[I am here at the fantastic Freedom to Connect conference which is well worth watching on webcast (http://freedom-to-connect.net/). Many scientists are warning that the planet may be close to a tipping point where we will experience run away global warming (see Andy Revkin’s recent blog from the NYTimes for a summary of several studies on this issue). We simply may not have the luxury time for small incremental adaptations to address the challenge of global climatic disruption. One of the major ways we can reduce our CO2 footprint is through de-materialization where we replace physical products with virtual ones delivered over the Internet. Some studies indicated that we can reduce Co2 emissions by as much as 20% with materialization. I argue that dematerialization can be further amplified through carbon rewards (instead of Carbon taxes) where consumers are rewarded with a variety of virtual products in exchange of reducing their carbon footprint in other walks of their lives. But to take advantage of this opportunity of dematerialization we need open high speed broadband networks everywhere. Hence the importance of conferences such as Freedom to Connect. From a pointer by Tim OReilly on Dave Farber’s list – BSA]
Andy Revkin blog on the planet being at a tipping point
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/tipping-points-and-the-climate-challenge/
Interesting seybold piece on the environmental impact of publishing:
http://www.seyboldreport.com/ready-or-not-welcome-age-low-carbon-publishing
Have you ever considered what the carbon footprint of a magazine or an eReader is? What about the carbon footprint of your publication? Not everyone cares about carbon footprints or defers to the authority of science on climate change, but when Coke, Pepsi and Apple begin to carbon footprint their products, and Taco-Bell begins to open LEED-certified restaurants with low carbon footprints, it may be time to start.
According to information recently released by Apple, the lifecycle carbon footprint of an iPhone is responsible for the emission of 121 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions over the course of a three year expected lifetime of use. Over 10 million iPhones have been sold to date. Though it is not a direct comparison, it is interesting to note that Discover magazine estimated that the lifecycle carbon footprint of each copy of its publication is responsible for 2.1 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the same amount produced by twelve 100-watt light bulbs glowing for an hour or a car engine burning 14 ounces of gasoline. Over the next few years it can be expected that the reporting of lifecycle data and the carbon labeling of all products will move from the margins to the mainstream - including the footprinting of print and digital media products. Welcome to the age of low carbon everything.
There are billions of kilowatt hours of electricity embodied in the paper, ink and digital technologies we use each day, and close to a kilogram of CO2 is emitted for each kilowatt, but the energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with print and digital media supply chains have typically been overlooked, misunderstood or underestimated. Those days are drawing to an end. Increasingly major brands like Walmart, Pepsi, Coke, TacoBell and Timberland see carbon footprinting and carbon disclosure as an opportunity to differentiate themselves and grow - even in the face of a global recession.
[…]
Before you use one of the many carbon calculators popping on the Web to measure the carbon footprint of whatever medium you use, it's important to realize that the results can vary dramatically - as do their underlying assumptions. Most fail to employ standards. Until now, lots of calculators and "carbon neutral" companies have made promises to help you reduce your footprint. But there's been no single authority or regulatory agency to dictate how carbon usage should be calculated or disclosed. Standards and specifications for carbon footprinting such as ISO 14040, ISO 14064 and PAS 2050 now do exist, and open standards-based Web 2.0 platforms like AMEE are now available that enable accurate carbon footprinting, like-for-like comparisons and large-scale supply chain analysis.
Carbon rewards instead of carbon taxes
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/
This blog is about using ICTs to develop climate change preparedness solutions built around Energy Internet and autonomous eVehicles
Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview
Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37
Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG
High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP
Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g
How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
The next killer app for the Internet - dematerialization
[I am here at the fantastic Freedom to Connect conference which is well worth watching on webcast (http://freedom-to-connect.net/). Many scientists are warning that the planet may be close to a tipping point where we will experience run away global warming (see Andy Revkin’s recent blog from the NYTimes for a summary of several studies on this issue). We simply may not have the luxury time for small incremental adaptations to address the challenge of global climatic disruption. One of the major ways we can reduce our CO2 footprint is through de-materialization where we replace physical products with virtual ones delivered over the Internet. Some studies indicated that we can reduce Co2 emissions by as much as 20% with materialization. I argue that dematerialization can be further amplified through carbon rewards (instead of Carbon taxes) where consumers are rewarded with a variety of virtual products in exchange of reducing their carbon footprint in other walks of their lives. But to take advantage of this opportunity of dematerialization we need open high speed broadband networks everywhere. Hence the importance of conferences such as Freedom to Connect. From a pointer by Tim OReilly on Dave Farber’s list – BSA]
Andy Revkin blog on the planet being at a tipping point
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/tipping-points-and-the-climate-challenge/
Interesting seybold piece on the environmental impact of publishing:
http://www.seyboldreport.com/ready-or-not-welcome-age-low-carbon-publishing
Have you ever considered what the carbon footprint of a magazine or an eReader is? What about the carbon footprint of your publication? Not everyone cares about carbon footprints or defers to the authority of science on climate change, but when Coke, Pepsi and Apple begin to carbon footprint their products, and Taco-Bell begins to open LEED-certified restaurants with low carbon footprints, it may be time to start.
According to information recently released by Apple, the lifecycle carbon footprint of an iPhone is responsible for the emission of 121 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions over the course of a three year expected lifetime of use. Over 10 million iPhones have been sold to date. Though it is not a direct comparison, it is interesting to note that Discover magazine estimated that the lifecycle carbon footprint of each copy of its publication is responsible for 2.1 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the same amount produced by twelve 100-watt light bulbs glowing for an hour or a car engine burning 14 ounces of gasoline. Over the next few years it can be expected that the reporting of lifecycle data and the carbon labeling of all products will move from the margins to the mainstream - including the footprinting of print and digital media products. Welcome to the age of low carbon everything.
There are billions of kilowatt hours of electricity embodied in the paper, ink and digital technologies we use each day, and close to a kilogram of CO2 is emitted for each kilowatt, but the energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with print and digital media supply chains have typically been overlooked, misunderstood or underestimated. Those days are drawing to an end. Increasingly major brands like Walmart, Pepsi, Coke, TacoBell and Timberland see carbon footprinting and carbon disclosure as an opportunity to differentiate themselves and grow - even in the face of a global recession.
[…]
Before you use one of the many carbon calculators popping on the Web to measure the carbon footprint of whatever medium you use, it's important to realize that the results can vary dramatically - as do their underlying assumptions. Most fail to employ standards. Until now, lots of calculators and "carbon neutral" companies have made promises to help you reduce your footprint. But there's been no single authority or regulatory agency to dictate how carbon usage should be calculated or disclosed. Standards and specifications for carbon footprinting such as ISO 14040, ISO 14064 and PAS 2050 now do exist, and open standards-based Web 2.0 platforms like AMEE are now available that enable accurate carbon footprinting, like-for-like comparisons and large-scale supply chain analysis.
Carbon rewards instead of carbon taxes
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/
Andy Revkin blog on the planet being at a tipping point
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/tipping-points-and-the-climate-challenge/
Interesting seybold piece on the environmental impact of publishing:
http://www.seyboldreport.com/ready-or-not-welcome-age-low-carbon-publishing
Have you ever considered what the carbon footprint of a magazine or an eReader is? What about the carbon footprint of your publication? Not everyone cares about carbon footprints or defers to the authority of science on climate change, but when Coke, Pepsi and Apple begin to carbon footprint their products, and Taco-Bell begins to open LEED-certified restaurants with low carbon footprints, it may be time to start.
According to information recently released by Apple, the lifecycle carbon footprint of an iPhone is responsible for the emission of 121 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions over the course of a three year expected lifetime of use. Over 10 million iPhones have been sold to date. Though it is not a direct comparison, it is interesting to note that Discover magazine estimated that the lifecycle carbon footprint of each copy of its publication is responsible for 2.1 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the same amount produced by twelve 100-watt light bulbs glowing for an hour or a car engine burning 14 ounces of gasoline. Over the next few years it can be expected that the reporting of lifecycle data and the carbon labeling of all products will move from the margins to the mainstream - including the footprinting of print and digital media products. Welcome to the age of low carbon everything.
There are billions of kilowatt hours of electricity embodied in the paper, ink and digital technologies we use each day, and close to a kilogram of CO2 is emitted for each kilowatt, but the energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with print and digital media supply chains have typically been overlooked, misunderstood or underestimated. Those days are drawing to an end. Increasingly major brands like Walmart, Pepsi, Coke, TacoBell and Timberland see carbon footprinting and carbon disclosure as an opportunity to differentiate themselves and grow - even in the face of a global recession.
[…]
Before you use one of the many carbon calculators popping on the Web to measure the carbon footprint of whatever medium you use, it's important to realize that the results can vary dramatically - as do their underlying assumptions. Most fail to employ standards. Until now, lots of calculators and "carbon neutral" companies have made promises to help you reduce your footprint. But there's been no single authority or regulatory agency to dictate how carbon usage should be calculated or disclosed. Standards and specifications for carbon footprinting such as ISO 14040, ISO 14064 and PAS 2050 now do exist, and open standards-based Web 2.0 platforms like AMEE are now available that enable accurate carbon footprinting, like-for-like comparisons and large-scale supply chain analysis.
Carbon rewards instead of carbon taxes
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Stunning demo on the future of cell phones and computers
[Here is a fascinating TED video showing demonstrating a novel new human-machine interface for cell phones/computers. One of the big challenges of computer miniaturization and power consumption is the large interface devices required for humans to access computers and cell phones – namely the screen and keyboard. This MIT demo is a brilliant demonstration of another approach. Solving the power consumption issues of the human machine interface is critical because, as reported in the ABI research paper – zero carbon networking is the next big thing. ABI Research forecasts that in 2009 over 800,000 cell phone base stations will utilize alternative energy solutions such as wind or solar energy. ABI Vice president Stuart Carlaw says, “One only has to look at the splash of solar powered mobile devices at Mobile World Congress 2009 to see that environmentally friendly solutions are becoming increasingly important to mobile consumers, service providers, application developers and OEMs alike.”
Companies that focus on building zero carbon optical and wireless Internet networks and related computer equipment will be the big winners. This will be driven not so much by the requirement to make the Internet zero carbon, whose contribution to overall CO2 emissions is only about 2-3% globally, but by “gCommerce” applications where consumers and businesses are rewarded with free telecommunications products and services in exchange for paying a voluntary carbon tax on their automobile, home heating/cooling etc –BSA]
Stunning demo on the future of cell phones and computers
http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
800,000 Alternative Energy-Powered Base Stations in 2009
http://www.abiresearch.com/press/1390-800%2C000+Alternative+Energy-Powered+Base+Stations+in+2009+%96+Clean+Telecoms+is+the+Next+Big+Thing
“gCommerce”
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/
Companies that focus on building zero carbon optical and wireless Internet networks and related computer equipment will be the big winners. This will be driven not so much by the requirement to make the Internet zero carbon, whose contribution to overall CO2 emissions is only about 2-3% globally, but by “gCommerce” applications where consumers and businesses are rewarded with free telecommunications products and services in exchange for paying a voluntary carbon tax on their automobile, home heating/cooling etc –BSA]
Stunning demo on the future of cell phones and computers
http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
800,000 Alternative Energy-Powered Base Stations in 2009
http://www.abiresearch.com/press/1390-800%2C000+Alternative+Energy-Powered+Base+Stations+in+2009+%96+Clean+Telecoms+is+the+Next+Big+Thing
“gCommerce”
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 9, 2009
Building a zero carbon Internet
[Most people still don’t appreciate the sacrifices that are going to have to be made in order to achieve CO2 reductions in line with Kyoto agreement or upcoming Copenhagen agreement as documented in a recent MIT study that public attitudes about climate change reveal a contradiction: “ Surveys show most Americans believe climate change poses serious risks but also that reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions sufficient to stabilize atmospheric GHG concentrations or net radiative forcing can be deferred until there is greater evidence that climate change is harmful. US policymakers likewise argue it is prudent to wait and see whether climate change will cause substantial economic harm before undertaking policies to reduce emissions. Such wait-and-see policies erroneously presume climate change can be reversed quickly should harm become evident, underestimating substantial delays in the climate’s response to anthropogenic forcing.”
http://climateprogress.org/2008/02/01/mit-study-sterman-stabilizing-carbon-dioxide-concentrations-not-emissions/
Overall we need 80% reduction in GHG emissions in the coming years in order to simply stabilize the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. We have not yet begun to experience the severe climatic disruption that will occur with the existing CO2 in the atmosphere, never mind the additional GHG gasses that will be emitted in the coming years. Every sector of society is going to be affected, including the Internet and ICT industry even though their collective contribution to global GHG emissions is relatively minor at 2-3% (but projected to double about every 4 to 6 years)
Improvements in energy efficiency, or PUE ratios at data centers are simply not going to be enough, especially when you consider the overall growth in the Internet and ICT in general. The overall absolute value of GHG emissions from the Internet and ICT is bound to increase despite all our best efforts in energy efficiency. Hence, as much as possible we need to strive for a zero carbon policy. It will not be easy to move towards zero carbon in some sectors of society like transportation, that is why other sectors must make an additional effort to move to zero carbon in order to achieve an overall target of 80% reduction. (Nothing is truly zero carbon – we use the term zero carbon when CO2 emissions are insignificantly small from the energy production itself)
CANARIE in partnership with ITAC recently held a workshop on this subject on the many technical and business challenges of building a zero carbon Internet. CANARE intends to fund a pilot demonstrating the technical and business advantages of building a zero carbon Internet. Many of the presentations at the workshop are now available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/event/canarieitac-green-it-workshop
One of the challenges building a zero carbon Internet is finding renewable sources of energy to power data centers, routing nodes, carrier hotels etc. One option is to purchase renewable power from the local utility. But this is fraught with various issues in that purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) does not eliminate the need for dirty coal plants and it does not protect the customer from significant jumps in the price of power as cap and trade comes on line. Even if the customer is purchasing RECs, renewable power delivered over the grid will increase in cost versus dirty power, as there will be significant demand for such power when cap and trade significantly pushes up the price of dirty power.
The “megawatt mindset” of most utilities also remains a major challenge to building a zero carbon Internet. Fortunately there are now companies that building windmills and run of the rivers turbines specifically for the Internet and ICT industry that will work independent of the electrical grid, even in urban settings. Windmills designed for the utility industry tend to be monstrous devices in order to get economies of scale and cause all sorts of nimby responses. But most data centers and Internet network nodes need far smaller devices that can be mounted on roofs. Since they are not part of the electrical grid, there are no transmission lines and the customer is assured of clean, renewable electricity at a long term guaranteed price.
A good example is Ecotricity in the UK which builds and operates wind turbines on partner sites such as data centers, factories and other facilities. Ecotricity takes on all the capital costs of the project, including the turbine itself. The partner agrees to purchase the electricity from the turbine and in return receive they received their own dedicated supply of green energy at significantly reduced rates. There is no finical risk to the data center or Internet node.
http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/mwp/mwp.html
A number of companies are also building specialized wind turbines for computer and telecommunication nodes that are much smaller scale in scale than the massive wind turbines used by the utilities. Ericsson for example is deploying cellular radio towers that are solely power by the wind.
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2008/10/wind-powered-cell-phone-tower.html
Vertical axis wind turbines originally developed at the National Research Council in Canada are also very popular. There is no rotating blades the units are extremely compact and yet can operate in all sorts of wind conditions beyond the range of normal wind turbines
http://www.windports.com/ereal.html
There is also tethered air rotor systems which provide more sustained power because they operate at higher altitudes
http://www.magenn.com/index.php
Of course moving to a less reliable energy supply imposes new challenges on the Internet architecture and routing. In the past re-booting routers or route flaps were seen as a bad thing. Manufacturers went to considerable trouble to make “carrier-class” routers and equipment that never needed re-booting. But with intermittent availability of energy at every computing and routing node we have to re-visit many of the architectural principles of the Internet in terms of topology, routing protocols, and reliability.
We need new research into such concepts as least cost Co2 path routing where the best route may not necessarily be the shortest route in terms of latency etc. New distributed caching architectures to minimize CO2 emissions such that large databases and computers can be located at distant renewable energy sites will also be required but yet do not impact latency. New network routing topologies with off-center routing and switching will be required as today most routers and switches are located at the intersection of multiple routing paths. Finally new ideas and architectures will be required as we look to integrate low CO2 optical networks with energy hungry routers.
