Hackable Products Better For Planet

Several years ago, I bought a front loading washer; it was expensive, but the sales rep convinced me that it would save water and soap over the long run. What he didn't tell me is that there was a circuit board that controlled how the washer worked - a $300 circuit board, that sometimes breaks and needs to be replaced. It broke. Grrrrrrrr.

But it set the wheels in motion; wouldn't it be great if a programmer could alter the code that runs the washer? One could experiment, even improve on the factory settings to minimize the amount of water and soap used. The new program could be distributed via Internet, folks could upload it into their machines, and billions of gallons of water could be saved worldwide. Turns out, some products have already implemented the concept.

The Roomba is one. It has a fully documented Open Inferface that explains what is going on inside its, er, head. Developers can write code against this interface, and make their Roomba do all sorts of crazy things - respond to cell phone controls, sing Christmas Carols. The Roomba Community has dozens more; couldn't find the 'cleaner floor' code in a quick search, but it could be there.

The other very exciting product is the Zero X motorcycle from Zero Motorcycles. It comes equipped with a programmable ZBrain, a configurable on-board computer. According to ecoGeek, you can tweak the max speed, throttle response, max output current, etc. Similarly to the Roomba, the hacks don't need to be more geared towards efficiency, but they could! The bike connects directly to any Microsoft Windows computer via USB 2.0 cable. :: iRobot :: ecoGeek

Lose the TV/Land Line, Save the Cell/Computer

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has developed this perky graphic to help American chart that on which their tech dollars are blown. Wired noticed that although high tech gear gets cheaper every year, the proportion of the typical US household budget reserved for tech spending has held steady for the past decade. On balance, it's more than what we pay for health insurance, more than prescription drugs, or more than clothing. There's some fun in these numbers.First, they use the term 'televisions', as if it's a given that we all need 4 or 5 of those around at any given time. In fact, this is not too far off; the average US household has about 2.1 per US household. This, coupled with the absurd annual $519 bill for cable TV leads to green tip #1; stop buying TVs and cable service, and invest in a cell phone with either a wind up or solar charger. Alternatively, get a computer and internet service; the access to free green information will serve you better than the canned stuff on TV. Literally, stop thinking about the box.

Second, almost half of the tech budget is used on phone service, the infamous cell phone/land line combo. I understand that people don't feel too good when their cell phone goes dead because the power goes out, but the problem here is that these phones operate on two different systems, and Verizon has already said they are only going to support one of them. An idea; lose the landline. You are going to have to anyway, and you can take that money and put it into green tech like beefy solar chargers and smart strips.:: Fat Knowledge ::Wired

The Full Story on Black Google, Blackle, etc.

Here's a Wiki-esque post that covers the full story on Black Google, I'm working on the Wikipedia entry but it's taking some time.

History

In January 2007, Mark Ontkush, the owner of the ecoIron blog, suggested that a large amount of energy could be saved if Google switched their home page from white to black. The initial savings was estimated to be 3000 Megawatt-hours a year; this was later rounded down to 750 Megawatt-hours, after an error in the calculations was found. At the time, ecoIron was receiving about 100 hits per day. The story was posted on Digg where it rapidly went to #1 on the main page, ultimately receiving over 4,000 Diggs. Tony Heap, the owner of HeapMedia, started the Blackle site shortly after these events.

Appearance and Functionality

The Blackle site uses the Google search engine and works in much the same way; users enter text into the box provided, and the query is sent to the Google search engine. The searches both use the same searching algorithm and are executed on the same hardware. However, it has been suggested that the result lists might differ. Blackle uses light grey text on a black background; this is in lieu of the customary Google layout of blue, black, and green text on a white background. Since it is not owned by Google Inc., the Blackle site lacks many of the features of conventional Google, including the 'Cached' and 'Similar Pages' options, and it does not have as many of the corresponding links that can be found on the Google homepage. These links include items such as preferences, advanced search, language tools, images, groups, news and scholar. None of the Blackle links have a visited option, where once a link is followed it turns a different color. The iGoogle feature is also lacking in Blackle.

Energy Savings

The principle is based on the the fact that different colors consume different amounts of energy on computer monitors. Depending on the manufacturing technology, and to a lesser degree the brand of the manufacturer, these colors and energy levels vary. An explanation is provided below.

