[The Internet and ICT industries have a big advantage over other sectors of society in terms of using renewable energy. There is no reason why computers, databases, cyber-infrastructure needs to be located in cities where it is difficult to access renewable power. Instead of bringing power to the computers, why not move the computers to the source of power and connect them with optical networks? Optical networks are a lot cheaper to deploy than electrical transmission lines and far less disruptive to the environment. Besides building out the necessary transmission line capacity to support the various renewable energy sites will take decades. The other big advantage of relocating ICT to renewable energy sites is the low cost and long term certainty of the price of power at these sites and independence from electrical grid operators and their usurious “wheeling” charges. The electrical utility industry makes the telephone companies look like paragons of entrepreneurialism in comparison. The Internet and ICT industry is also virtually the only industry sector that can tolerate unreliable and intermittent energy that is common with many renewable sources. From its very initial design, the Internet has in place the routing protocols to allow quick re-routing of traffic and data in the event of network outages, whether its from an apocryphal nuclear war or intermittent renewable energy. If the Internet and ICT consume anywhere from 2-6% of the nation’s energy relocating this industry to renewable energy sites will go a long way to achieving energy independent. Excerpts from NY Time – BSA]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/business/27grid.html
Wind Energy Bumps Into Power Grid’s Limits
When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind farm spent $320 million to put nearly 200 wind turbines in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing.
That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.
The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.
The grid today, according to experts, is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads.
Achieving that would require moving large amounts of power over long distances, from the windy, lightly populated plains in the middle of the country to the coasts where many people live. Builders are also contemplating immense solar-power stations in the nation’s deserts that would pose the same transmission problems.
“The windiest sites have not been built, because there is no way to move that electricity from there to the load centers,” he said.
Green IT/Broadband and Cyber-infrastructure Overview
One of the greatest threats to our future society and economy is global warming. It is estimated that the CO2 emissions of the ICT industry alone exceeds the carbon output of the entire aviation industry. The ICT industry and research community has a collective responsibility to help address this problem. Fortunately, as compared to the aviation industry, the ICT industry and research community has the tools at hand to reduce its direct CO2 output to zero and the additional capability of enabling other sectors of society to reduce their carbon footprint through "Carbon rewards" rather than unpopular "Carbon taxes". Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The current preferred approaches are to impose “carbon” taxes and implement various forms of cap and trade or carbon offset systems. However another approach to help reduce carbon emission is to “reward” those who reduce their carbon footprint. It is estimated that consumers control or influence over 60% of all CO2 emissions. As such, one possible reward system of trading “bits and bandwidth for carbon”, or sometimes called "gCommerce" is to provide homeowners with free fiber to the home or free wireless products and other electronic services such as ebooks and eMovies if they agree to pay a premium on their energy consumption which will encourage them to reduce emissions by turning down the thermostat or using public transportation. Not only does the consumer benefit, but this business model also provides new revenue opportunities for network operators, optical equipment manufacturers, and eCommerce application providers.
Universities can also play a significant leadership role as cyber-infrastructure is one of the major producers of CO2 emissions at our universities. Although cyber-infrastructure is part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution. The beauty of cyber-infrastructure and ICT in general, is that thanks to high speed optical networks, this equipment can be located virtually anywhere. Relocating cyber-infrastructure computers, databases, instrumentation and laboratory equipment to remote renewable energy sites not only helps the environment but can also save the institution significant money in their energy bills. More importantly such a strategy also allows the university or researcher to earn valuable carbon offset dollars. A good example of this strategy is the PROMPT initiative "Next Generation Internet to Reduce Global Warming (G-NGI)" where researchers and institutions can earn valuable offset dollars for Internet technologies and process that reduce CO2 emissions. Universities can also encourage students and faculty to reduce their respective carbon footprint by also implementing a "gCommerce" reward system such as free eTextbooks, free downloads of video and music in exchange for students paying a premium on parking, travel and other related activities.
For more details please see
Free Fiber and High Speed Internet to the Home Initiative
http://free-fiber-to-the-home.blogspot.com/
ICT and Global Warming - opportunities for innovation and economic growth
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbgjrct_2767dxpbdvcf
PROMPT Next Generation Internet to Reduce Global Warming
http://www.promptinc.org/documents/NGI_release_en_v2.pdf
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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Bill, some of these limitations can be overcome by building renewable energy installations on site. We are doing this at BT with a solar installation on our office/data center space in El Segundo. Even more ambitiously we have a commitment in the UK to provide one quarter of our power needs with wind generation on or adjacent to our own premises by 2016. Microgrids prsent a hybrid solution. Although sometimes these sources are intermittent, we combine them with more traditional sources to ensure continuity of supply. The great thing about the sun is it tends to shine when the demand on the grid is the greatest. Reducing peak demand on the grid has an even greater proportionate benefit on emissions as it enables the generating companies to avoid having to bring on line their oldest most polluting power stations.
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