--BSA]
http://climateprogress.org/2008/02/01/mit-study-sterman-stabilizing-carbon-dioxide-concentrations-not-emissions/
Overall we need 80% reduction in GHG emissions in the coming years in order to simply stabilize the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. We have not yet begun to experience the severe climatic disruption that will occur with the existing CO2 in the atmosphere, never mind the additional GHG gasses that will be emitted in the coming years. Every sector of society is going to be affected, including the Internet and ICT industry even though their collective contribution to global GHG emissions is relatively minor at 2-3% (but projected to double about every 4 to 6 years)
Improvements in energy efficiency, or PUE ratios at data centers are simply not going to be enough, especially when you consider the overall growth in the Internet and ICT in general. The overall absolute value of GHG emissions from the Internet and ICT is bound to increase despite all our best efforts in energy efficiency. Hence, as much as possible we need to strive for a zero carbon policy. It will not be easy to move towards zero carbon in some sectors of society like transportation, that is why other sectors must make an additional effort to move to zero carbon in order to achieve an overall target of 80% reduction. (Nothing is truly zero carbon – we use the term zero carbon when CO2 emissions are insignificantly small from the energy production itself)
CANARIE in partnership with ITAC recently held a workshop on this subject on the many technical and business challenges of building a zero carbon Internet. CANARE intends to fund a pilot demonstrating the technical and business advantages of building a zero carbon Internet. Many of the presentations at the workshop are now available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/event/canarieitac-green-it-workshop
One of the challenges building a zero carbon Internet is finding renewable sources of energy to power data centers, routing nodes, carrier hotels etc. One option is to purchase renewable power from the local utility. But this is fraught with various issues in that purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) does not eliminate the need for dirty coal plants and it does not protect the customer from significant jumps in the price of power as cap and trade comes on line. Even if the customer is purchasing RECs, renewable power delivered over the grid will increase in cost versus dirty power, as there will be significant demand for such power when cap and trade significantly pushes up the price of dirty power.
The “megawatt mindset” of most utilities also remains a major challenge to building a zero carbon Internet. Fortunately there are now companies that building windmills and run of the rivers turbines specifically for the Internet and ICT industry that will work independent of the electrical grid, even in urban settings. Windmills designed for the utility industry tend to be monstrous devices in order to get economies of scale and cause all sorts of nimby responses. But most data centers and Internet network nodes need far smaller devices that can be mounted on roofs. Since they are not part of the electrical grid, there are no transmission lines and the customer is assured of clean, renewable electricity at a long term guaranteed price.
A good example is Ecotricity in the UK which builds and operates wind turbines on partner sites such as data centers, factories and other facilities. Ecotricity takes on all the capital costs of the project, including the turbine itself. The partner agrees to purchase the electricity from the turbine and in return receive they received their own dedicated supply of green energy at significantly reduced rates. There is no finical risk to the data center or Internet node.
http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/mwp/mwp.html
A number of companies are also building specialized wind turbines for computer and telecommunication nodes that are much smaller scale in scale than the massive wind turbines used by the utilities. Ericsson for example is deploying cellular radio towers that are solely power by the wind.
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2008/10/wind-powered-cell-phone-tower.html
Vertical axis wind turbines originally developed at the National Research Council in Canada are also very popular. There is no rotating blades the units are extremely compact and yet can operate in all sorts of wind conditions beyond the range of normal wind turbines
http://www.windports.com/ereal.html
There is also tethered air rotor systems which provide more sustained power because they operate at higher altitudes
http://www.magenn.com/index.php
Of course moving to a less reliable energy supply imposes new challenges on the Internet architecture and routing. In the past re-booting routers or route flaps were seen as a bad thing. Manufacturers went to considerable trouble to make “carrier-class” routers and equipment that never needed re-booting. But with intermittent availability of energy at every computing and routing node we have to re-visit many of the architectural principles of the Internet in terms of topology, routing protocols, and reliability.
We need new research into such concepts as least cost Co2 path routing where the best route may not necessarily be the shortest route in terms of latency etc. New distributed caching architectures to minimize CO2 emissions such that large databases and computers can be located at distant renewable energy sites will also be required but yet do not impact latency. New network routing topologies with off-center routing and switching will be required as today most routers and switches are located at the intersection of multiple routing paths. Finally new ideas and architectures will be required as we look to integrate low CO2 optical networks with energy hungry routers.
--BSA]
Monday, March 2, 2009
US Department of Energy funding program for Green IT
[The DoE should be applauded for this initiative on Green IT. My only concern is that the program is focused on energy efficiency rather than reducing Co2. As many readers of my blog know, energy efficiency can paradoxically increase energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Energy efficiency in the absence of other policies such as a carbon tax will backfire, as we witnessed from the results of the CAFÉ laws passed by the UC Congress during the last energy crisis in 1972. Specifically targeting CO2 reductions often requires different tools and solutions than those required to improve energy efficiency. Thanks to Rod Wilson for this pointer – BSA]
Hello,
The Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program has announced it's intention to issue an Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) solicitation or request for proposal. You are receiving this notification because of your expertise and experience in the ITC area.
The solicitation, termed a "Funding Opportunity Announcement" (FOA), is expected to be released during the mid-March time frame and is expected to be open for a shorter time (possibly as short as one month) than the three or so months customary for ITP.
The Research and Development segment of this solicitation is expected to require a team capable of and experienced in 1) research and development, 2) manufacturing the technology proposed, 3) bringing the technology to the end user through sales and marketing, and 4) serving as an end user to demonstrate the efficacy of the technology proposed.
Some organizations may possess more than one of these capabilities.
This notification will enable those intending to submit a proposal to start to form complete teams before the solicitation is released. The solicitation will require cost sharing as defined by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The pre-announcement of the Funding Opportunity Announcement may be
viewed at
https://e-center.doe.gov/doebiz.nsf/d76fbc294818822885256d98006c63b6/0b3
7b72285cd2c7185257569006d57e6?OpenDocument
[see below]
When released, the FOA will be available for viewing at Grants.gov
(http://www.grants.gov) and at the DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement Systems (IIPS) or "e-center" (https://e-center.doe.gov).
Applicants are strongly encouraged to register at these sites to receive notification of announcements posted by the DOE Golden Field Office.
When the FOA is released, applications will only be received through Grants.gov.
This solicitation results from the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009", popularly known as the stimulus act, which directs the DOE to support research to increase the efficiency of information and communication technology and improve standards.
Multiple mailing lists have been used to disseminate this information.
Please accept our apologies if you have received more than one copy of this notification.
Gideon Varga
Technology Manager
Industrial Technologies Program
U. S. Department of Energy
Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No.: DE-PS36-09GO99023
Description:
Notice of Intent to Issue
Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No.: DE-PS36-09GO99023
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Golden Field Office (GO) intends to issue, on behalf of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Information and Communication Facility Energy Efficiency”
Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directs DOE to support research to increase the efficiency of information and communication technology and improve standards.
The goal and scope of the proposed FOA are broadly described in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Title IV - Energy Savings in Buildings and Industry, Subtitle D – Industrial Energy Efficiency, Section 452 “ENERGY-INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES PROGRAM”, Section 453 “ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR DATA CENTER BUILDINGS” and in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Title IX – RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, Subtitle B – Distributed Energy and Electric Energy Systems, Section 922 - “ HIGH POWER DENSITY INDUSTRY PROGRAM”.
There are two broad areas of interest. Each proposal must address only one of these areas of interest. The areas of interest are:
A. Information and Communications Technologies Research & Development For Energy Efficiency
The energy used by our nation’s vital telecommunications and data centers is growing at an alarming rate. As information technology and communications services continue to slowly converge, the data center and telecommunications industries face increasingly similar challenges to control the power usage of their microprocessors or servers and supporting power and cooling systems. The electricity consumed in data centers and telecom systems is already three percent of the U.S. total and growing rapidly. In the face of growing global energy demand, uncertain energy supplies, and volatile energy prices, innovative solutions are needed to radically advance the energy efficiency of these systems, which represent the engine of the American economy today. Enhanced energy efficiency in the central offices and data centers supporting our information, communications technology (ICT) systems will enhance U.S. energy and economic security.
Proposals for research and development in the following areas are sought:
1. Equipment Hardware and Software
Computing hardware and software are the functioning components of server-based data and telecommunications centers and largely determine power and cooling requirements. Achieving high levels of energy performance will require novel approaches to the design and management of these hardware and software systems. The key theme and approach in this area is to minimize heat generation. Thus, energy will be saved by developing novel systems that generate less heat (i.e., new electronic circuitry which will use less energy by increasing chip output per unit of power used) or are impervious to heat, or by the use optics only. These include, but are not limited to:
• Develop all-optical systems to increase energy efficiency.
• Advance ultra-low power circuits like multi-phase clock asynchronous circuits to increase energy efficiency
• Utilize ultra-efficient nano-electronic circuitry, including nano-based information storage devices, wires and graphene-based systems. The latter is expected to make possible the replacement of silicon in future electronic devices, and may make possible the incorporation of spintronic devices in future server-based ICT systems.
• Create hardened electronic equipment which can withstand temperature, humidity and particulate conditions outside the boundary of current generation electronics. Thus server-based systems can operate without air conditioning in environments worldwide, even high temperature environments.
2. Cooling
Cooling is believed to account for a third of all power consumed by information technology, telecommunications, and data centers. The cooling of server-based telephone central offices and data centers can be made more energy efficient by the following, but are not limited to:
• Create advanced component level cooling technologies
• Develop mitigation techniques to reduce the probability of failures associated with “free” cooling.
• Identify and create effective uses of low-quality waste heat generated.
3. Power Supply Efficiency
Data and telecommunications centers require large quantities of electricity to be conditioned, converted, and delivered to the diverse components, including servers, switches, routers, and hard drives. The power supply chain can include electricity purchased from the grid, backup power, onsite-power generation, switchgear, UPS’s, power distribution systems, rack-level and unit-level power supplies, and power management technology. Traditionally, data centers have used AC power distribution systems and telecommunications centers have used DC power. The R&D proposals for power supply energy efficiency may address the following, but are not limited to:
• Research and develop high-efficiency power conversion circuits which optimize server-based data center and telecom equipment.
• Develop special purpose chips, multiphase clocking, ternery/other processing modes, lower-power chips (noted in part under hardware and software).
• Research the use of optical switching to eliminate many conversion steps & losses (Also noted under hardware and software).
• Conduct RD&D of superconducting components.
• Research the use of piezoelectrics to incorporate into micro-mechanical air conditioning for point of load cooling
• Efficiency optimized control systems for power conversion.
Each proposal MUST include organizational participants capable of and experienced in 1) research, 2) manufacturing the technology proposed, 3) bringing the technology to the end user through sales and marketing, and 4) serving as an end user of the technology proposed.
Each R&D project will be funded for maximum of three (2) years, with one or more budget periods.
B. Demonstration and Field Testing of Highly Energy Efficient and Pre-commercial Technologies in Data Center or Telecommunication Facilities
DOE is interested in field testing and independently validating the energy performance of pre-commercial technologies that show the potential to improve energy efficiency while not compromising data center or telecommunication reliability. The demonstration sites will be early adopters of the technologies and must be willing to share information about the cost-benefit results of the field-tested technology projects so as to encourage more rapid market acceptance of the technologies. Accordingly, DOE will work with the demonstration teams to develop case studies of the technology projects using measured and verified results so as to reduce market and technology risk.
The applicants must show a plan for the technologies to be demonstrated and the adoption of other best energy management practices to improve a data/ telecommunication center’s energy intensity performance (energy consumed for a given level of useful computational work) by more than 25 percent and have a Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCIE = IT energy / total facility energy usage) of 0.80 or greater.
New and innovative technologies that are not currently widely commercial and that improve the following parts of a data center or telecommunication facility will be considered for DOE’s cost sharing:
• Information Technology (IT) Optimization. This could include, but not be limited to: server virtualization, data storage and networking optimization schemes, methods in connecting multiple data centers (e.g., “cloud computing”) or any technology and IT optimization system that will result in less heat generation for a given amount computational work load.
• Energy efficient electrical power distribution and supply. This could include, but not be limited to, more energy efficient electrical power supply to the IT or telecommunication equipment through new power transformation and back up technologies by reducing overall power distribution supply and IT system energy losses.
• Energy efficient cooling schemes. This could include, but not be limited to, more energy efficient cooling of IT/telecommunication equipment by more optimally delivering and/or controlling cooling to IT equipment with, for example, wireless sensors or IT systems that require less cooling while not compromising equipment lifetime.
• Distributed generation or alternative power technologies. New innovative combined heat and power or renewable energy technologies that are optimized for data center/telecommunication facilities and reduce overall source energy consumption and carbon emissions are desired to be demonstrated.
Technology demonstrations must be able to be widely replicated in other data centers throughout the United States and not be niche applications.
The demonstration teams must be willing to cooperate with DOE to perform an independent performance validation and to create case studies. Demonstration teams must also be willing to conduct public tours of the demonstration site(s) for up to 2 years after the technology demonstration case study is prepared.
Partnerships between the technology development teams and Federal facilities building new or retrofitting existing data center/telecommunication facilities, as well as other host sites, should be formed.
C. General Information
DOE envisions awarding multiple financial assistance/grant awards on a competitive basis. These awards will require cost shares in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Details about cost share requirements will be included in the FOA along with the details of technical areas of interest, proposal preparation instructions and application merit review and evaluation criteria.
DOE plans to release the FOA in March, 2009. The FOA will be available for viewing at Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) and at the DOE’s Industry Interactive Procurement Systems (IIPS) or “e-center” (https://e-center.doe.gov). Applicants are strongly encouraged to register at these sites to receive notification of announcements posted by DOE Golden Field Office. When the FOA is released, applications will only be received through Grants.gov.
In anticipation of the FOA being released shortly, there are several one-time actions prospective applicants must complete in order to submit an application through Grants.gov (e.g., obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, register with the Central Contract Registry (CCR), register with FedConnect, register with the credential provider, and register with Grants.gov). Due to the likelihood of a short response period, interested applicants are strongly encouraged to ensure these requirements have been met. Detailed information on the DUNS and CCR process is presented at http://www.grants.gov/GetStarted. Applicants may use the Grants.gov Organization Registration Checklist at http://www.grants.gov/assets/OrganizationRegCheck.pdf to guide them through the process. Designating an E-Business Point of Contact (EBiz POC) and obtaining a special password called an MPIN are important steps in the CCR registration process. Applicants not yet registered with CCR and Grants.gov, should allow at least 21 days to complete these requirements. It is strongly recommended that the process be started as soon as possible.
If your organization does not have a DUNS number, go to the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) online registration located at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.do to receive a number free of charge or call 1-866-705-5711.
The Central Contractor Registration (CCR) collects, validates, stores, and disseminates business information about the Federal Government's trading partners in support of the contract award, grants, and the electronic payment processes.
To see if your organization is already registered with CCR, check the CCR website located at http://www.bpn.gov/ccrinq/scripts/search.asp. You will be able to search CCR by using either your organization’s DUNS Number or legal business name. If your organization is already registered, take note of who is listed as the organization’s E-Business Point of Contact (E-Business POC). This person will be responsible for registering in FedConnect.
To register in FedConnect, go to https://www.FedConnect.net/FedConnect/ or contact the FedConnect Helpdesk at support@fedconnect.net Please note that the system functionality of FedConnect requires organizations to be registered with the CCR before registering with FedConnect. (FedConnect ‘Quick Start Guide’:
https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/PublicPages/FedConnect_Ready_Set_Go.pdf )
If your organization is not registered in CCR, go to the CCR Website at www.ccr.gov and select the "Start New Registration" option to begin the registration process. Please allow up to 7 days for processing of your registration which includes the IRS validating your Employer Identification Number (Taxpayer Identification Number or Social Security Number). The organization’s E-Business POC will be designated during the CCR registrations process. A special Marketing Partner ID Number (MPIN) is established as a password to verify the E-Business POC.
The DOE will not entertain questions
Hello,
The Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program has announced it's intention to issue an Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) solicitation or request for proposal. You are receiving this notification because of your expertise and experience in the ITC area.
The solicitation, termed a "Funding Opportunity Announcement" (FOA), is expected to be released during the mid-March time frame and is expected to be open for a shorter time (possibly as short as one month) than the three or so months customary for ITP.
