HP Throws Down

some large numbers when it comes to reducing energy use, claiming they are going to try and reduce their global energy consumption by 20 percent in three years. Now, I'm a big believer in my own one percent rule, which states that a one percent annual change in a big system results in a massive chaos - HP is saying they are going for about a seven percent reduction per year. That of course includes their very successful data center reductions that are already started (consolidating 85 centers to 6).

I'm not saying they can't do it, I'm just saying man the lifeboats; most people can't move this fast. They better be ready to start accepting resignations for the rearguard.

No Light Shed on Electronic Purchases

Consumers wanting to buy energy efficient products are being left in the dark about the greenest models to purchase, according to a new study released recently by the National Consumer Council (NCC).

The report looked at 350 electronic products such as TVs, laptops, and DVDs, and found that there was an Information Blackout as to the power consumption of these items - just one had an energy label sticker on it! The report also uncovered that there was a human side to the issue too, as most staff could not answer basic questions about the energy efficiency of products. Most help lines and websites were also of limited use, but equally ill equipped for assist eco-conscious consumers. Light's out - where's the switch?

No More Airport Juice

Just another nail in the box, but it looks like airports in Montreal and London are plugging their electrical outlets, or charging to use them. Don't know about London, but in the case of Montreal it might have something to do with the fact that Imperial Oil is rationing gasoline in Canada after a refinery fire. I guess they are just tired of giving away free electricity - but it never was free for them, was it?

Let's Blow Some Energy

Picking up on my China article, I pulled a few links together to see how much energy the US is using to power our computing infrastructure. Apparently there was quite a debate in 1999, when Mark Mills kicked off by writing an article entitled "The Internet Begins with Coal", claiming the Internet used 8% of all electricity, and office equipment 13 percent. Turns out it was not so accurate; the Internet was only 1 percent, office equipment maybe 2-3 percent - damning slide deck here. Must have been pretty tough on the publisher, as I can't find the original article anywhere, but there are plenty of I told you sos - here too.

So if we are blowing 2-3 percent of our energy on office equipment, where does the rest go? Well, looks like 21 percent gets poured into homes. Doing a little math from this site, that's about 2 percent for air conditioning, 9 percent for space and water heating, and 8 percent to run appliances. Oh, and 2 percent is completely wasted through vampire energy. These are national numbers.

Tack on 28 percent for shuttling ourselves around.

Continuing, about 0.6 percent of our national energy to used to make cement. 15 percent goes to make food to eat. We blow about 3 percent making aluminium, wow. Lets see what we got:

• Transportation - 28
• Food -15
• Household Appliances - 8
• Internet - 3
• Household Air Conditioning - 2
  
• Household Heating - 9
  
• Aluminium - 3
• Household Vampire Energy - 2
• Cement - 0.6

That's a total of 70.6 percent. Hmmm, not a lot left for go-karts.