we go for passive cooling options whenever possible to reduce the massive cooling costs. We reduce heat further by using higher efficiency, low wattage CPUs. We even go a step further and provide an optional solar powered server co-location to lower dependency on fossil fuels. To make it even more environmentally friendly, we use only RoHS compliant components, which restricts the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and try to incorporate recycled materials as much as possible. At Green Rack, there are two things we care about above all else-One is the quality of our technology, which our R & D team works diligently to constantly upgrade and the second is our tireless customer support to make sure you are nothing less than 100 percent satisfied. For further information, please contact us at sales@GreenRackSystems.com / 408-213-8144 .

At Green Rack Systems, we believe that there is now more than ever a pressing need to think about the way we run our Data Centers, if you have not already done so. There are two main reasons why:

• It is common knowledge that Data Centers have an insatiable appetite for energy. As the world we live in becomes more and more complicated and the information we demand more and more sophisticated, we have started demanding our servers to perform enormous, almost oppressive feats. The data centers in turn have begun to rebel by becoming more and more power hunger. This leads to an overall escalation of IT costs, accounting for about 25% of the total corporate IT budget resulting in significant decrease of profit margins. According to the McKinsey & Company/Uptime Institute report titled Revolutionizing Data Center Energy Efficiency released last year. According to the report, If data center power consumption continues to grow at the current rate, 10 new cola-fired or nuclear power plants will be needed by 2010 and 20 more (for a total of 30) by 2015. So there is no doubt that the beasts have to be brought in line. In the current state of the economy, investing in infrastructure might be the last priority of most office managers. But we should keep in mind that the benefits of saving energy and therefore costs in the longer run far outweigh the immediate expenses toward efficient management. Besides, you don’t want to be left behind when in a few years your competitors start reaping huge benefits from thinking quicker and taking more timely action. If there is one thing the current economic crisis has urged us, it is to avert a long term decline rather than to indulge in short term gains.
• Unless you’ve been living under a hole, I’m sure it would not have escaped your notice that most businesses are going green. Today’s customers possess a high degree of environmental consciousness and demand the same exalting standard from the companies that they lend their patronage to. More and more fore running companies are outbidding each other to become as perfectly green as possible. They in turn look for suppliers and partners who share their vision to enhance their green portfolio. So apart from the ethical benefits of reducing your carbon footprint, green business is smart business. Very soon we believe you will be left out, if you do not jump on the bandwagon right now. Moreover, environmental concerns have already driven many countries to impose regulations on businesses with data centers to monitor their carbon emissions. Some European governments have started to tax usage of fossil fuels to encourage companies to seek alternative resources. It is reasonable to deduct that it is only a matter of time before the United States follows suit. So it looks like green datacenters are here to stay!In the next blog we will talk of ways that Green Rack Systems can contribute toward a sustainable Data center in the most comprehensive, efficient manner by targeting specific problem areas in Data Center Power Management.