The Research and Development segment of this solicitation is expected to require a team capable of and experienced in 1) research and development, 2) manufacturing the technology proposed, 3) bringing the technology to the end user through sales and marketing, and 4) serving as an end user to demonstrate the efficacy of the technology proposed.
Some organizations may possess more than one of these capabilities.
This notification will enable those intending to submit a proposal to start to form complete teams before the solicitation is released. The solicitation will require cost sharing as defined by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The pre-announcement of the Funding Opportunity Announcement may be
viewed at
https://e-center.doe.gov/doebiz.nsf/d76fbc294818822885256d98006c63b6/0b3
7b72285cd2c7185257569006d57e6?OpenDocument
[see below]
When released, the FOA will be available for viewing at Grants.gov
(http://www.grants.gov) and at the DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement Systems (IIPS) or "e-center" (https://e-center.doe.gov).
Applicants are strongly encouraged to register at these sites to receive notification of announcements posted by the DOE Golden Field Office.
When the FOA is released, applications will only be received through Grants.gov.
This solicitation results from the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009", popularly known as the stimulus act, which directs the DOE to support research to increase the efficiency of information and communication technology and improve standards.
Multiple mailing lists have been used to disseminate this information.
Please accept our apologies if you have received more than one copy of this notification.
Gideon Varga
Technology Manager
Industrial Technologies Program
U. S. Department of Energy
Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No.: DE-PS36-09GO99023
Description:
Notice of Intent to Issue
Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No.: DE-PS36-09GO99023
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Golden Field Office (GO) intends to issue, on behalf of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Information and Communication Facility Energy Efficiency”
Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directs DOE to support research to increase the efficiency of information and communication technology and improve standards.
The goal and scope of the proposed FOA are broadly described in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Title IV - Energy Savings in Buildings and Industry, Subtitle D – Industrial Energy Efficiency, Section 452 “ENERGY-INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES PROGRAM”, Section 453 “ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR DATA CENTER BUILDINGS” and in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Title IX – RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, Subtitle B – Distributed Energy and Electric Energy Systems, Section 922 - “ HIGH POWER DENSITY INDUSTRY PROGRAM”.
There are two broad areas of interest. Each proposal must address only one of these areas of interest. The areas of interest are:
A. Information and Communications Technologies Research & Development For Energy Efficiency
The energy used by our nation’s vital telecommunications and data centers is growing at an alarming rate. As information technology and communications services continue to slowly converge, the data center and telecommunications industries face increasingly similar challenges to control the power usage of their microprocessors or servers and supporting power and cooling systems. The electricity consumed in data centers and telecom systems is already three percent of the U.S. total and growing rapidly. In the face of growing global energy demand, uncertain energy supplies, and volatile energy prices, innovative solutions are needed to radically advance the energy efficiency of these systems, which represent the engine of the American economy today. Enhanced energy efficiency in the central offices and data centers supporting our information, communications technology (ICT) systems will enhance U.S. energy and economic security.
Proposals for research and development in the following areas are sought:
1. Equipment Hardware and Software
Computing hardware and software are the functioning components of server-based data and telecommunications centers and largely determine power and cooling requirements. Achieving high levels of energy performance will require novel approaches to the design and management of these hardware and software systems. The key theme and approach in this area is to minimize heat generation. Thus, energy will be saved by developing novel systems that generate less heat (i.e., new electronic circuitry which will use less energy by increasing chip output per unit of power used) or are impervious to heat, or by the use optics only. These include, but are not limited to:
• Develop all-optical systems to increase energy efficiency.
• Advance ultra-low power circuits like multi-phase clock asynchronous circuits to increase energy efficiency
• Utilize ultra-efficient nano-electronic circuitry, including nano-based information storage devices, wires and graphene-based systems. The latter is expected to make possible the replacement of silicon in future electronic devices, and may make possible the incorporation of spintronic devices in future server-based ICT systems.
• Create hardened electronic equipment which can withstand temperature, humidity and particulate conditions outside the boundary of current generation electronics. Thus server-based systems can operate without air conditioning in environments worldwide, even high temperature environments.
2. Cooling
Cooling is believed to account for a third of all power consumed by information technology, telecommunications, and data centers. The cooling of server-based telephone central offices and data centers can be made more energy efficient by the following, but are not limited to:
• Create advanced component level cooling technologies
• Develop mitigation techniques to reduce the probability of failures associated with “free” cooling.
• Identify and create effective uses of low-quality waste heat generated.
3. Power Supply Efficiency
Data and telecommunications centers require large quantities of electricity to be conditioned, converted, and delivered to the diverse components, including servers, switches, routers, and hard drives. The power supply chain can include electricity purchased from the grid, backup power, onsite-power generation, switchgear, UPS’s, power distribution systems, rack-level and unit-level power supplies, and power management technology. Traditionally, data centers have used AC power distribution systems and telecommunications centers have used DC power. The R&D proposals for power supply energy efficiency may address the following, but are not limited to:
• Research and develop high-efficiency power conversion circuits which optimize server-based data center and telecom equipment.
• Develop special purpose chips, multiphase clocking, ternery/other processing modes, lower-power chips (noted in part under hardware and software).
• Research the use of optical switching to eliminate many conversion steps & losses (Also noted under hardware and software).
• Conduct RD&D of superconducting components.
• Research the use of piezoelectrics to incorporate into micro-mechanical air conditioning for point of load cooling
• Efficiency optimized control systems for power conversion.
Each proposal MUST include organizational participants capable of and experienced in 1) research, 2) manufacturing the technology proposed, 3) bringing the technology to the end user through sales and marketing, and 4) serving as an end user of the technology proposed.
Each R&D project will be funded for maximum of three (2) years, with one or more budget periods.
B. Demonstration and Field Testing of Highly Energy Efficient and Pre-commercial Technologies in Data Center or Telecommunication Facilities
DOE is interested in field testing and independently validating the energy performance of pre-commercial technologies that show the potential to improve energy efficiency while not compromising data center or telecommunication reliability. The demonstration sites will be early adopters of the technologies and must be willing to share information about the cost-benefit results of the field-tested technology projects so as to encourage more rapid market acceptance of the technologies. Accordingly, DOE will work with the demonstration teams to develop case studies of the technology projects using measured and verified results so as to reduce market and technology risk.
The applicants must show a plan for the technologies to be demonstrated and the adoption of other best energy management practices to improve a data/ telecommunication center’s energy intensity performance (energy consumed for a given level of useful computational work) by more than 25 percent and have a Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCIE = IT energy / total facility energy usage) of 0.80 or greater.
New and innovative technologies that are not currently widely commercial and that improve the following parts of a data center or telecommunication facility will be considered for DOE’s cost sharing:
• Information Technology (IT) Optimization. This could include, but not be limited to: server virtualization, data storage and networking optimization schemes, methods in connecting multiple data centers (e.g., “cloud computing”) or any technology and IT optimization system that will result in less heat generation for a given amount computational work load.
• Energy efficient electrical power distribution and supply. This could include, but not be limited to, more energy efficient electrical power supply to the IT or telecommunication equipment through new power transformation and back up technologies by reducing overall power distribution supply and IT system energy losses.
• Energy efficient cooling schemes. This could include, but not be limited to, more energy efficient cooling of IT/telecommunication equipment by more optimally delivering and/or controlling cooling to IT equipment with, for example, wireless sensors or IT systems that require less cooling while not compromising equipment lifetime.
• Distributed generation or alternative power technologies. New innovative combined heat and power or renewable energy technologies that are optimized for data center/telecommunication facilities and reduce overall source energy consumption and carbon emissions are desired to be demonstrated.
Technology demonstrations must be able to be widely replicated in other data centers throughout the United States and not be niche applications.
The demonstration teams must be willing to cooperate with DOE to perform an independent performance validation and to create case studies. Demonstration teams must also be willing to conduct public tours of the demonstration site(s) for up to 2 years after the technology demonstration case study is prepared.
Partnerships between the technology development teams and Federal facilities building new or retrofitting existing data center/telecommunication facilities, as well as other host sites, should be formed.
C. General Information
DOE envisions awarding multiple financial assistance/grant awards on a competitive basis. These awards will require cost shares in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Details about cost share requirements will be included in the FOA along with the details of technical areas of interest, proposal preparation instructions and application merit review and evaluation criteria.
DOE plans to release the FOA in March, 2009. The FOA will be available for viewing at Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) and at the DOE’s Industry Interactive Procurement Systems (IIPS) or “e-center” (https://e-center.doe.gov). Applicants are strongly encouraged to register at these sites to receive notification of announcements posted by DOE Golden Field Office. When the FOA is released, applications will only be received through Grants.gov.
In anticipation of the FOA being released shortly, there are several one-time actions prospective applicants must complete in order to submit an application through Grants.gov (e.g., obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, register with the Central Contract Registry (CCR), register with FedConnect, register with the credential provider, and register with Grants.gov). Due to the likelihood of a short response period, interested applicants are strongly encouraged to ensure these requirements have been met. Detailed information on the DUNS and CCR process is presented at http://www.grants.gov/GetStarted. Applicants may use the Grants.gov Organization Registration Checklist at http://www.grants.gov/assets/OrganizationRegCheck.pdf to guide them through the process. Designating an E-Business Point of Contact (EBiz POC) and obtaining a special password called an MPIN are important steps in the CCR registration process. Applicants not yet registered with CCR and Grants.gov, should allow at least 21 days to complete these requirements. It is strongly recommended that the process be started as soon as possible.
If your organization does not have a DUNS number, go to the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) online registration located at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.do to receive a number free of charge or call 1-866-705-5711.
The Central Contractor Registration (CCR) collects, validates, stores, and disseminates business information about the Federal Government's trading partners in support of the contract award, grants, and the electronic payment processes.
To see if your organization is already registered with CCR, check the CCR website located at http://www.bpn.gov/ccrinq/scripts/search.asp. You will be able to search CCR by using either your organization’s DUNS Number or legal business name. If your organization is already registered, take note of who is listed as the organization’s E-Business Point of Contact (E-Business POC). This person will be responsible for registering in FedConnect.
To register in FedConnect, go to https://www.FedConnect.net/FedConnect/ or contact the FedConnect Helpdesk at support@fedconnect.net Please note that the system functionality of FedConnect requires organizations to be registered with the CCR before registering with FedConnect. (FedConnect ‘Quick Start Guide’:
https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/PublicPages/FedConnect_Ready_Set_Go.pdf )
If your organization is not registered in CCR, go to the CCR Website at www.ccr.gov and select the "Start New Registration" option to begin the registration process. Please allow up to 7 days for processing of your registration which includes the IRS validating your Employer Identification Number (Taxpayer Identification Number or Social Security Number). The organization’s E-Business POC will be designated during the CCR registrations process. A special Marketing Partner ID Number (MPIN) is established as a password to verify the E-Business POC.
The DOE will not entertain questions
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Obama's $645 billion Cap and Trade -significant revenue for ICT and cyber-infrastrucure
[Almost daily there is more alarming new evidence of the significant growth in CO2 emissions and increased warming raising the probability of global climatic disruption. The latest in depth study from MIT paints a very grim picture where they are project a “median” temperature increase of 5.1C. As many of Obama’s science team point out we are long overdue for some major climatic disruptions that will make the current financial crisis seem like a walk in the park.
So it is indeed welcome news to see real leadership from Washington as details of Obama’s proposed cap and trade start to emerge. The program anticipates $645 billion of permits being issued based at $13 mT CO2e through the period from 2012-2019. Some of this revenue will be used to reduce taxes for low-middle income families and support research into alternate energy initiatives. But the bulk of the revenue will in the trading of permits and purchasing offsets. As yet no details of the workings of the cap and trade system have emerged.
But as has been pointed out many times, the biggest reduction in CO2 emissions can be made not through developing alternate clean energy sources, but in reducing energy consumption (and concomitant CO2 emissions) in variety of industry sectors through the use of ICT and cyber-infrastructure by building smart buildings, smart communities, smart grids, zero carbon computing etc. This has thoroughly documented in the SMART 2020 report – www.smart2020.org.
For that reason alone the bulk of the $625 billion for permits to reduce CO2 should theoretically end up in the pockets of ICT companies rather than alternative energy suppliers. Yet surprisingly few companies in the ICT sector are pursuing such a strategy.
The biggest challenge in capitalizing on the use of ICT to reduce CO2 emissions is the lack of a rigourous documented process for the ICT industry to validate and prove these claims on energy reduction and CO2 abatement. There are many hand waving arguments of energy efficiency and so forth, but most of these claims will not survive rigourous analysis because of lack of understanding all the input and output factors that affect overall contribution of CO2 abatement from ICT such as Jevons paradox etc.
To that end CANARIE, in partnership with the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is hosting workshop to help develop the necessary carbon inventory and auditing process so that the Canadian ICT industry and research community can understand the processes and procedures to validate claims of reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions and potentially earn offset dollars for themselves or their clients from cap and trade systems like Obama’s initiative.
Tom Baumann, Chair of the IEEE Climate Change Technology Subcommittee and Lead Author of ISO 14064-2 GHG Project Standard will be giving the opening talk on how ICT Industry and research community can utilize GHG Programs, Accounting Protocols and Rules for Generating GHG Revenues. Tom Bauman is also president of the GHG Institute that provides eLearning courses to ICT professionals and others on GHG standards and offset (www.ghginstitute.orh). His presentation is also available at
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/climate-check-canarie-workshop-march4
--BSA]
New MIT study on most recent climate forecast data
Probabilistic Forecast for 21st Century Climate Based on Uncertainties in Emissions (without Policy) and Climate Parameters
http://globalchange.mit.edu/pubs/abstract.php?publication_id=990
See also Hadley Center: “Catastrophic” 5-7°C warming by 2100 on current emissions path
http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/21/hadley-study-warns-of-catastrophic-5%C2%B0c-warming-by-2100-on-current-emissions-path/
Details of Obama’s cap and trade are starting to emerge
http://climateprogress.org/2009/02/26/obama-first-sustainable-budget-us-history-clean-energy-cap-and-trade-repeal-fossil-subsidies/
Towards a common carbon currency: Exploring the prospects for integrated global carbon markets
http://www.google.com/urlsa=U&start=1&q=http://www.bnymellon.com/news/commentaries/issuerservices/carbonmarkets.pdf&ei=LQeoSYuVOJaitgfchIXjDw&usg=AFQjCNFKqoZLEL-N6rUbShxYS3WtJm9Xmg
The Bank of New York Mellon’s Office of Innovation has partnered with Point Carbon, a leading worldwide consulting and research firm, to look at and assess today’s rapidly growing carbon markets. Together we explore the future evolution of carbon trading as a means of achieving global environmental goals.
So it is indeed welcome news to see real leadership from Washington as details of Obama’s proposed cap and trade start to emerge. The program anticipates $645 billion of permits being issued based at $13 mT CO2e through the period from 2012-2019. Some of this revenue will be used to reduce taxes for low-middle income families and support research into alternate energy initiatives. But the bulk of the revenue will in the trading of permits and purchasing offsets. As yet no details of the workings of the cap and trade system have emerged.
But as has been pointed out many times, the biggest reduction in CO2 emissions can be made not through developing alternate clean energy sources, but in reducing energy consumption (and concomitant CO2 emissions) in variety of industry sectors through the use of ICT and cyber-infrastructure by building smart buildings, smart communities, smart grids, zero carbon computing etc. This has thoroughly documented in the SMART 2020 report – www.smart2020.org.
For that reason alone the bulk of the $625 billion for permits to reduce CO2 should theoretically end up in the pockets of ICT companies rather than alternative energy suppliers. Yet surprisingly few companies in the ICT sector are pursuing such a strategy.
The biggest challenge in capitalizing on the use of ICT to reduce CO2 emissions is the lack of a rigourous documented process for the ICT industry to validate and prove these claims on energy reduction and CO2 abatement. There are many hand waving arguments of energy efficiency and so forth, but most of these claims will not survive rigourous analysis because of lack of understanding all the input and output factors that affect overall contribution of CO2 abatement from ICT such as Jevons paradox etc.
To that end CANARIE, in partnership with the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is hosting workshop to help develop the necessary carbon inventory and auditing process so that the Canadian ICT industry and research community can understand the processes and procedures to validate claims of reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions and potentially earn offset dollars for themselves or their clients from cap and trade systems like Obama’s initiative.