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Monitors

A CRT monitor uses a cathode ray tube to display images. The back of the tube has a negatively charged cathode, and an electron gun shoots electrons down the tube and onto a charged screen. The screen is coated with a pattern of dots that glow when struck by the electron stream. Each cluster of three dots, one of each color, is one pixel. Certain colors, such as white, require all three dots to be charged, and are energy intensive to display. Other colors, such as black, requires no additional energy to produce and consume the least out of all the colors.

Therefore, power consumption for CRT monitors is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, and any given CRT monitor requires more power to display a light screen than a dark one. Other authors, such as Roberson et. al., have verified these results. The amount of energy saved from switching from white to black varies considerably on the size of the monitor. In a 2002 study, Roberson found that between 4 and 30W could be saved by switching from a white to a black screen. This translates into an 18 to 88% power savings per monitor. The US Department of Energy produced similar results, stating an average 15W savings per monitor. Several informal studies have also been done, with results ranging from a 7 to 23W reduction when using a black screen.

In the first quarter of 2006, Display Search, an industry reporting service, estimated that CRT monitors comprise 25.3% of all monitors in the world. There are substantial regional variations; for example, the report mentions that as of 2006, 45.3% of the monitors in China, and 62.8% in Latin America, were still CRTs.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Monitors

A liquid crystal display (commonly abbreviated LCD) is a thin, flat display device. LCD monitor are suitable for many types of devices, including computer monitors and battery-powered electronic devices. Unlike CRT monitors, LCDs rely on a constant source of illumination, commonly known as a backlight. Backlights produce light in a manner similar to a CRT display, with the difference that the backlight is always on. Backlights can be any color; monochrome LCDs usually have yellow, green, blue or white backlights, while color displays use white backlights that cover most of the color spectrum.

A pixel in an LCD display typically consists of a layer of molecules aligned between two transparent electrodes. When a voltage is applied across the electrodes, a torque acts to align the liquid crystal molecules parallel to the electric field. This reduces the light shining through from the backlight, and the device appears gray. If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal molecules are completely untwisted; the results is that the backlight will then be completely blocked and the pixel will appear black. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts, correspondingly illuminating the pixel.

As such, LCD display technology is different from CRT technology, and the possibility exists that colors that are energy efficient to display on a CRT monitor (e.g. black) may not be as energy efficient to display on an LCD monitor. The Roberson study found that LCD monitors saved up to 3W by switching from a white to a black screen, and in no case did any of the LCD monitors use more energy displaying black than white. Recently, several informal studies have been done, with results ranging from a 2W reduction when displaying Blackle vs Google on an IBM Thinkvision LCD, to zero, up to a 1W increase.

Display Search estimated in Q12006 that LCD monitors have 74.7% penetration rate worldwide. Japan is the country with the highest rate; 99.3% of their monitors use LCD technology.

Plasma Displays

A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display commonly used for large TV displays, typically above 37" (940 mm). Many tiny cells located between two panels of glass hold an inert mixture of noble gases (neon, which are contained in hundreds of thousands of tiny cells positioned between two plates of glass. electrodes are sandwiched between the glass plates, in front of and behind the cells. Control circuitry charges the electrodes that cross paths at a cell, creating a voltage difference between front and back and causing the gas to ionize and form a plasma; as the gas ions rush to the electrodes and collide, photons are emitted. To erase a cell, all voltage is removed from a pair of electrodes.Every pixel is made up of three separate subpixel cells, each with different colored phosphors. One subpixel has a red light phosphor, one subpixel has a green light phosphor and one subpixel has a blue light phosphor. These colors blend together to create the overall color of the pixel. Plasma displays use the same phosphors as CRTs, and are bright, 1000 lux or higher being the norm.

Plasma displays use as much power per square meter as a CRT, and consumption varies greatly
depending on what is watched on it. Bright scenes (say a football game) will draw significantly more power than darker scenes (say a movie scene at night). Nominal measurements indicate 400 watts for a 50" screen.

Currently, plasma displays are not popular for computer monitors. However, since they operate similarly to CRT technology, the energy differentials are similar. A study conducted by G4TechTV using a Samsung 42" plasma display found a 191W differential for a white vs. black screen in normal mode, and a 138W differential in super energy savings mode. Plasma displays are particularly well suited for the large displays, outpacing other types of display technologies. However, recent improvements in LCD technology have contributed to falling prices, higher resolutions, and often lower electrical power consumption, making them very competitive against plasma displays.

As of late 2006, analysts note that LCDs are overtaking plasmas, particularly in the important 40" (1.0 m) and above segment where plasma had previously enjoyed strong dominance a couple of years before.

