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Don’t miss out on a gift to green your data center

Data center efficiency projects such as virtualization, consolidation, power and cooling … [Read More...]

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Step on that scale

No matter what you celebrate during this month, it's the season of giving, eating and … [Read More...]

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A scanner could be your apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is my go-to ingredient when I'm cooking. It adds an air mystery to  a … [Read More...]

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Everybody’s working for the weekend

The five o'clock stampede thunders through offices across the county. People to eager to … [Read More...]


Don’t miss out on a gift to green your data center

Data center efficiency projects such as virtualization, consolidation, power and cooling upgrades all have pretty strong business cases and ROI. The reduction in hardware means lower operating and managing costs for your organization.

Many utilities are now sweetening the deal and offering rebates and incentives that put an extra bang into your business case.  Some of these rebates are paid out per kilowatt hour saved (usually 5 – 11cents per kw) and others are a percentage of the overall project costs (anywhere from 35 – 50% of your project cost paid for)

Why would they do this? Utilities are encouraging and rewarding the reduction of electricity demand in data centre operations because the energy consumed by them is growing at an alarming rate. Many projects require a significant financial comittment upfront in order to benefit from the long term energy savings, so rebates and incentives like this are helping organizations take advantage of these technologies sooner and with less financial risk.

What types of technologies are eligible for rebates? That depends. Continue reading »

Step on that scale

No matter what you celebrate during this month, it’s the season of giving, eating and communing with friends and family. Come January you are going to be trying to find ways to squeeze back into those jeans (for me it’ll be spinning)  While you think about ways to get leaner in the New Year, think about your IT infrastructure. How can you cut down on your energy consumption and make your carbon footprint that much smaller?

This fantastic article I just read outlines how IT can be leaner and greener. It talks about how companies can navigate through the new paradigm we are living in.  It says “Green IT is about making innovations a part of mainstream business. Companies that want to survive will prepare for change and transform to stay competitive, by adopting new strategies and solutions.”

Want to learn more as you ponder next year and how you can make an impact that’ll help the planet? Check out the article here.

A scanner could be your apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is my go-to ingredient when I’m cooking. It adds an air mystery to  a cous cous, romances tarragon in a salad dressing. It teases the taste buds in potato salad. Not to mention it’s good for me.  My grandma swore by it.

Another thing I swear by – my scanner. I have saved tons of space because I don’t have to store paper - and I can save paper by scanning instead of faxing documents (if your clients and suppliers aren’t using e-forms yet but that’s another post!) I found this great article on how to get started. If you decide to save some space by scanning your documents – why not use the backs of those pages for scrap paper.  The Organized Life writes: “Ready to undertake your own paper scanning project? Step 1 is to get your hands on a reliable, easy-to-use scanner. Choose one that…read more

Everybody’s working for the weekend

The five o’clock stampede thunders through offices across the county. People to eager to start their weekend or evening , to catch their train, liberate little ones from daycare leave their workstations in a hurry. Many of them not taking the time to power down their workstations. This uses up a lot of energy unnecessarily – increasing energy costs and unnecessarily burdening the power grid.

It happens everywhere – so if your organization is facing this you are not alone. We found an article in the ITAM review about energy expended through desktops being left on and things you can do to alleviate the pressure. For instance, printers can also be shut off during non productive hours and like PCs and certain servers … read more.

Facebook listens to their friends.

Facebook has taken recent criticism seriously about their energy consumption. They have joined their IT cohorts to do the right thing  and have cleared the air in their data center by using fans to create better airflow management as well as containing this cold air to keep it escaping in the floors. This makes their systems more efficient and dramatically cuts the amount of energy they are using.

What we did here isn’t rocket science,” said Jay Park, Facebook’s director of data center engineering. “We applied very basic thermal theory.” He was on a panel discussing…read more.

The sordid story of electronics … could have a happy ending

How many DVD players and mp3 players have you pitched when they have died suddenly or suddenly you were flush with extra cash and ready to treat yourself? I know that I have gone through a few $38.99  DVD players and have made some bad PC purchases which led me back to my local electronics shop for an upgrade.

I wonder where cast-away electronics end up. In my mind I picture them refurbished and enjoying a second life. But that’s not the case. One of my fellow marketers recently blogged about it. His post includes three shocking videos which shows where electronics really go to die. It ain’t pretty. Toxic chemicals from the West are polluting developing countries where the valuable parts are being harvested and the rest burned and dumped into water supplies. Not cool!

There are ways we can help and it’s easier than you think. Find out here.

How do you stack up? Find out your impact on the environment.

We found an article which illustrates companies who have purchased EPEAT products worldwide have:

* Reduced use of toxic materials by the equivalent of more than 148 million refridgerators
* Eliminated enough mercury to fill 372, 000 household thermometers
* Avoided  disoposal of solid waste – comparable to 14,500 US households’ annual quota

Want to know how you stack up?

The University of Tennesee Center for clean products recently developed an Electronic Environmental Benefits Calculator which allows users to calculate specific environmental benefits of purchasing EPEAT computers and monitors. You can read last year’s Environmental Benefits Report and find out how you can get a version of the Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator.

Frozen energy cost make an greener data center

A data center in Phoenix has found a way to “freeze” their data center costs – using ice balls. The Ice  Ball Thermal Storage System may be the coolest technology to hit the market…literally!

The ice balls are water filled, dimpled plastic spheres a little bigger than a softball. The balls float in four huge tanks filled with a glycol solution that chills the balls by night and pumps the cool air into the data center by day. This shifts the energy consumption from day to night allowing the utility generators to run more efficiently.

You might wonder why anyone would have a data center in on of the hottest places in the US. There are benefits to the hot, dry desert climate. For example, it lends itself to energy evaporative cooling technology when the temperatures at night dip down low.

That’s not all. This company has found a way to beat the Phoenix heat in other ingenious ways – reducing their energy use and taking advantage of the innovation new ways to be green. Read more…http://features.techworld.com/data-centre/3244249/ice-balls-help-data-centre-go-green/

Unfriend coal to fuel data centers

High-tech heavyweights including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have made big investments in greener data centers.  Facebook has yet to join in – and Greenpeace has noticed. Greenpeace is asking people to “unfriend” coal to pressure Facebook to stop using coal and switch to renewable energy sources.

Greener data centers are good for all of us – so why not unfriend coal! Read more about Greenpeace’s campaign here.

Want to add some “green” to your Annual Report?

As we head into the final quarter of the year, there’s always someone in your organization thinking about how to describe the organization’s successes this year for the Annual Report. Record sales, industry awards, new ventures are all news worthy developments…but what about green?  Large organizations tend to have an entire separate report dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility, but more and more organizations are just including a few key green initiatives in their main Annual Report.

But what if you don’t have anything to share? Many projects in IT are implemented for their business value, but have great green benefits too! You may have an amazing energy saving story right under your nose. Check out our CEO on a recent episode of the Business News Network (BNN) as he talks about how to uncover the hidden green strategy buried within IT:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQD4RUSbnc