Tom Baumann, Chair of the IEEE Climate Change Technology Subcommittee and Lead Author of ISO 14064-2 GHG Project Standard will be giving the opening talk on how ICT Industry and research community can utilize GHG Programs, Accounting Protocols and Rules for Generating GHG Revenues. Tom Bauman is also president of the GHG Institute that provides eLearning courses to ICT professionals and others on GHG standards and offset (www.ghginstitute.orh). His presentation is also available at
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/climate-check-canarie-workshop-march4
--BSA]
New MIT study on most recent climate forecast data
Probabilistic Forecast for 21st Century Climate Based on Uncertainties in Emissions (without Policy) and Climate Parameters
http://globalchange.mit.edu/pubs/abstract.php?publication_id=990
See also Hadley Center: “Catastrophic” 5-7°C warming by 2100 on current emissions path
http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/21/hadley-study-warns-of-catastrophic-5%C2%B0c-warming-by-2100-on-current-emissions-path/
Details of Obama’s cap and trade are starting to emerge
http://climateprogress.org/2009/02/26/obama-first-sustainable-budget-us-history-clean-energy-cap-and-trade-repeal-fossil-subsidies/
Towards a common carbon currency: Exploring the prospects for integrated global carbon markets
http://www.google.com/urlsa=U&start=1&q=http://www.bnymellon.com/news/commentaries/issuerservices/carbonmarkets.pdf&ei=LQeoSYuVOJaitgfchIXjDw&usg=AFQjCNFKqoZLEL-N6rUbShxYS3WtJm9Xmg
The Bank of New York Mellon’s Office of Innovation has partnered with Point Carbon, a leading worldwide consulting and research firm, to look at and assess today’s rapidly growing carbon markets. Together we explore the future evolution of carbon trading as a means of achieving global environmental goals.
Investing in carbon offsets: Guidelines for universities
For more information on this item please visit my blog at
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/ or http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------
[The ACUPCC has put together an excellent set of guidelines on the issues surrounidng carbon offsest. For those universities and ICT departments lookimg to buy/sell offsets I recommend that they get their IT staff trained in the basics at the non-for-profit GHG Institute which offers eleaning courses on GHG management and certification . Thanks to Tom Baumann for this pointer—BSA]
The GHG institute
www.ghginstitute.org
ACUPCC Guidelines
http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/documents/CarbonOffsetsGuidelines_v1.0.pdf
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/ or http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------
[The ACUPCC has put together an excellent set of guidelines on the issues surrounidng carbon offsest. For those universities and ICT departments lookimg to buy/sell offsets I recommend that they get their IT staff trained in the basics at the non-for-profit GHG Institute which offers eleaning courses on GHG management and certification . Thanks to Tom Baumann for this pointer—BSA]
The GHG institute
www.ghginstitute.org
ACUPCC Guidelines
http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/documents/CarbonOffsetsGuidelines_v1.0.pdf
Advantges of cloud computing at zero carbon data centers
[Here is an excellent article on cloud computing and SaaS. It clearly demonstrates that locating cloud infrastructure at remote renewable energy sites has a huge cost advantage because you don’t have to pay the huge markup for transmission of power. With advent of cap and trade, the demand for renewable power is going to increase significantly so those organizations that deploy or use cloud services that have their own source of renewable power independent of the electrical grid will benefit significantly. The challenge then is to how to make the service reliable – but since cloud computing is geographically distributed reliability is ensured through geographical replication.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/13/1852241
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2009/EECS-2009-28.pdf
"UC Berkeley researchers have outlined their view of cloud computing, which they say has great opportunity to exploit unprecedented IT resources if vendors can overcome a litany of obstacles. 'We argue that the construction and operation of extremely large-scale, commodity-computer data centers at low-cost locations was the key necessary enabler of Cloud Computing,'
Price of kilowatt-hours of electricity by region
Price per KWH and reasons for price differences:
3.6¢ Idaho Hydroelectric power; not sent long distance
10.0¢ California Electricity transmitted long distance over the grid;
limited transmission lines in Bay Area; no coal
fired electricity allowed in California.
18.0¢ Hawaii Must ship fuel to generate electricity
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/13/1852241
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2009/EECS-2009-28.pdf
"UC Berkeley researchers have outlined their view of cloud computing, which they say has great opportunity to exploit unprecedented IT resources if vendors can overcome a litany of obstacles. 'We argue that the construction and operation of extremely large-scale, commodity-computer data centers at low-cost locations was the key necessary enabler of Cloud Computing,'
Price of kilowatt-hours of electricity by region
Price per KWH and reasons for price differences:
3.6¢ Idaho Hydroelectric power; not sent long distance
10.0¢ California Electricity transmitted long distance over the grid;
limited transmission lines in Bay Area; no coal
fired electricity allowed in California.
18.0¢ Hawaii Must ship fuel to generate electricity
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
CANARIE Inc. announces initiative to lay foundation for zero carbon economy
CANARIE Inc. announces initiative to lay foundation for zero carbon economy
February 3, 2009 (OTTAWA, Ontario) – CANARIE, Canada’s advanced network organization, is pleased to announce its intention to invest $3 million in a Green IT pilot program to demonstrate the technological feasibility and business advantages of an internationally distributed zero carbon cyber-infrastructure facility to be located in Canada. The main objective of the pilot program is to develop and test possible business models that would measure and trade the carbon credits generated by reduced use of Green House Gas (GHG) producing non-renewable energy for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) activity. This pilot project will be a collaborative research project undertaken by academia and industry.
“Companies and countries that are the first movers to adopt a zero carbon strategy will be the big winners in the future economy,” says Guy Bujold, CANARIE president and CEO. “The CANARIE Board of Directors believe that the ICT industry sector, as the fastest growing industry sector, and the most adaptable, may well be in a good position to move to this new reality.”
The Green Information Technology (Green IT) Pilot is CANARIE’s response to the growing number of experts coming to the view that a fossil fuel driven economy of today is not sustainable as energy sources dwindle and as the planet heats up due to greenhouse gas emission.
The overall goal of the pilot is to make more extensive use of network services by laying the foundation of a potentially significant cyber-infrastructure architecture that will provide the first steps in supporting the building of a zero carbon economy. As cleaner sources of energy, including wind, solar and tidal power, become available and displace GHG producing means of generating electricity, the challenge will be to design an ICT infrastructure that is capable of using these more unreliable sources to power ICT activities. The pilot will lay a foundation for new business opportunities for industry participants as suppliers of the components required for the facility, and identify revenue opportunities for network operators in testing and validating how to use primarily wind and solar power for a reliable ICT infrastructure that can support identified mission critical applications.
To kick off its pilot project CANARIE will bring together experts from within Canada and around the world to participate in a workshop on March 4th in Ottawa that will define objectives, provide details, and determine a process to identify partners and contributions to the project. Interested parties who may have applicable technologies or business solutions are encouraged to contact CANARIE’s Chief Research Officer, Bill St. Arnaud (bill.starnaud@canarie.ca) and 613-944-5603) who will lead the workshop on March 4th to arrange for an invitation to the workshop. As space at the workshop is limited, invitations will only be extended to those who demonstrate a serious interest in this initiative.
CANARIE’s Board of Directors gave conditional approval to allocate $3 million to the project and clearly indicated its intention of CANARIE becoming a leader in this field. Final approval of a pilot is subject to the outcome of the workshop.
The Green IT pilot program and the workshop support CANARIE’s objectives to develop, demonstrate and implement next generation technologies to advance the CANARIE network as a leading-edge research network and to increase national and international research partnerships, and enhancing Canada’s recognition as a world leader in research networking.
CANARIE Inc., based in Ottawa, is Canada's advanced network organization. It facilitates the development and use of its network as well as the advanced products, applications and services that run on it. The CANARIE Network serves universities, colleges, schools, government labs, research institutes, hospitals and other organizations in a wide variety of fields in both the public and private sectors. By promoting and participating in strategic collaborations among key sectors, and by partnering with peer networks and organizations around the world, CANARIE Inc. stimulates and supports research, innovation and growth, bringing economic, social, and cultural benefits to Canadians. The national organization was created in 1993 by the private sector and academia under the leadership of the Government of Canada. CANARIE Inc. is supported by membership fees, with major funding of its programs and activities provided by the Government of Canada.
- 30 -
For more information, please contact:
Kim Dingwall
Manager, Communications and Performance Measurement
613-943-5377 or kim.dingwall@canarie.ca
February 3, 2009 (OTTAWA, Ontario) – CANARIE, Canada’s advanced network organization, is pleased to announce its intention to invest $3 million in a Green IT pilot program to demonstrate the technological feasibility and business advantages of an internationally distributed zero carbon cyber-infrastructure facility to be located in Canada. The main objective of the pilot program is to develop and test possible business models that would measure and trade the carbon credits generated by reduced use of Green House Gas (GHG) producing non-renewable energy for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) activity. This pilot project will be a collaborative research project undertaken by academia and industry.
“Companies and countries that are the first movers to adopt a zero carbon strategy will be the big winners in the future economy,” says Guy Bujold, CANARIE president and CEO. “The CANARIE Board of Directors believe that the ICT industry sector, as the fastest growing industry sector, and the most adaptable, may well be in a good position to move to this new reality.”
The Green Information Technology (Green IT) Pilot is CANARIE’s response to the growing number of experts coming to the view that a fossil fuel driven economy of today is not sustainable as energy sources dwindle and as the planet heats up due to greenhouse gas emission.
The overall goal of the pilot is to make more extensive use of network services by laying the foundation of a potentially significant cyber-infrastructure architecture that will provide the first steps in supporting the building of a zero carbon economy. As cleaner sources of energy, including wind, solar and tidal power, become available and displace GHG producing means of generating electricity, the challenge will be to design an ICT infrastructure that is capable of using these more unreliable sources to power ICT activities. The pilot will lay a foundation for new business opportunities for industry participants as suppliers of the components required for the facility, and identify revenue opportunities for network operators in testing and validating how to use primarily wind and solar power for a reliable ICT infrastructure that can support identified mission critical applications.
To kick off its pilot project CANARIE will bring together experts from within Canada and around the world to participate in a workshop on March 4th in Ottawa that will define objectives, provide details, and determine a process to identify partners and contributions to the project. Interested parties who may have applicable technologies or business solutions are encouraged to contact CANARIE’s Chief Research Officer, Bill St. Arnaud (bill.starnaud@canarie.ca) and 613-944-5603) who will lead the workshop on March 4th to arrange for an invitation to the workshop. As space at the workshop is limited, invitations will only be extended to those who demonstrate a serious interest in this initiative.
CANARIE’s Board of Directors gave conditional approval to allocate $3 million to the project and clearly indicated its intention of CANARIE becoming a leader in this field. Final approval of a pilot is subject to the outcome of the workshop.
The Green IT pilot program and the workshop support CANARIE’s objectives to develop, demonstrate and implement next generation technologies to advance the CANARIE network as a leading-edge research network and to increase national and international research partnerships, and enhancing Canada’s recognition as a world leader in research networking.
CANARIE Inc., based in Ottawa, is Canada's advanced network organization. It facilitates the development and use of its network as well as the advanced products, applications and services that run on it. The CANARIE Network serves universities, colleges, schools, government labs, research institutes, hospitals and other organizations in a wide variety of fields in both the public and private sectors. By promoting and participating in strategic collaborations among key sectors, and by partnering with peer networks and organizations around the world, CANARIE Inc. stimulates and supports research, innovation and growth, bringing economic, social, and cultural benefits to Canadians. The national organization was created in 1993 by the private sector and academia under the leadership of the Government of Canada. CANARIE Inc. is supported by membership fees, with major funding of its programs and activities provided by the Government of Canada.
- 30 -
For more information, please contact:
Kim Dingwall
Manager, Communications and Performance Measurement
613-943-5377 or kim.dingwall@canarie.ca
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Green Supercomputer uses cyclists for power
[An excellent demonstration of how we can use alternate sources of energy to power cyber-infrastructure. However we have to be careful if use human power for such activities because the calories we burn ultimately depend on our diet, which in the western world can have a large carbon footprint. An individual walking 2 km whose diet consists of steak and potatoes can leave a larger carbon footprint than driving an automobile the same distance. Thanks to John Krienke for this pointer. Some excerpts—BSA]
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/01/22/Green-Supercomputing.aspx?recipid;=&Page=1
Green Supercomputing
Energy-efficient system drives climate modeling for U Maine computer science professor
In the process of building a grid that will allow users--including members of the public--to manipulate scientific models through a Web portal, Phillip Dickens, a computer science professor from the University of Maine, discovered he could go green with the choice of supercomputer he needed for the job. In fact, to demonstrate how low the energy requirements of a supercomputer could be, he enlisted members of the university's bicycle team to power it with their pedaling.
The demonstration, captured in the video below, shows a group of stationary bicyclists on one side of the room and a monitor displaying a glacial model on the other side. "This system--with a ridiculously small amount of power--was still doing world-class calculations," said James Bailey, marketing director for SiCortex, the company that makes the brand of supercomputer Dickens purchased.
The Search for the Right Supercomputer
Dickens's search for a computer wasn't quick. It began when he received a $200,000 grant in 2007 from the National Science Foundation to purchase a supercomputer upon which to run the Scientific Grid Portal for accessing his university's computing resources.
Dickens spent a year researching what system to buy. He wanted to get a supercomputer that wouldn't require dedicated resources to maintain and that would fit within his relatively modest hardware budget. "It takes a lot to put another supercomputer into the current facility. I didn't want to do that," he said. "I didn't want to worry about how to pay for maintenance." Plus, the institution was pushing to make the campuses as green as possible, and a traditional supercomputer purchase wouldn't necessarily satisfy that goal
[…]
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/01/22/Green-Supercomputing.aspx?recipid;=&Page=1
Green Supercomputing
Energy-efficient system drives climate modeling for U Maine computer science professor
In the process of building a grid that will allow users--including members of the public--to manipulate scientific models through a Web portal, Phillip Dickens, a computer science professor from the University of Maine, discovered he could go green with the choice of supercomputer he needed for the job. In fact, to demonstrate how low the energy requirements of a supercomputer could be, he enlisted members of the university's bicycle team to power it with their pedaling.
The demonstration, captured in the video below, shows a group of stationary bicyclists on one side of the room and a monitor displaying a glacial model on the other side. "This system--with a ridiculously small amount of power--was still doing world-class calculations," said James Bailey, marketing director for SiCortex, the company that makes the brand of supercomputer Dickens purchased.
The Search for the Right Supercomputer
Dickens's search for a computer wasn't quick. It began when he received a $200,000 grant in 2007 from the National Science Foundation to purchase a supercomputer upon which to run the Scientific Grid Portal for accessing his university's computing resources.
Dickens spent a year researching what system to buy. He wanted to get a supercomputer that wouldn't require dedicated resources to maintain and that would fit within his relatively modest hardware budget. "It takes a lot to put another supercomputer into the current facility. I didn't want to do that," he said. "I didn't want to worry about how to pay for maintenance." Plus, the institution was pushing to make the campuses as green as possible, and a traditional supercomputer purchase wouldn't necessarily satisfy that goal
[…]
UK government to link funding to universities based on CO2 reduction
[This is a very bold initiative by UK government and reinforces the message that universities should be on the front line of moving to a zero carbon society. Research universities are among the worst culprits in terms of CO2 emissions. As I mentioned in previous posts although there is no precise data, back of the envelope calculations suggest that Higher ed produces anywhere up to 10% of all CO2 in the USA. This is greater than the combined emissions of steel smelting and cement manufacture. Universities on average produce between 200,000 to 500,000 metric tons annually of CO2 of which one or third or half is from the campus IT and data centers. But there is good news. IT and cyber-infrastructure not only has the potential to become zero carbon in its own right, but also help the university achieve lower reductions through various “smart” applications, and more importantly through the development of “gCommerce” it can provide a reward system to students and faculty to reduce their personal CO2 footprint. Thanks to Tom Baumann for this pointer. Some excerpts from the web page – BSA]
http://www.carbonoffsetsdaily.com/global/government-funding-to-reward-greenest-universities-3996.htm
Government funding to reward greenest universities
The government is planning to link the funding available to universities and colleges with their performance in reducing carbon emissions.