OLED

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is any light-emitting diode (LED) whose emissive electroluminescent layer comprises a film of organic compounds. The layer usually contains a polymerpixels can emit light of different colors. substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple "printing" process. The resulting matrix of OLEDs are used in television screens and computer displays; a great benefitof OLED displays over traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is that OLEDs do not require a backlight to function. Thus they draw far less power and, when powered from a battery, can operate longer on the same charge. No comprehensive studies have been conducted of a comparison a white vs. black screens, but due to the nature of their construction, it is probable that displaying white
consumes more energy than black on a OLED device.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of using the 'black web' technique to save energy is a subject of intense debate, much of which centers on the pros and cons of a specific implementation, and the scale at which the approach is implemented. Other discussions are focused on the amount of energy saved, both individually and collectively, and the trade-offs involved in implementing a solution of this type. A summary of the different approaches is provided below.

Governmental/Corporate Policy

One approach is to modify a color scheme of incoming web traffic at a high level, such as the corporate or country level. In this case, an entity with a large number of CRT monitors might intervene on their users' behalf to convert the color codes as they travel through the network, thereby producing a uniform color scheme for the entity as a whole. To date, there have been no reported implementations of this strategy. However, countries such as China or Brazil, who demonstrably have a large number of CRT monitors could save significant energy.

Single Site

This approach relies on a particular web site to change their primary color scheme; the net energy savings or loss can then be calculated by estimating four parameters:

• The amount of traffic the site gets.
• How long a visitor remains on that site.
• Percentage split of CRT/LCD monitors in worldwide use.
• The differential of how much energy is drawn by each monitor type in each color state.

Any site can be used; Google is often cited due to the sheer amount of traffic the site receives, but other sites such as Yahoo, MySpace, or YouTube could be analyzed as well. Ontkush took this approach in the original post, and used Google as an example. He used the following parameters:

• 200 million queries/day.
• 10 seconds/query.
• Monitor split of 25% CRT, 75% LCD.
• CRTs received a 15W differential from white to black,
  LCDs received no differential.

Using these parameters resulted in a net energy savings of 750 megawatt-hours per year.

Much of the controversy in using the this approach revolves around modifying one of more of the parameters, particularly the energy differentials and CRT/LCD ratio. However, even using generous, apocryphal numbers for these parameters still results in a net energy savings. For example, if one assumes a 10% CRT, 90% LCD ratio, and substitutes a 10W differential for CRTs and a -1W differential for LCDs, implementing the technique still saves energy; the large energy differential for CRTs overwhelms their market share. This, when multiplied by a tremendous amount of display time, produces the savings.

In July 2007, the Financial Times reported that, according to the Nielsen/NetRatings for May, users spent 2,557,000,000 minutes on Google websites; this translates into 511,400,000 hours of Google website use per year. The monthly figures for Yahoo (746M) , MySpace (7,535M), and YouTube
(2,117M) are comparable.

Using a Proxy Site

Another approach is to use a third party site to implement some functionality of an existing site, and then use an alternative color scheme. This is the approach used by Blackle and similar sites to mimic
the Google site. In this case, users must deliberately use the alternative site instead of Google's home page.

Using this approach, the savings in energy is directly related to the type of monitor that the individual is using at the time, and how often they frequent the site. As indicated, if one is using a CRT, Plasma, or OLED monitor, energy savings will certainly be accrued. However, for LCD monitors the results are not so clear; studies have shown that LCD monitors either save or use a small amount of energy displaying a black page as compared to a white one, so the energy savings would
be much smaller or, worse, the monitor could use more energy on the modified site.

Individual Efforts

A third approach is to use a script or browser option to alter the color scheme for some or all the pages one views. Again, this approach requires user intervention, and is subject to the type of monitor that the individual is using to view the pages. The advantage to this approach is that significant energy savings can be realized, as all incoming web traffic is converted to a low-energy format. There are several alternatives depending on the browser and/or operating system in use.

Firefox
Users of the Firefox web browser can install a GreaseMonkey script called Google Dark which will automatically reverse their color scheme when visiting the authentic Google site. For a more generic approach, one can go to 'Tools > Options > Content > Fonts & Colours > Colours' in Firefox and change the default color background and text to any desired color; users who implement this option should uncheck the box that says "Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above".

Internet Explorer

In Internet Explorer, go to 'Tools > Internet Options > General > Appearance > Colors' to alter your personal color scheme. You will also need to go to 'Tools > Internet Options > General > Appearance > Accessibility' to override the default color options on the pages that you visit.

