The EPA is doing a bang up job on the new EnergyStar standard which will include servers as well. A lot of added gains in efficiency need to be attacked at the design and material levels, and IBM and Intel are doing just that with new materials like high-k; sounds like a breakfast cereal. EnergyStar is supporting that work but is also addressing the macro level such as the fact that half to two thirds of your servers' costs are hidden away in power and cooling.Unbelievably, only half of the juice ever even makes it to the CPU! It's a one to one relationship - one kilowatt for the server, one kilowatt to cool it. Per kilowatt, that translates into $12,000 minimum for upstream hardware and another $3500 for site costs. It's hard to win the battle when you don't know the casualties count, but EnergyStar is definitely helping out with that.
2 comments:
Hi Mark. I was just in the process of forwarding to you one of the articles you cite here -- should have known you'd be well ahead of me! LOL
I confess that many years ago I was skeptical of the Energy Star project, in part because I didn't think they were bold enough. I am happy to say that, as time goes on, as they cover more categories and toughen their demands to bearing that label, and as I examine the energy labels of other nations, Energy Star has gained my respect.
BTW, a new category I am working on for my blog is what I tentatvely plan to call "Personal Choices," which will look at what consumers (certainly individual, and perhaps business consumers as well) in LAC (whether native or just resident) who want to be more environmentally conscious can do to improve their purchase choices and daily usage patterns. Much of the initial focus will be on electronics and appliances. Given the nature of the computer market, much of this advice will have to focus on how to choose among the OECD-based manufacturers and product lines. Would you be interested in collaborating, or doing a guest blog on that?
Best Regards,
Keith R
Hi Keith,
thanks for posting. They definitely seem to be getting bolder, don't they? It was always a decent program.
Would be happy to guest blog, let me know.
mark
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