Universities secretary John Denham said yesterday that energy efficiency and emission reduction would be key priorities in a forthcoming government plan to build a framework for the future of higher education over the next 10 to 15 years. He confirmed that it planned to link success in cutting emissions to funding agreements from 2011.
In his annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Denham asked the Council to set out a strategy for curbing emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
“Last year, I set out our ambition that capital funding for institutions should be linked to performance in reducing emissions,” he wrote. “Following your advice to me, I am now confirming that such links should be in place for 2011-12.”
He added that while the higher education sector had originally been asked to deliver a strategy to cut emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 and 26 per cent by 2020, the 60 per cent target had now been raised to 80 per cent in line with the government’s wider climate change bill.
Denham also urged universities and colleges to begin emission reduction investments as soon as possible, writing that he hoped “that some of the capital expenditure I have asked you to bring forward into 2009-10 will support strategic, long-term action to tackle climate change”.
In addition to calling on universities to take direct action to curb emissions, Denham also urged the HEFCE to step up efforts to remove barriers to research partnerships between universities and businesses, particularly in clean tech-related fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
http://www.carbonoffsetsdaily.com/global/government-funding-to-reward-greenest-universities-3996.htm
Government funding to reward greenest universities
The government is planning to link the funding available to universities and colleges with their performance in reducing carbon emissions.
Universities secretary John Denham said yesterday that energy efficiency and emission reduction would be key priorities in a forthcoming government plan to build a framework for the future of higher education over the next 10 to 15 years. He confirmed that it planned to link success in cutting emissions to funding agreements from 2011.
In his annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Denham asked the Council to set out a strategy for curbing emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
“Last year, I set out our ambition that capital funding for institutions should be linked to performance in reducing emissions,” he wrote. “Following your advice to me, I am now confirming that such links should be in place for 2011-12.”
He added that while the higher education sector had originally been asked to deliver a strategy to cut emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 and 26 per cent by 2020, the 60 per cent target had now been raised to 80 per cent in line with the government’s wider climate change bill.
Denham also urged universities and colleges to begin emission reduction investments as soon as possible, writing that he hoped “that some of the capital expenditure I have asked you to bring forward into 2009-10 will support strategic, long-term action to tackle climate change”.
In addition to calling on universities to take direct action to curb emissions, Denham also urged the HEFCE to step up efforts to remove barriers to research partnerships between universities and businesses, particularly in clean tech-related fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Digital Infrastructure in a Carbon Constrained World
[Excellent presentation and paper by Larry Smarr given at a recent Australia-USA leadership event. Some excerpts from the paper below – BSA]
http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/presentations/lsmarr/2008/ppt/AALD_ICT_and_Climate_011509.ppt
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) presents a uniquely double-edge sword regarding climate change—simultaneously requiring substantial efforts to slow down the growth of its own climate impact, while increasing the use of ICT in other sectors to greatly lower their impact. This white paper provides an overview of these challenges and opportunities, provides some examples of on-going research, and lays out an agenda for American, Australian, and Canadian collaboration.
Proposed Australian, American, Canadian Green ICT Testbed
UCSD and UCI are among the Greenest U.S. campuses. UCSD has undertaken a large number of initiatives to move it rapidly toward a carbon neutral campus[i]. UCI recently won the Best Overall category award in the annual Flex Your Power program[ii], California’s statewide energy efficiency campaign. Among the several hundred applicants, UCI was among just five winners of this level of recognition. This means that Calit2 has a strong foundation on its two home campuses to undertake a wide range of Green initiatives.
Since a key thematic element of Calit2 projects is international engagements, we sought out both Canada and Australia to be partners in establishing an international Green IT testbed. As a first step, on October 27, 2008 a MoU was signed between UC San Diego, University of British Columbia, and Prompt Inc.[iii] during the third Summit of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership in Montreal, Canada. In one of the first efforts of its kind, these universities in Canada and California are pledging to work together to reduce GHG emissions on their campuses while developing a 'green cyberinfrastructure' – information technology that improves energy efficiency and reduces the impact of emissions on climate change.
In the near term, the institutions agreed to develop methods to share GHG emission data in connection with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards for information computer and telecommunications equipment (ISO 14062), as well as baseline emission data for cyberinfrastructure and networks (ISO 14064). These protocols will become much more widely used as those reducing ICT GHG emissions wish to obtain energy credits in “cap and trade” systems. The Calit2 GreenLight data center will be connected to Canadian end users over the CENIC[iv]/Pacific Wave[v]/CANARIE[vi] dedicated optical fiber networks. CANARIE in Canada is studying establishing several research data centers near hydro, wind, and solar powered energy sources, so that a variety of Green Cloud alternatives can be experimented with. Meanwhile, efforts are underway at Calit2 to use DC fuel cell technologies to experiment with feeding modular data centers locally with zero carbon emission energy sources.
With Australia, Calit2 will build on its now extensive relations[vii] with Australian universities, CSIRO, and AARNet to extend in 2009 the UCSD/Canadian Green IT testbed to sites in Australia. Approximately half of the energy consumed by the Internet goes into the core network routers in the core nodes. Therefore, large improvements in network energy efficiency can be obtained if each packet travelling through the Internet passes through as few routers as possible. The primary method to minimize router hops is to employ optical bypass, by which traffic is groomed into wavelengths and/or wavebands which can be diverted around certain routers, avoiding the need for full electronic processing and every router. CUBIN proposes to study this using the dedicated optical infrastructure made available by the AARNet/CENIC testbed.
http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/presentations/lsmarr/2008/ppt/AALD_ICT_and_Climate_011509.ppt
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) presents a uniquely double-edge sword regarding climate change—simultaneously requiring substantial efforts to slow down the growth of its own climate impact, while increasing the use of ICT in other sectors to greatly lower their impact. This white paper provides an overview of these challenges and opportunities, provides some examples of on-going research, and lays out an agenda for American, Australian, and Canadian collaboration.
Proposed Australian, American, Canadian Green ICT Testbed
UCSD and UCI are among the Greenest U.S. campuses. UCSD has undertaken a large number of initiatives to move it rapidly toward a carbon neutral campus[i]. UCI recently won the Best Overall category award in the annual Flex Your Power program[ii], California’s statewide energy efficiency campaign. Among the several hundred applicants, UCI was among just five winners of this level of recognition. This means that Calit2 has a strong foundation on its two home campuses to undertake a wide range of Green initiatives.
Since a key thematic element of Calit2 projects is international engagements, we sought out both Canada and Australia to be partners in establishing an international Green IT testbed. As a first step, on October 27, 2008 a MoU was signed between UC San Diego, University of British Columbia, and Prompt Inc.[iii] during the third Summit of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership in Montreal, Canada. In one of the first efforts of its kind, these universities in Canada and California are pledging to work together to reduce GHG emissions on their campuses while developing a 'green cyberinfrastructure' – information technology that improves energy efficiency and reduces the impact of emissions on climate change.
In the near term, the institutions agreed to develop methods to share GHG emission data in connection with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards for information computer and telecommunications equipment (ISO 14062), as well as baseline emission data for cyberinfrastructure and networks (ISO 14064). These protocols will become much more widely used as those reducing ICT GHG emissions wish to obtain energy credits in “cap and trade” systems. The Calit2 GreenLight data center will be connected to Canadian end users over the CENIC[iv]/Pacific Wave[v]/CANARIE[vi] dedicated optical fiber networks. CANARIE in Canada is studying establishing several research data centers near hydro, wind, and solar powered energy sources, so that a variety of Green Cloud alternatives can be experimented with. Meanwhile, efforts are underway at Calit2 to use DC fuel cell technologies to experiment with feeding modular data centers locally with zero carbon emission energy sources.
With Australia, Calit2 will build on its now extensive relations[vii] with Australian universities, CSIRO, and AARNet to extend in 2009 the UCSD/Canadian Green IT testbed to sites in Australia. Approximately half of the energy consumed by the Internet goes into the core network routers in the core nodes. Therefore, large improvements in network energy efficiency can be obtained if each packet travelling through the Internet passes through as few routers as possible. The primary method to minimize router hops is to employ optical bypass, by which traffic is groomed into wavelengths and/or wavebands which can be diverted around certain routers, avoiding the need for full electronic processing and every router. CUBIN proposes to study this using the dedicated optical infrastructure made available by the AARNet/CENIC testbed.
Monday, January 19, 2009
MUST VIEW: John Holdren on global climatic disruption
[As many of you know John Holdren is Obama’s new national science advisor. This recent talk he gave at the Wild Center is very sober viewing, but I think it emphasizes the urgency of which we must address climate change. Many people still are under the delusion that climate change is a future problem and it can be solved in the same way we addressed acid rain, or CFCs, with little pain or discomfort to ourselves. As John Holdren emphasizes we are facing a future of massive climatic disruption TODAY. To even slow down the rate of climate, which at this point in time is accelerating, will require significant structural and societal changes. –BSA]
http://greenmonk.net/john-holdren-on-global-climatic-disruption/
http://greenmonk.net/john-holdren-on-global-climatic-disruption/
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Canadian Prime Minister creates carbon trading minister position
[This is important news for the ICT industry and academia. Although most people associate carbon trading with big power plants etc, the ICT technologies may be in the single most important tool to reduce carbon emissions, by as much as 15-20%. With proper baseline emissions measurements, accounting and auditing (ISO 14064) these abatement techniques can be sold as carbon offsets. More importantly ICT companies and network operators can trade these offsets with their customers for new “green” products and services (“gCommerce”) which creates a virtuous circle in carbon abatement. The market potential in the US for such gCommerce transactions could be $20 billion per year with carbon trading at $20 per ton and as much as $100 billion per year if carbon trades at $100 per ton (which is the number Stern report recommends if we are going to slow down climate change). For more details on the economic and business benefits of cap and trade to the ICT industry please see http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/. Extract from www.pointsource.comf—BSA]
http://www.pointcarbon.com/news/1.1037351
Canadian PM creates carbon trading minister position
Published: 15 Jan 2009 21:51 CET Last updated: 15 Jan 2009 21:59 CET
Canada’s prime minister has appointed an official to oversee North American carbon trading.
Bob Hamilton, formerly associate secretary of the Treasury Board, will become associate deputy minister of the environment, a newly created position.
His responsibilities will be to develop a continental North American carbon emissions trading scheme with the new US administration, said a source familiar with the matter.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s appointment of a minister that deals specifically with carbon trading demonstrates how serious the government is about going forward with a continental scheme with the US, said the source.
Some observers think the Canadian federal government has abandoned its own plans for a domestic carbon trading scheme in favour of developing a joint emissions trading programme with the US.
President-elect Barack Obama is scheduled to meet Harper soon after his inauguration. The heads of state are expected to discuss a North American cap-and-trade scheme among several other issues.
Obama has said he is committed to creating an economy-wide, mandatory cap-and-trade programme to help reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Financial experience
The source added that the appointment of a finance specialist within the Environment Ministry is unprecendented.
He said this move could have been in response to criticism that environment ministers have previously been appointed without much financial experience.
Hamilton was associate secretary of the Treasury Board since August 2008. Before that he was a senior assistant deputy minister in the tax policy branch of the Department of Finance between 2003 and 2005.
http://www.pointcarbon.com/news/1.1037351
Canadian PM creates carbon trading minister position
Published: 15 Jan 2009 21:51 CET Last updated: 15 Jan 2009 21:59 CET
Canada’s prime minister has appointed an official to oversee North American carbon trading.
Bob Hamilton, formerly associate secretary of the Treasury Board, will become associate deputy minister of the environment, a newly created position.
His responsibilities will be to develop a continental North American carbon emissions trading scheme with the new US administration, said a source familiar with the matter.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s appointment of a minister that deals specifically with carbon trading demonstrates how serious the government is about going forward with a continental scheme with the US, said the source.
Some observers think the Canadian federal government has abandoned its own plans for a domestic carbon trading scheme in favour of developing a joint emissions trading programme with the US.
President-elect Barack Obama is scheduled to meet Harper soon after his inauguration. The heads of state are expected to discuss a North American cap-and-trade scheme among several other issues.
Obama has said he is committed to creating an economy-wide, mandatory cap-and-trade programme to help reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Financial experience
The source added that the appointment of a finance specialist within the Environment Ministry is unprecendented.
He said this move could have been in response to criticism that environment ministers have previously been appointed without much financial experience.
Hamilton was associate secretary of the Treasury Board since August 2008. Before that he was a senior assistant deputy minister in the tax policy branch of the Department of Finance between 2003 and 2005.
New Educause Report on Green IT for the campus
[Educause has released an excellent report on Green IT for higher ed. Most people are surprised at the volume CO2 emitted by our higher ed institutions. Although there is no precise data, back of the envelope calculations suggest that Higher ed produces anywhere up to 10% of all CO2 in the USA. This is greater than the combined emissions of steel smelting and cement manufacture. Universities on average produce between 200,000 to 500,000 metric tons annually of CO2 of which one or third or half is from the campus IT and data centers. However, there is good news. Universities are well positioned to significantly reduce their GHG footprint and earn significant dollars through the sale of carbon offsets by adopting Green IT strategies through the use of high speed optical research networks. For more details please see the presentation I gave at the Educause Summit on “How Universities can play a Leadership Role in helping reduce carbon emissions and moving to a zero carbon economy” http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/educause-green-it-summit-nov-13-presentation -- BSA]
EDUCAUSE Releases White Paper from IT Greening and Sustainability Summit
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/Abstract/TheRoleofITinCampusSustai/48000
Last November, EDUCAUSE held a two-day IT Greening and Sustainability Summit in Adelphi, Maryland, at the University of Maryland, University College. Those participating included several thought leaders in the industry—a cross-section of relevant higher education professionals, as well as those outside the academy. EDUCAUSE has released a white paper, The Role of IT in Campus Sustainability Efforts, which captures key findings from the brainstorming, discussion, and resource sharing and outlines a higher education agenda for moving forward.
EDUCAUSE Releases White Paper from IT Greening and Sustainability Summit
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/Abstract/TheRoleofITinCampusSustai/48000
Last November, EDUCAUSE held a two-day IT Greening and Sustainability Summit in Adelphi, Maryland, at the University of Maryland, University College. Those participating included several thought leaders in the industry—a cross-section of relevant higher education professionals, as well as those outside the academy. EDUCAUSE has released a white paper, The Role of IT in Campus Sustainability Efforts, which captures key findings from the brainstorming, discussion, and resource sharing and outlines a higher education agenda for moving forward.
Car 2.0 -Ontario to roll out car charging infrastructure using renewable energy
[Although I applaud the Ontario Government and Hydro One on this initiative, the real significance of this announcement is that this is another example demonstrating how there will be huge demand for renewable power in the coming years from various sectors of society. The advent of cap and trade will further propel this demand and significantly drive up the cost of renewable power that is delivered over the traditional energy grid, which is already straining to meet the current demand. ICT is the only industry sector that can largely divorce itself from the current system of distributing energy (renewable or otherwise) by building optical networks and datacenters at small renewable energy sites that are not connected to the electrical grid. This will protect the ICT industry from huge price increases in energy because of cap and trade, and also will provide additional redundancy and reliability if the existing electrical grid is incapable of meeting the demand for renewable energy –BSA]
http://greenmonk.net/ontario-to-roll-out-better-place-car-charging-infrastructure/
Better Place is a California-based, startup that aims to reduce global dependency on petroleum through the creation of a transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles. Typically the vehicles will be capable of having their batteries swapped out to facilitate rapid ‘refueling’ of the vehicle, analogous to swapping out rechargeable batteries for your kids (or your!) toys.
Better Place will build its first Electric Recharge Grids in Denmark, Israel and Australia where the electricity will be generated by renewable energy. In fact, Denmark and Israel have gone so far as to enact policies, which create a tax differential between zero-emission vehicles and traditional cars, to accelerate the transition to electric cars.
Ontario is the 2nd largest car manufacturing center in North America after Michigan, so seeing it embracing Car 2.0 is really heartening. Ontario is also rolling out a Smart Grid project under Hydro One Networks so this should make the job of rolling out the charging (and billing) infrastructure that much easier.
As part of the announcement, Better Place has announced that it will be sourcing electricity from Bullfrog Power, who will provide all of the renewable energy needed to power the Better Place network.
http://greenmonk.net/ontario-to-roll-out-better-place-car-charging-infrastructure/
Better Place is a California-based, startup that aims to reduce global dependency on petroleum through the creation of a transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles. Typically the vehicles will be capable of having their batteries swapped out to facilitate rapid ‘refueling’ of the vehicle, analogous to swapping out rechargeable batteries for your kids (or your!) toys.