Criticisms

There has been both praise and criticism for this initiative, with its supporters citing it as a great example of environmental thinking, and its detractors pointing out usability and aesthetic problems, as well as questions about the scientific validity of the claims. Some of the issues are listed below.

• Since the technique is most effective on CRT monitors, some proxy sites have been criticized for not mentioning this fact. In particular, the Blackle site has been heavily criticized, as it is probable that they are generating an substantial Adsense revenue stream from implementing the concept.
• CRT monitors are being phased out; about 75% of monitors in active use worldwide are LCDs. Additionally, countries with a high percentage of CRT are replacing them rapidly; for example, Display Search projects that only 18% of the monitors in China will be CRTs by the end of 2007. Therefore, although the technique would be effective for a limited period, it is questionable whether the disruption
  would be beneficial.
• CRTs are generally darker than LCDs, and the text on many of the proxy sites is barely readable on monitors of this type. For example, Blackle uses a small grey font on an all black background. It is possible that these 'all black' proxy sites are only usable on LCD screens, and this would
  negate the energy savings.
• Proxy sites cannot handle the heavy load that high volume sites are accustomed to. For example, on August 1st, 2007 and several prior occasions, the Blackle web server was producing intermittent error messages for extended periods of time.

Alternative sites

• Darkoogle, uses a black background with green text.
• Earthle
• GreenerGle
• Greygle, uses a grey background.
• Google Black, is a website hosted by the Google-owned blogspot, however the search results are not in black.
• Jabago, uses a black background and allows for searching in many languages.
• Ninja
• Power Google
• Searchincolor.com, an older site that supports Google colored searches since its onset. The default color is black.
• Trek Black

Extreme Telecommuting - It's Not What Dad Did

Interesting one here about a chap named Anthony Page who classifies himself as an extreme telecommuter. Page travels the world and works remotely via laptop. Amazingly, he finds an Internet connection almost everywhere, even in the poorest nations.He got the idea when his job as a Web developer in London was outsourced to India; he took the hint and decided to work with clients long-distance over the Internet as well, while simultaneously taking a non-stop soujourn. Voice, e-mail, and video communication are no problem, and PayPal handles all the payment. Clients, while unsure at first, got used to the idea that they could trust him to deliver work on time. Here's the laundry list of the tools you need.

Anthony packs smart; he has a laptop (Macs are preferred since viruses and other malware don't get them), an unlocked world phone or PDA that can be switched across networks, and uses Skype. And he gets the comprehensive damage warranty on everything. Finally, a USB drive to back up vital files is essential, and an optional Wi-Fi hotspot locator comes in useful but adds weight.

Anthony admits (via blog) that he thinks his lifestyle is environmentally unfriendly. Not so fast! Telecommuting, of course, is hardly a new idea, and I repeatedly mentioned that you should stop showing up for work. In fact, there are even government incentives for telecommuting initiatives. So the next logical question is: Why stay at home? Page mentions he has personally saved a bundle of money with his lifestyle, and it's easy to see why; no house to heat, no refrigerator running non-stop, probably eating local foods, no car. Wealth is no indicator of your "eco-worthiness", but Page seems to have found an elegant solution the problem we all face - doing what you want, in a place you want to be, with someone you want to be with. Compared to the proverbial grind, it's hard to see this nomadic lifestyle as worldcrippling. Bravo. :: CNN Money

The Black Web; a Model for Climate Change

Of course, I have been following the black Google thing religiously the last few days. Some think it's great. Some still think it doesn't save any energy, even testing their monitor and proving the theory with an n of 1. And there are some pushbackers, as if mandating the viewing of black web pages is akin to sawing off their left arm. Good thing I didn't propose that China or Brazil, both countries with a lot of CRT monitors, mandate that all web traffic be black... oops!

A bright light is this post from Rory Spangler which confirmed my own thoughts - Blackle and its ilk are the Prius of search. Basically, it's great but it's just not cool. And there's no legroom. It reminded me of something Richard Stallman said about free software when I interviewed him; I quote:

Rms: So this shows how people take flimsy invalid excuses and stretch them to excuse doing what they want to be doing (because it's the usual way or whatever). It's a common practice when using non-free software, and that's our biggest obstacle: social inertia.

So how do we overcome social inertia?