Better Place will build its first Electric Recharge Grids in Denmark, Israel and Australia where the electricity will be generated by renewable energy. In fact, Denmark and Israel have gone so far as to enact policies, which create a tax differential between zero-emission vehicles and traditional cars, to accelerate the transition to electric cars.
Ontario is the 2nd largest car manufacturing center in North America after Michigan, so seeing it embracing Car 2.0 is really heartening. Ontario is also rolling out a Smart Grid project under Hydro One Networks so this should make the job of rolling out the charging (and billing) infrastructure that much easier.
As part of the announcement, Better Place has announced that it will be sourcing electricity from Bullfrog Power, who will provide all of the renewable energy needed to power the Better Place network.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Free WIFI for students on Green Buses
[A great example of using ICT carbon rewards rather than penalties (such as taxes) to reduce personal carbon footprints. For more examples please see my blog http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/ Thanks to Dewayne Hendricks for this pointer . Some excerpts– BSA]
http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/01/14/school-kids-enjoy-wi-fi-on-green-bus/
School kids enjoy Wi-Fi on The Green Bus
There’s a school bus service called The Green Bus in Birmingham, UK which operates double-decker, low-carbon emissions buses that carry over 1400 kids to school every day (saving over 2000 car journeys). The Green Bus is now providing free Wi-Fi to the children so that they can do their homework before they get to school (yeah, right) or more likely, play games on their Sony Playstation Portables and Nintendo DS machines. Indeed, there’s a link on the Green Bus website which pops up the Tetris game. In addition to encouraging kids to play peer-to-peer games, the access points allow the bus company to monitor where the buses are in the city in real time. Parents as well as staff can follow the progress of any bus via Google maps.
Icomera supplies the access points for the buses, which use 3G for their backhaul. Icomera’s Moovbox access points have been installed in many buses, trains and ferries around Europe, providing Wi-Fi to public transport passengers (do a search on Muniwireless for Icomera and you will see their deployments). According to Icomera, “the free Wi-Fi service has been popular with students since its launch late last year with over 50% of users spending more than 20 minutes online, and 25% using the service more than five times. Research has shown that students prefer to travel in the social atmosphere of bus rather than by car, while for parents The Green Bus is more convenient, cost-effective and reduces peak-time congestion outside schools.”
There’s an initiative in rural Arkansas for Wi-Fi on school buses.
http://www.muniwireless.com/2009/01/14/school-kids-enjoy-wi-fi-on-green-bus/
School kids enjoy Wi-Fi on The Green Bus
There’s a school bus service called The Green Bus in Birmingham, UK which operates double-decker, low-carbon emissions buses that carry over 1400 kids to school every day (saving over 2000 car journeys). The Green Bus is now providing free Wi-Fi to the children so that they can do their homework before they get to school (yeah, right) or more likely, play games on their Sony Playstation Portables and Nintendo DS machines. Indeed, there’s a link on the Green Bus website which pops up the Tetris game. In addition to encouraging kids to play peer-to-peer games, the access points allow the bus company to monitor where the buses are in the city in real time. Parents as well as staff can follow the progress of any bus via Google maps.
Icomera supplies the access points for the buses, which use 3G for their backhaul. Icomera’s Moovbox access points have been installed in many buses, trains and ferries around Europe, providing Wi-Fi to public transport passengers (do a search on Muniwireless for Icomera and you will see their deployments). According to Icomera, “the free Wi-Fi service has been popular with students since its launch late last year with over 50% of users spending more than 20 minutes online, and 25% using the service more than five times. Research has shown that students prefer to travel in the social atmosphere of bus rather than by car, while for parents The Green Bus is more convenient, cost-effective and reduces peak-time congestion outside schools.”
There’s an initiative in rural Arkansas for Wi-Fi on school buses.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Stimulus dollars in ICT infrastructure will have greater impact than traditional infrastructure
[I fully agree with this reports recommendations and would argue further that investment specifically in “green” ICT infrastructure will have an even bigger impact and achieve 3 important goals: create a stimulus for the economy, accelerate rollout of competitive broadband and reduce the nations carbon footprint – BSA]
http://www.itif.org/index.php?id=212
Directing stimulus dollars toward IT infrastructure will have a greater impact on jobs and productivity than investment in traditional infrastructure, the report argues, because of the potential to indirectly create new jobs through the growth of new services and applications that depend on IT.
"With the U.S. economy now mired in a deep, and potentially prolonged, recession, increased investment is one of the best tools to stimulate aggregate demand and quickly get American workers back on payrolls,"
the report says. "Ignoring IT infrastructure investments will do nothing to save U.S. taxpayers' money; instead, it will simply shift the proportion of the economic stimulus money that goes to other areas, some of which, including personal consumption, do not offer many added benefits such as longer-term economic growth or innovation."
ITIF Releases New Report
The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America
As Congress considers a substantial stimulus package to get the economy moving, investing in new economy digital infrastructures will provide significant opportunities not just for short-term stimulus and job creation, but also longer term economic and social benefits. In the report, “The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America,” ITIF provides a detailed analysis and estimate of the short-term jobs impacts of spurring investment in three critical digital networks: broadband networks, the smart grid (making the electric distribution system intelligent) and health IT, and outlines policy steps to spur this investment.
ITIF finds that investments in America’s digital infrastructure will spur significant job creation in the short run. Specifically, ITIF estimates that spurring an additional investment of $30 billion in America’s IT network infrastructure in 2009 will create approximately 949,000 U.S. jobs.
http://www.itif.org/index.php?id=212
Directing stimulus dollars toward IT infrastructure will have a greater impact on jobs and productivity than investment in traditional infrastructure, the report argues, because of the potential to indirectly create new jobs through the growth of new services and applications that depend on IT.
"With the U.S. economy now mired in a deep, and potentially prolonged, recession, increased investment is one of the best tools to stimulate aggregate demand and quickly get American workers back on payrolls,"
the report says. "Ignoring IT infrastructure investments will do nothing to save U.S. taxpayers' money; instead, it will simply shift the proportion of the economic stimulus money that goes to other areas, some of which, including personal consumption, do not offer many added benefits such as longer-term economic growth or innovation."
ITIF Releases New Report
The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America
As Congress considers a substantial stimulus package to get the economy moving, investing in new economy digital infrastructures will provide significant opportunities not just for short-term stimulus and job creation, but also longer term economic and social benefits. In the report, “The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America,” ITIF provides a detailed analysis and estimate of the short-term jobs impacts of spurring investment in three critical digital networks: broadband networks, the smart grid (making the electric distribution system intelligent) and health IT, and outlines policy steps to spur this investment.
ITIF finds that investments in America’s digital infrastructure will spur significant job creation in the short run. Specifically, ITIF estimates that spurring an additional investment of $30 billion in America’s IT network infrastructure in 2009 will create approximately 949,000 U.S. jobs.
Bold new inititiave in Green IT by European Comission
[It is exciting to see the EC take a strong leadership role with respect to recognizing the importance of how ICT can help reduce GHG emissions. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that we need to reduce our emissions by over 80% if we wish to stabilize the planet from run away global warming. Every sector of society will be affected. Countries and businesses that are first movers in this field will be the big winners in a future global zero-carbon economy which will be essential if we have any hope of addressing the challenges of climate change. Some excerpts from the EC web site – BSA]
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=4101
We need a high growth, low carbon economy"
At the 2007 Spring European Council, the Heads of State and Government highlighted the development of a sustainable integrated European climate and energy policy as a top priority and adopted an energy and climate package to guide the EU towards a competitive and secure energy economy while promoting energy savings and climate-friendly energy sources1.
.
The resolve of the European Council to transform Europe into a low-carbon, high energy efficiency economy means that the continued growth of the European economy, essential to achieve full employment and inclusion, needs to be decoupled from energy consumption
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)2 have an important role to play in
reducing the energy intensity3 and increasing the energy efficiency of the economy4, in other words, in reducing emissions and contributing to sustainable growth. In order to achieve the ambitious targets set and meet the challenges ahead, Europe needs to ensure that ICT-enabled solutions are available and fully deployed.
But emerging changes offer the possibility of modernising the European economy, towards a future where technology and society will be attuned to new needs and where innovation will create new opportunities. ICTs will not only improve energy efficiency and combat climate change, they will also stimulate the development of a large leading-edge market for ICT enabled energy-efficiency technologies that will foster the competitiveness of European industry and create new business opportunities.
The Commission is supporting a range of activities to encourage the development and application of ICT tools in the energy-efficiency field… Under the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP), EU funding is being used to support a network of ICT suppliers and public agencies to share information and foster the emergence of new energy services made more efficient through ICT tools.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=4101
We need a high growth, low carbon economy"
At the 2007 Spring European Council, the Heads of State and Government highlighted the development of a sustainable integrated European climate and energy policy as a top priority and adopted an energy and climate package to guide the EU towards a competitive and secure energy economy while promoting energy savings and climate-friendly energy sources1.
.
The resolve of the European Council to transform Europe into a low-carbon, high energy efficiency economy means that the continued growth of the European economy, essential to achieve full employment and inclusion, needs to be decoupled from energy consumption
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)2 have an important role to play in
reducing the energy intensity3 and increasing the energy efficiency of the economy4, in other words, in reducing emissions and contributing to sustainable growth. In order to achieve the ambitious targets set and meet the challenges ahead, Europe needs to ensure that ICT-enabled solutions are available and fully deployed.
But emerging changes offer the possibility of modernising the European economy, towards a future where technology and society will be attuned to new needs and where innovation will create new opportunities. ICTs will not only improve energy efficiency and combat climate change, they will also stimulate the development of a large leading-edge market for ICT enabled energy-efficiency technologies that will foster the competitiveness of European industry and create new business opportunities.
The Commission is supporting a range of activities to encourage the development and application of ICT tools in the energy-efficiency field… Under the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP), EU funding is being used to support a network of ICT suppliers and public agencies to share information and foster the emergence of new energy services made more efficient through ICT tools.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Greening of the Internet Economy
[I think this will be a very seminal conference, as California has probably the most ambitious Co2 emission reduction targets on the planet. As in many other areas, wherever California goes, many others are soon to follow. As there is increasing evidence that we have crossed a tipping point in terms of global warming, ICT will play an even more critical role, not only in terms of abatement but also in terms of the survival of mankind . – BSA]
Every day there is increasing more evidence that we have gone beyond the tipping point and we are now in a situation of runaway global warming.
http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/18/arctic-research-center-the-underwater-permafrost-is-thawing-and-releasing-methane/
Conference – Greening of the Internet Economy
http://greeninternet.calit2.net
We would like to invite you to participate in an important workshop being hosted by the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology on Jan 22-23rd,
2009 focused on how Information Communication Technology (ICT) can be used to address issues of global change.
Greening the Internet Economy is an invitation-only event bringing together hundreds of the foremost public policy makers, industry experts, research leaders, and global nonprofits to advance strategies for sustainability and energy efficiency in the rapidly growing realm of information and communications technology (ICT).
With the new world focus on reducing carbon emissions to fight global warming, it is time for the ICT sector to respond by reducing energy usage in a dramatic way, and ensuring ICT elements are built ³green.² This symposium will provide an unprecedented opportunity for decision-makers in key sectors‹ investment, technology, government and business‹ to identify ways of building an Internet economy and infrastructure to ensure a more sustainable future.
Sessions for the event include discussions of how California¹s landmark AB32 legislation will be implemented, opportunities for greening power hungry data centers, how global corporate leaders are reducing their carbon footprint, advances in energy and emerging technology, intelligent transportation, smart buildings, driving consumer efficiency, and the academic perspective on green ICT.
Confirmed speakers include Bill Wiehl from Google (Green Energy Czar), Arne Josefsberg (MS Data Center Architect), Tom Bauman (CEO of Climate Check), Stephen Harper (Global Director for Intel Environmental and Energy Policy), Scott Lang (President and CEO of Silver Spring Network), Rich Lechner (VP for Energy and Environment, IBM) and Wolfgang Wagener (Director of Connected Urban Development, CISCO) are but a few of the exceptional panelists lined up to offer insight for the event.
Seating is limited and this event is invitation-only.
Please accept your invitation as soon as possible to ensure your space and register today at http://greeninternet.calit2.net
Every day there is increasing more evidence that we have gone beyond the tipping point and we are now in a situation of runaway global warming.
http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/18/arctic-research-center-the-underwater-permafrost-is-thawing-and-releasing-methane/
Conference – Greening of the Internet Economy
http://greeninternet.calit2.net
We would like to invite you to participate in an important workshop being hosted by the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology on Jan 22-23rd,
2009 focused on how Information Communication Technology (ICT) can be used to address issues of global change.
Greening the Internet Economy is an invitation-only event bringing together hundreds of the foremost public policy makers, industry experts, research leaders, and global nonprofits to advance strategies for sustainability and energy efficiency in the rapidly growing realm of information and communications technology (ICT).
With the new world focus on reducing carbon emissions to fight global warming, it is time for the ICT sector to respond by reducing energy usage in a dramatic way, and ensuring ICT elements are built ³green.² This symposium will provide an unprecedented opportunity for decision-makers in key sectors‹ investment, technology, government and business‹ to identify ways of building an Internet economy and infrastructure to ensure a more sustainable future.
Sessions for the event include discussions of how California¹s landmark AB32 legislation will be implemented, opportunities for greening power hungry data centers, how global corporate leaders are reducing their carbon footprint, advances in energy and emerging technology, intelligent transportation, smart buildings, driving consumer efficiency, and the academic perspective on green ICT.
Confirmed speakers include Bill Wiehl from Google (Green Energy Czar), Arne Josefsberg (MS Data Center Architect), Tom Bauman (CEO of Climate Check), Stephen Harper (Global Director for Intel Environmental and Energy Policy), Scott Lang (President and CEO of Silver Spring Network), Rich Lechner (VP for Energy and Environment, IBM) and Wolfgang Wagener (Director of Connected Urban Development, CISCO) are but a few of the exceptional panelists lined up to offer insight for the event.
Seating is limited and this event is invitation-only.
Please accept your invitation as soon as possible to ensure your space and register today at http://greeninternet.calit2.net
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Opportunity cost-benefit analysis of Green IT
[An interesting aspect on the debates of solution to CO2 emissions is the cost benefit analysis of various technology approaches. As pointed out in Joseph Romm’s blog “Climate Progress” an opportunity cost benefit analysis highly favours windmills and solar thermal power (not photovoltaics) because they can be deployed quickly and start reducing CO2 emissions immediately. Nuclear power, on the hand, has a huge opportunity cost because of the long time frame it will require to deploy nuclear power plants. As a result, by taking into consideration opportunity cost-benefit analysis nuclear comes off second worst to carbon sequestration in terms of alternate energy solutions for reducing CO2 emissions.
By that same analysis I would argue that Green IT has a significant opportunity benefit even greater than windmills. We know from reports like SMART 2020 that Green IT can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 15%. But since many of these solutions can implemented almost immediately (given sufficient incentives such as mandated carbon neutrality), the opportunity benefit may be significantly greater than the nominal 15% reduction.
As well, given the compelling cost benefit analysis of windmills, it is likely they will contribute a significant amount of baseload power, which could result in wide fluctuations in power availability. As I have pointed out in this blog before, Next Generation Internet network and grids could be readily designed to deal with this fluctuating load without resorting to backup power from batteries or diesel generators. (See my blog on follow the sun/follow the wind networks and grids). This is the mind set we need to develop as we move forward to a future zero carbon society. To date electrical power engineers assume all of their customers need the same degree of reliable power, and therefore are less than enthusiastic about most renewable energy sources because of their unreliability. Green Internet and IT can be easily designed to handle large fluctuations in the availability of renewable energy---BSA]
Joseph Romm’s blog on opportunity cost-benefit analysis
http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/14/stanford-study-part-1-wind-solar-baseload-easily-beat-nuclear-and-they-all-best-clean-coal/
World’s first demo of follow the sun/follow the wind network and grid
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2008/10/worlds-first-demo-of-follow-sunfollow.html
By that same analysis I would argue that Green IT has a significant opportunity benefit even greater than windmills. We know from reports like SMART 2020 that Green IT can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 15%. But since many of these solutions can implemented almost immediately (given sufficient incentives such as mandated carbon neutrality), the opportunity benefit may be significantly greater than the nominal 15% reduction.
As well, given the compelling cost benefit analysis of windmills, it is likely they will contribute a significant amount of baseload power, which could result in wide fluctuations in power availability. As I have pointed out in this blog before, Next Generation Internet network and grids could be readily designed to deal with this fluctuating load without resorting to backup power from batteries or diesel generators. (See my blog on follow the sun/follow the wind networks and grids). This is the mind set we need to develop as we move forward to a future zero carbon society. To date electrical power engineers assume all of their customers need the same degree of reliable power, and therefore are less than enthusiastic about most renewable energy sources because of their unreliability. Green Internet and IT can be easily designed to handle large fluctuations in the availability of renewable energy---BSA]
Joseph Romm’s blog on opportunity cost-benefit analysis
http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/14/stanford-study-part-1-wind-solar-baseload-easily-beat-nuclear-and-they-all-best-clean-coal/
World’s first demo of follow the sun/follow the wind network and grid
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2008/10/worlds-first-demo-of-follow-sunfollow.html
Preparing for the next 911 event - climate catastrophe
[Scientists around the world are increasingly being alarmed that CO2 emissions are growing faster than the most pessimistic projections. It is likely that the planet will see a 4C temperature rise which will cause major social and economic disruptions. Unfortunately the public and governments are not going to respond to the seriousness of this situation until we have a major climate catastrophe such as major continent wide drought, collapse of an ice shelf etc. In the event of a major climate catastrophe governments may be forced to undertake draconian steps such as shutting down all coal plants, or imposing carbon neutrality across the entire economy. Clearly this would every major implications on the economy and society. Many organizations have undertaken disaster recovery or business continuity plans to deal with terrorist attacks or natural disasters, but few have done any planning in the event of a climate catastrophe. Terrorist attacks or natural disasters tend to be local and of relatively short duration. A climate catastrophe may be global and last for decades. Are you prepared? Have you implemented network and data solutions that can survive such a long disruption? --- BSA]
My presentation to Dynamic Coalition on Internet and Climate Change (DCICC)
Preparing for the next 911- climate catastrophe
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/preparing-for-climate-911-event-presentation/
What are the near-term climate Pearl Harbors?
http://climateprogress.org/2008/11/24/what-are-the-near-term-climate-pearl-harbors/
Too late? Why scientists say we should expect the worst
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/09/poznan-copenhagen-global-warming-targets-climate-change
At a high-level academic conference on global warming at Exeter University this summer, climate scientist Kevin Anderson stood before his expert audience and contemplated a strange feeling. He wanted to be wrong. Many of those in the room who knew what he was about to say felt the same. His conclusions had already caused a stir in scientific and political circles. Even committed green campaigners said the implications left them terrified.
Anderson, an expert at the Tyndall Centre for http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climatechange Climate Change Research at Manchester University, was about to send the gloomiest dispatch yet from the frontline of the war against climate change.
Despite the political rhetoric, the scientific warnings, the media headlines and the corporate promises, he would say, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/carbonemissions carbon emissions were soaring way out of control - far above even the bleak scenarios considered by last year's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Stern review.
The battle against dangerous climate change had been lost, and the world needed to prepare for things to get very, very bad.
At 650ppm, the same fuzzy science says the world would face a catastrophic 4C average rise. And even that bleak future, Anderson said, could only be achieved if rich countries adopted "draconian emission reductions within a decade". Only an unprecedented "planned economic recession"
might be enough. The current financial woes would not come close.
Anderson is not the only expert to voice concerns that current targets are hopelessly optimistic. Many scientists, politicians and campaigners privately admit that 2C is a lost cause. Bob Watson, chief scientist at the Environment Department and a former head of the IPCC, warned this year that the world needed to prepare for a 4C rise, which would wipe out hundreds of species, bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people. Warming would be much more severe towards the poles, which could accelerate melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets.
My presentation to Dynamic Coalition on Internet and Climate Change (DCICC)
Preparing for the next 911- climate catastrophe
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/preparing-for-climate-911-event-presentation/
What are the near-term climate Pearl Harbors?
http://climateprogress.org/2008/11/24/what-are-the-near-term-climate-pearl-harbors/
Too late? Why scientists say we should expect the worst
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/09/poznan-copenhagen-global-warming-targets-climate-change
At a high-level academic conference on global warming at Exeter University this summer, climate scientist Kevin Anderson stood before his expert audience and contemplated a strange feeling. He wanted to be wrong. Many of those in the room who knew what he was about to say felt the same. His conclusions had already caused a stir in scientific and political circles. Even committed green campaigners said the implications left them terrified.
Anderson, an expert at the Tyndall Centre for http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climatechange Climate Change Research at Manchester University, was about to send the gloomiest dispatch yet from the frontline of the war against climate change.
Despite the political rhetoric, the scientific warnings, the media headlines and the corporate promises, he would say, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/carbonemissions carbon emissions were soaring way out of control - far above even the bleak scenarios considered by last year's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Stern review.
The battle against dangerous climate change had been lost, and the world needed to prepare for things to get very, very bad.
At 650ppm, the same fuzzy science says the world would face a catastrophic 4C average rise. And even that bleak future, Anderson said, could only be achieved if rich countries adopted "draconian emission reductions within a decade". Only an unprecedented "planned economic recession"
might be enough. The current financial woes would not come close.
Anderson is not the only expert to voice concerns that current targets are hopelessly optimistic. Many scientists, politicians and campaigners privately admit that 2C is a lost cause. Bob Watson, chief scientist at the Environment Department and a former head of the IPCC, warned this year that the world needed to prepare for a 4C rise, which would wipe out hundreds of species, bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people. Warming would be much more severe towards the poles, which could accelerate melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets.
Friday, November 28, 2008
High speed broadband will create energy bottleneck and slow Internet
[For an excellent detailed technical analysis of this problem please see Rod Tucker’s presentation – BSA]
http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/news/5599/
The symposium that it refers to can be found online at:
http://www.ee.unimelb.edu.au/green_internet/program.html
Dr Rod Tucker’s presentation
http://www.ee.unimelb.edu.au/people/rst/talks/files/Tucker_Green_Plenary.pdf
High speed broadband will create energy bottleneck and slow Internet, new University of Melbourne study
Media Release, Tuesday 25 November 2008
A surge in energy consumption resulting from increased uptake of broadband will further slow Australia’s Internet, according to University of Melbourne research to be presented this week at the Symposium on Sustainability of the Internet and ICT.
“Increased services like Video on Demand will put pressure on the system and create an energy bottleneck,” said Dr Kerry Hinton of the University’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the ARC Special Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN).
In a world-first model of internet power consumption, University of Melbourne researchers have been able to identify the major contributors to Internet power consumption as the take-up of broadband services grows in the coming years.
"It has now become clear that the exponential growth of the Internet is not sustainable, “said Dr Hinton.
The result indicates that, even with the improvements in energy efficiency of electronics, the power consumption of the Internet will increase from 0.5% of today’s national electricity consumption to 1% by around 2020.
Dr Hinton says the growth of the Internet, IT broadband telecommunications will provide a wide range of new products and services.
New home services include Video on Demand, web based real-time gaming, social networking, peer-to-peer networking and more. For the business community, new services may include video conferencing, outsourcing and tele-working.
“To support these new high-bandwidth services, the capacity of the Internet will need to be significantly increased. If Internet capacity is increased, the energy consumption, and consequently the carbon footprint of the Internet will also increase.”
“This will place a major burden on the nation’s power infrastructure as well as significantly contribute to green house gas production.”
Hinton says major ICT and Internet based companies are already experiencing difficulties due to the size and power requirements of servers, routers and data centres.
The model includes the entire network infrastructure required to provide the increasing traffic volumes arising from proposed new high-bandwidth services.
“Increasing amounts of energy will be needed to power and cool Internet equipment that provides high speed broadband.”
“If service providers don’t update their equipment, energy consumption will soar, but then cost of updating may also be prohibitive.”
“This model is important because it shows us where we must focus our efforts to ensure the Internet is energy efficient. If we don’t do this, the Internet will not fulfil the social and economic promise many of us are expecting of it,” Dr Hinton said
The research will be presented at “Symposium on Sustainability of the Internet and ICT” hosted by The ARC Special Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN) 25 – 26 November at the University of Melbourne.
“The Symposium on Sustainability of the Internet and ICT is the first technology symposium in Australia to bring together researchers and practitioners involved with the design and deployment of the Internet, today and into the future,” he said.
Highlights of the program include
• Carbon Rewards Instead of Carbon Taxes - Bill St. Arnaud (Canarie, Canada)
• Green @ Google: A Commitment to Sustainability - ‘Kevin Chen (Google)
• Sources of Energy Drain on Internet Datacenters - Dr. Eng-Lim Goh (Silicon Graphics Inc)
• Smart 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age
Jodi Newcombe (The Climate Group)
For more information visit www.ee.unimelb.edu.au/green_internet/
http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/news/5599/
The symposium that it refers to can be found online at:
http://www.ee.unimelb.edu.au/green_internet/program.html
Dr Rod Tucker’s presentation
http://www.ee.unimelb.edu.au/people/rst/talks/files/Tucker_Green_Plenary.pdf
High speed broadband will create energy bottleneck and slow Internet, new University of Melbourne study
Media Release, Tuesday 25 November 2008
A surge in energy consumption resulting from increased uptake of broadband will further slow Australia’s Internet, according to University of Melbourne research to be presented this week at the Symposium on Sustainability of the Internet and ICT.
“Increased services like Video on Demand will put pressure on the system and create an energy bottleneck,” said Dr Kerry Hinton of the University’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the ARC Special Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN).
In a world-first model of internet power consumption, University of Melbourne researchers have been able to identify the major contributors to Internet power consumption as the take-up of broadband services grows in the coming years.
"It has now become clear that the exponential growth of the Internet is not sustainable, “said Dr Hinton.
The result indicates that, even with the improvements in energy efficiency of electronics, the power consumption of the Internet will increase from 0.5% of today’s national electricity consumption to 1% by around 2020.
Dr Hinton says the growth of the Internet, IT broadband telecommunications will provide a wide range of new products and services.
New home services include Video on Demand, web based real-time gaming, social networking, peer-to-peer networking and more. For the business community, new services may include video conferencing, outsourcing and tele-working.
“To support these new high-bandwidth services, the capacity of the Internet will need to be significantly increased. If Internet capacity is increased, the energy consumption, and consequently the carbon footprint of the Internet will also increase.”
“This will place a major burden on the nation’s power infrastructure as well as significantly contribute to green house gas production.”
Hinton says major ICT and Internet based companies are already experiencing difficulties due to the size and power requirements of servers, routers and data centres.
The model includes the entire network infrastructure required to provide the increasing traffic volumes arising from proposed new high-bandwidth services.
“Increasing amounts of energy will be needed to power and cool Internet equipment that provides high speed broadband.”
“If service providers don’t update their equipment, energy consumption will soar, but then cost of updating may also be prohibitive.”
“This model is important because it shows us where we must focus our efforts to ensure the Internet is energy efficient. If we don’t do this, the Internet will not fulfil the social and economic promise many of us are expecting of it,” Dr Hinton said
The research will be presented at “Symposium on Sustainability of the Internet and ICT” hosted by The ARC Special Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN) 25 – 26 November at the University of Melbourne.
“The Symposium on Sustainability of the Internet and ICT is the first technology symposium in Australia to bring together researchers and practitioners involved with the design and deployment of the Internet, today and into the future,” he said.
Highlights of the program include
• Carbon Rewards Instead of Carbon Taxes - Bill St. Arnaud (Canarie, Canada)
• Green @ Google: A Commitment to Sustainability - ‘Kevin Chen (Google)
• Sources of Energy Drain on Internet Datacenters - Dr. Eng-Lim Goh (Silicon Graphics Inc)
• Smart 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age
Jodi Newcombe (The Climate Group)
For more information visit www.ee.unimelb.edu.au/green_internet/
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Leaders call for "Green" stimulus package
[It is very likely that over the next few years America will need to invest between $1 trillion and $2 trillion, and perhaps even greater amounts to revive the economy. The question is where this money will come from? Already the American economy is deeply indebted and likely to be more so in the coming years. There is a deep aversion to increased taxes in the United States and as such the willingness of foreigners to continue to underwrite the US debt will be severely tested in the coming years.
President-elect Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to a cap and trade system in the US and many leaders in Congress and elsewhere are calling for a “green” stimulus package. We know from past experience that ICT and broadband can have a direct and measurable impact on GDP growth of between 2-3% and that a number of studies have indicated that “true” broadband (ie symmetrical bandwidth in excess of 100 Mbps) can increase GDP by as much as 5%.
Investing in IT and Broadband would play to America’s strengths (where surprisingly it lags the rest of the world). IT and Broadband have a very small carbon footprint, with the potential to even become zero carbon, but whose economic leverage in terms of job creation and wealth and more importantly reducing CO2 emissions (up to 15%) is significantly greater than any other industry sector or green initiative such as alternate energy, public transportation etc
Cap and trade or carbon taxes/rewards has the potential of generating trillions dollars of revenue, based on the analysis of the Stern report in the UK. This is not money conjured out of the air or borrowed from international lenders – rather it is money that normally would be sent to oil rich states around the world and/or spent on wasted energy consumption. This money could easily cover the costs of a national broadband program, health care and other important social initiatives. And with carbon rewards consumers could see a direct benefit of cap and trade (or carbon tax) as traditional economic stimulus for these initiatives as opposed to the money flowing through government.
. Excerpts from an article in the Globe and Mail—BSA]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081119.wgreen19/BNStory/National/home
Saving the economy and saving the planet at the same time were once considered two mutually incompatible goals. But not any longer.
A chorus of proposals from [..]think tanks and conservation organizations is suggesting that the best way to revive the faltering economy would be to finance solutions to pressing environmental problems.
Supporters are calling the idea "green stimulus." They argue that directing new government expenditures to wind farms, solar panels, gas-sipping cars and mass-transit infrastructure, among other items, would give a far bigger boost to the economy than tax cuts or government rebates.
The environmental funding would have the side benefit of helping solve such problems as global warming by spurring the development of less-polluting energy sources and increased energy efficiency.
Those arguing for green spending contend that these programs are superior to tax rebates or tax cuts for consumers, the benefits of which tend to leak out of a country because some of the money is spent on imports.
President-elect Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to a cap and trade system in the US and many leaders in Congress and elsewhere are calling for a “green” stimulus package. We know from past experience that ICT and broadband can have a direct and measurable impact on GDP growth of between 2-3% and that a number of studies have indicated that “true” broadband (ie symmetrical bandwidth in excess of 100 Mbps) can increase GDP by as much as 5%.
Investing in IT and Broadband would play to America’s strengths (where surprisingly it lags the rest of the world). IT and Broadband have a very small carbon footprint, with the potential to even become zero carbon, but whose economic leverage in terms of job creation and wealth and more importantly reducing CO2 emissions (up to 15%) is significantly greater than any other industry sector or green initiative such as alternate energy, public transportation etc
Cap and trade or carbon taxes/rewards has the potential of generating trillions dollars of revenue, based on the analysis of the Stern report in the UK. This is not money conjured out of the air or borrowed from international lenders – rather it is money that normally would be sent to oil rich states around the world and/or spent on wasted energy consumption. This money could easily cover the costs of a national broadband program, health care and other important social initiatives. And with carbon rewards consumers could see a direct benefit of cap and trade (or carbon tax) as traditional economic stimulus for these initiatives as opposed to the money flowing through government.
. Excerpts from an article in the Globe and Mail—BSA]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081119.wgreen19/BNStory/National/home
Saving the economy and saving the planet at the same time were once considered two mutually incompatible goals. But not any longer.
A chorus of proposals from [..]think tanks and conservation organizations is suggesting that the best way to revive the faltering economy would be to finance solutions to pressing environmental problems.
Supporters are calling the idea "green stimulus." They argue that directing new government expenditures to wind farms, solar panels, gas-sipping cars and mass-transit infrastructure, among other items, would give a far bigger boost to the economy than tax cuts or government rebates.
The environmental funding would have the side benefit of helping solve such problems as global warming by spurring the development of less-polluting energy sources and increased energy efficiency.
Those arguing for green spending contend that these programs are superior to tax rebates or tax cuts for consumers, the benefits of which tend to leak out of a country because some of the money is spent on imports.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Technology Leaders Unite to Call for National Strategy for Environment and Economy
[As I have mentioned previously reducing CO2 emissions is a huge business opportunity for the IT sector. In the UK alone it is estimated that CO2 abatement will be over 900m Euro (over $1 Trillion US) !! Given the importance of IT in the US economy and globally, the economic opportunities are enormous. Thanks to Jerry Sheehan for this pointer—BSA]
Technology and Environmental Leaders Unite to Call for National Strategy on Economy, Energy and Environment
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technology and environmental leaders today announced a new initiative to develop a national strategy for information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve the energy efficiency of the economy.
The Digital Energy Solutions Campaign is made up of leading technology companies and organizations as well as environmental and energy conservation groups working on energy efficiency initiatives. The Campaign will work with the incoming Obama Administration and Congressional leaders to educate and promote how ICT strategies can make our economy robust while at the same time becoming increasingly energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
³As Congress considers a new economic stimulus package, adopting policies that drive ICT implementation can not only provide a near-term boost to our economy but also help us achieve the long-term goal of making our economy more energy efficient,² said DESC Co-Chair Stephen Harper, Global Director of Environment and Energy Policy at Intel.
DESC members include the technology sector leaders Dell, EMC, HP, Intel, the Technology CEO Council, and Verizon. Non-governmental organization members include the Alliance to Save Energy, The Climate Group, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The fact that DESC was launched at the Smart2020 Conference reflects the group¹s goal of working with established and leading authorities such as The Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) to drive the adoption of a national strategy to utilize information and communications technologies to boost energy efficiency.
The event is a product of the recent study of the same name by The Climate Group and GeSI, which found that ICT-enabled solutions could reduce global carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2020.
³There has never been a time in which the future of our economy, our energy needs and environment have been so inextricably linked,² said DESC Co-Chair Paul Brownell, Senior Manager, Federal Government Affairs at Dell. ³We must take an approach that leverages technology to make our economy more energy efficient and promotes new green industries that will spur a wave of growth and job creation.²
DESC outlined a policy framework to make private industries and government more energy efficient, create behavior changes to make us more energy efficient and reduce ICT¹s energy needs. Among its proposals, DESC calls on Congress and the new Obama Administration to establish a national strategy to build political support for, and prioritize the critical elements of, a program to promote the role of ICT in driving economic, energy and climate solutions. Such elements might include:
* Implementing utility decoupling so that a utility¹s profit is no longer merely tied to the volume of sales but to how efficiently the utility delivers energy.
* Creating incentives for green tech infrastructure such as parking-garage facilities for plug-in hybrid cars. National programs are needed to ensure standards are set to accelerate the market.
* Implementing policies to promote smart buildings, including federal government model building codes for the construction of building that use less energy. The federal government can also lead by example with the construction of its own ³smart buildings.²
* Creating incentives to encourage telecommuting such as allowing businesses to accelerate the depreciation on the home work equipment.
* Creating education and promotion programs for Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). HEMS can reduce energy consumption by 30 percent in homes are currently offered but because of the lack of incentives for utilities are not widely encouraged or adopted.
To learn more about DESC, go to behindthegreen.org.
Contacts
For DESC
Amber Allmans, 202-297-4407
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/topix/20081118005670/en
Technology and Environmental Leaders Unite to Call for National Strategy on Economy, Energy and Environment
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technology and environmental leaders today announced a new initiative to develop a national strategy for information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve the energy efficiency of the economy.
The Digital Energy Solutions Campaign is made up of leading technology companies and organizations as well as environmental and energy conservation groups working on energy efficiency initiatives. The Campaign will work with the incoming Obama Administration and Congressional leaders to educate and promote how ICT strategies can make our economy robust while at the same time becoming increasingly energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
³As Congress considers a new economic stimulus package, adopting policies that drive ICT implementation can not only provide a near-term boost to our economy but also help us achieve the long-term goal of making our economy more energy efficient,² said DESC Co-Chair Stephen Harper, Global Director of Environment and Energy Policy at Intel.
DESC members include the technology sector leaders Dell, EMC, HP, Intel, the Technology CEO Council, and Verizon. Non-governmental organization members include the Alliance to Save Energy, The Climate Group, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The fact that DESC was launched at the Smart2020 Conference reflects the group¹s goal of working with established and leading authorities such as The Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) to drive the adoption of a national strategy to utilize information and communications technologies to boost energy efficiency.
The event is a product of the recent study of the same name by The Climate Group and GeSI, which found that ICT-enabled solutions could reduce global carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2020.
³There has never been a time in which the future of our economy, our energy needs and environment have been so inextricably linked,² said DESC Co-Chair Paul Brownell, Senior Manager, Federal Government Affairs at Dell. ³We must take an approach that leverages technology to make our economy more energy efficient and promotes new green industries that will spur a wave of growth and job creation.²
DESC outlined a policy framework to make private industries and government more energy efficient, create behavior changes to make us more energy efficient and reduce ICT¹s energy needs. Among its proposals, DESC calls on Congress and the new Obama Administration to establish a national strategy to build political support for, and prioritize the critical elements of, a program to promote the role of ICT in driving economic, energy and climate solutions. Such elements might include:
* Implementing utility decoupling so that a utility¹s profit is no longer merely tied to the volume of sales but to how efficiently the utility delivers energy.
* Creating incentives for green tech infrastructure such as parking-garage facilities for plug-in hybrid cars. National programs are needed to ensure standards are set to accelerate the market.
* Implementing policies to promote smart buildings, including federal government model building codes for the construction of building that use less energy. The federal government can also lead by example with the construction of its own ³smart buildings.²
* Creating incentives to encourage telecommuting such as allowing businesses to accelerate the depreciation on the home work equipment.
* Creating education and promotion programs for Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). HEMS can reduce energy consumption by 30 percent in homes are currently offered but because of the lack of incentives for utilities are not widely encouraged or adopted.
To learn more about DESC, go to behindthegreen.org.
Contacts
For DESC
Amber Allmans, 202-297-4407
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/topix/20081118005670/en
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The multi-trillion dollar business opportunity in reducing global warming with IT
[Increasingly around the world investors and policy makers are realizing that reducing global warming is the going to be the next humongous business opportunity. This market has the potential to dwarf all other major fundamental economic transformations such as electrification, railroads, automobiles, etc.
I recently attended a Green IT conference in Lisbon and was blown away how countries like Portugal of grasped the significance of Green IT and its potential to create economic wealth for their country. Both the President of and the President of the EC spoke very knowledgably on this subject at this conference. They understand that future growth of their economies, and the creation of jobs will be increasingly dependent on reducing global warming by developing alternative energy sources and the use of IT in all sectors of society to reduce or eliminate Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
I highly recommend looking at some of the presentations that were given at this conference. In particular Dr Chris Hope of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University has done some excellent analysis for the UK government Stern report that showed for the UK alone the revenue opportunity of reducing GHG emission would be in excess of 600 billion euros!! Worldwide the potential is hundreds, of not thousands of trillions of dollars in the coming decades!!
While most policy makers advocate that this revenue is so large it should be captured through carbon taxes (balanced against tax reductions in other sectors) or cap and trade (through auctioned permits), there is a concern that these policy tools may not significantly reduce CO2 emissions but instead simply increase the cost of doing business. As well there is a genuine fear that these tax revenues will be used to fund politicians favourite projects or be captured by dirty emitters such as the “Clean Coal” coalition. Additional tools are needed in the toolbox to directly address the challenge of global warming such as mandated carbon neutrality and carbon “rewards” (rather than carbon taxes). These later tools are the ones that have the potential to create significant new business opportunities, as investments to reduce GHG emissions flows will directly between consumers and businesses without being intercepted by the sticky fingers of government . More importantly they will directly address the reduction of GHG emissions as such initiatives require direct measurement of GHG reductions through standard such as ISO 14064.
Several governments already have mandated carbon neutrality such as the governments of British Columbia and New Zealand where public sector institutions are mandated to be carbon neutral. Other governments are also looking at requiring suppliers to government to carbon neutral or include the cost of carbon in the products and services they sell to government. Some university funding agencies are also looking at the possibility of researchers including the cost of carbon in all research proposals.
For many examples of carbon rewards please see my blog at http://green-broadband.blogspot.com
The following excerpt from a blog on the recent Web 2.0 conference I believe further highlights the business opportunity Green IT – BSA]
Portuguese conference on Green IT
http://congresso08.apdc.pt/
Web Firms Step Into Green Shadow in the Valley
http://gigaom.com/2008/11/11/web-firms-step-into-green-shadow-in-the-valley/
At last week’s Web 2.0 Summit — the annual convention that has come to represent the new web boom –- a leading web industry journalist asked me if green technology was here to stay, or if it is just another fad that would die at the hands of dropping gas prices and a recession. “I think it’s one of the world’s biggest opportunities,” I responded, and what I wish I’d have added is this: It’s also trumping the web in terms of excitement, innovation and inspiration for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
That cleantech is, at the very least, what people are excited about was obvious at last week’s Summit. Green startups — even those that had little to do with the web — took over large parts of the show. Former Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Kleiner Perkins cleantech investor Al Gore received a standing ovation for his keynote. The CEO and Chairman of high-profile electric vehicle startup Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, and the CEO of electric vehicle infrastructure startup Better Place, Shai Agassi, both had long fireside chats with the conference-organizers. And half of the startups in the launchpad section of the show were green companies — Carbonetworks, GoodGuide and Sungevity.
Perhaps the biggest indicator at the show, though, was when John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, declared green technology to be “the growing thing in Silicon Valley” and said kick-starting energy research will be President-elect Barack Obama’s most important task. Kleiner was responsible for Internet investments like Google (GOOG) and has now allocated a third of its fund to green investments — equal to the amount it’s pumping into digital media/web plays. Doerr even told the audience that Kleiner partner Bill Joy would be a good choice for Obama’s Chief Technology Officer; Joy has stated for the past year that he is staying away from most Internet investments and focusing entirely on innovations to fight climate change.
But the overall cleantech industry will survive a downturn. The opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovation is large — and just starting to be realized. Energy alone is a $6 trillion market, compared to $100 billion for the Internet. And the industries that cleantech entrepreneurs are trying to tackle — power generation, the power grid, the water system — have been largely neglected in terms of technology innovation. As Thomas Friedman points out in “Hot, Flat, and Crowded,” paraphrasing GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt: Over three decades GE has sold eight or nine generations of medical devices, but only one generation of energy technology.
There’s also the fact that the underlying problems that have lead to the ascendancy of cleantech are still persistent. The price of gas might fluctuate wildly, but the planet is still growing increasingly warm, and the population is still expected to boom to more than 9 billion people in the next three decades — largely in developing countries like India and China. Cleantech is about figuring out smart, sustainable ways to allocate resources like energy, water, and raw materials; the need for which won’t disappear in the face of temporarily cheap fuel.
The recession could also turn federal legislators green in the coming months. President-elect Obama is calling for the creation of 5 million green jobs in a decade and has pledged to provide more support for renewable energy than any other previous administration. Josh Green, managing partner at MDV thinks that Obama’s cleantech plan will make up part of the economic recovery package, as does Al Gore. If green jobs really can help ease the pain of the recession, the cleantech industry would find even more government and private sector support when we eventually get to better financial times.
I recently attended a Green IT conference in Lisbon and was blown away how countries like Portugal of grasped the significance of Green IT and its potential to create economic wealth for their country. Both the President of and the President of the EC spoke very knowledgably on this subject at this conference. They understand that future growth of their economies, and the creation of jobs will be increasingly dependent on reducing global warming by developing alternative energy sources and the use of IT in all sectors of society to reduce or eliminate Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
I highly recommend looking at some of the presentations that were given at this conference. In particular Dr Chris Hope of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University has done some excellent analysis for the UK government Stern report that showed for the UK alone the revenue opportunity of reducing GHG emission would be in excess of 600 billion euros!! Worldwide the potential is hundreds, of not thousands of trillions of dollars in the coming decades!!
While most policy makers advocate that this revenue is so large it should be captured through carbon taxes (balanced against tax reductions in other sectors) or cap and trade (through auctioned permits), there is a concern that these policy tools may not significantly reduce CO2 emissions but instead simply increase the cost of doing business. As well there is a genuine fear that these tax revenues will be used to fund politicians favourite projects or be captured by dirty emitters such as the “Clean Coal” coalition. Additional tools are needed in the toolbox to directly address the challenge of global warming such as mandated carbon neutrality and carbon “rewards” (rather than carbon taxes). These later tools are the ones that have the potential to create significant new business opportunities, as investments to reduce GHG emissions flows will directly between consumers and businesses without being intercepted by the sticky fingers of government . More importantly they will directly address the reduction of GHG emissions as such initiatives require direct measurement of GHG reductions through standard such as ISO 14064.
Several governments already have mandated carbon neutrality such as the governments of British Columbia and New Zealand where public sector institutions are mandated to be carbon neutral. Other governments are also looking at requiring suppliers to government to carbon neutral or include the cost of carbon in the products and services they sell to government. Some university funding agencies are also looking at the possibility of researchers including the cost of carbon in all research proposals.
For many examples of carbon rewards please see my blog at http://green-broadband.blogspot.com
The following excerpt from a blog on the recent Web 2.0 conference I believe further highlights the business opportunity Green IT – BSA]
Portuguese conference on Green IT
http://congresso08.apdc.pt/
Web Firms Step Into Green Shadow in the Valley
http://gigaom.com/2008/11/11/web-firms-step-into-green-shadow-in-the-valley/
At last week’s Web 2.0 Summit — the annual convention that has come to represent the new web boom –- a leading web industry journalist asked me if green technology was here to stay, or if it is just another fad that would die at the hands of dropping gas prices and a recession. “I think it’s one of the world’s biggest opportunities,” I responded, and what I wish I’d have added is this: It’s also trumping the web in terms of excitement, innovation and inspiration for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
That cleantech is, at the very least, what people are excited about was obvious at last week’s Summit. Green startups — even those that had little to do with the web — took over large parts of the show. Former Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Kleiner Perkins cleantech investor Al Gore received a standing ovation for his keynote. The CEO and Chairman of high-profile electric vehicle startup Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, and the CEO of electric vehicle infrastructure startup Better Place, Shai Agassi, both had long fireside chats with the conference-organizers. And half of the startups in the launchpad section of the show were green companies — Carbonetworks, GoodGuide and Sungevity.
Perhaps the biggest indicator at the show, though, was when John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, declared green technology to be “the growing thing in Silicon Valley” and said kick-starting energy research will be President-elect Barack Obama’s most important task. Kleiner was responsible for Internet investments like Google (GOOG) and has now allocated a third of its fund to green investments — equal to the amount it’s pumping into digital media/web plays. Doerr even told the audience that Kleiner partner Bill Joy would be a good choice for Obama’s Chief Technology Officer; Joy has stated for the past year that he is staying away from most Internet investments and focusing entirely on innovations to fight climate change.
But the overall cleantech industry will survive a downturn. The opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovation is large — and just starting to be realized. Energy alone is a $6 trillion market, compared to $100 billion for the Internet. And the industries that cleantech entrepreneurs are trying to tackle — power generation, the power grid, the water system — have been largely neglected in terms of technology innovation. As Thomas Friedman points out in “Hot, Flat, and Crowded,” paraphrasing GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt: Over three decades GE has sold eight or nine generations of medical devices, but only one generation of energy technology.
There’s also the fact that the underlying problems that have lead to the ascendancy of cleantech are still persistent. The price of gas might fluctuate wildly, but the planet is still growing increasingly warm, and the population is still expected to boom to more than 9 billion people in the next three decades — largely in developing countries like India and China. Cleantech is about figuring out smart, sustainable ways to allocate resources like energy, water, and raw materials; the need for which won’t disappear in the face of temporarily cheap fuel.
The recession could also turn federal legislators green in the coming months. President-elect Obama is calling for the creation of 5 million green jobs in a decade and has pledged to provide more support for renewable energy than any other previous administration. Josh Green, managing partner at MDV thinks that Obama’s cleantech plan will make up part of the economic recovery package, as does Al Gore. If green jobs really can help ease the pain of the recession, the cleantech industry would find even more government and private sector support when we eventually get to better financial times.
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