Well the first step is to recognize it, and to show how is not valid. People want to give into social inertia because it's easy. But they don't want to say, "I want to do the wrong thing because it’s easier for me to do the wrong thing." So they exaggerate - they say doing the right thing is simply impossible. Impossible they say. Intolerable. It's always a matter of exaggeration, often several steps of exaggeration in series. So whenever I hear that, I start pointing out why it’s fallacious.

I'm not bashing Rory (or anyone else) here, I think what he said is spot. But it seems to be that solving the Internet energy problem by implementing the black web is very similar to trying to solve the bad gas, climate change problem; everyone knows what to do, they just don't want to do it. Solve the web energy problem, and we will be well on our way to solving the climate change problem.

Thin Is In: Interview With Stephen Yeo of IGEL

Thin is in, and in this interview Mr. Yeo proves it.

Can you explain what IGEL does?

IGEL Technology is one of the world’s top 5 thin client vendors and is market leader in its home country of Germany (2006 IDC). We have offices in Augsburg (Germany), Fort Lauderdale (USA) and Reading (UK). We produce the industry’s widest range of thin clients, based on Linux and Microsoft Windows, giving our customers access to the broadest range of thin client devices and the richest set of digital services on the market today. Our hardware is supported by the IGEL Remote Management Suite, giving customers maximum remote control with minimum cost and hassle. IGEL’s range of thin clients includes thin client conversion cards for PCs, traditional form factors, ultra-mobile tablets, LCD integrated terminals and multi-screen units. Our company puts security at the heart of its design principles and offers smartcard support across all of its products.

What is your sales volume? How many customers do you have? How long have you been in business?

IGEL Technology GmbH has been developing and selling thin clients since 1988. Founded in Augsburg, IGEL is a subsidiary of Bremen-based C. Melchers GmbH & Co. Melchers is a 201 year old trading company with worldwide trading activities and branches in many countries.

We currently have about 9500 customers including some of the biggest companies in the world – DaimlerChrysler, United Rentals, Ethicon Inc., US Cold Storage, Summit Polymers, Scania, and Akzo Nobel.

Can you explain what a thin client is for the audience?

Generally speaking, a thin client is a centrally-managed computer without a hard disk drive in which the bulk of the data processing occurs on the server. The application software, data, and CPU power resides on a network server rather than on the client computer. As a result, thin clients are not as vulnerable to malware attacks, have a longer life cycle, use less power and are less expensive to purchase.

What is the average replacement cycle for your thin clients? How does this compare to a PC? Do you have any plans to extend it?

Generally, thin clients demonstrate lower breakdown rates and a longer service life than PCs because of the fan-free design, which makes them less susceptible to malfunctions especially in more dusty environments. Thin clients are also small, taking up little space, and all components subject to wear and tear can be dispensed with. Consequently, they offer a maximum length of service life, which can be many years.

We cannot quote reliability numbers versus PCs since each manufacturer uses different MTBF criteria and methods of calculation.

Thin clients last longer than PCs since all the necessary hardware upgrades needed for new operating systems, applications and storage are all done in the data center. As long as the thin client has an adequate screen resolution and software client needed to access your infrastructure, such as the latest version of Citrix ICA client or a JVM, then a thin client remains useful for many years. Some customers have successfully used the same thin clients for 6-7 years.

How long is the warranty for your equipment? How does this compare to the typical PC?

The standard warranty on IGEL thin client terminals is two years. We also offer a Buyer Plan that extends all the benefits that customers receive during the first and second year of ownership from the Manufacturer’s warranty, through the third year of ownership. The Buyer Plan is free, however, customers need to register their product within 90 days from the date of purchase. Once we receive the IGEL Warranty Registration, we will send a confirmation and customers will be covered for three years. The warranty extension is not associated with any further costs.

The warranty period for IGEL thin clients is similar to PCs.

Is there anything that you need a PC to do that a thin client cannot do?

Playing games, since they need a powerful DirectX graphics card for screen generation.

What is the average energy use of your equipment? How does this compare to the thin client industry standard?

The average energy consumption of our thin clients is between 40-50 watts and that’s including server and data room cooling. This is half the energy consumption of traditional PCs, which consume about 85 watts.

Stand alone, IGEL thin clients consume on average 10-20 watts of power. This is similar to other manufacturers, although IGEL is the first vendor to have conducted scientific studies into the green benefits of using such technology.

The TCO numbers for thin clients are well known, and have consistently been shown to be much lower than a PC infrastructure. Why then aren't IT departments moving to thin clients? What will be the tipping point for them?

The thin client market has been steadily growing year on year at about 25% and last year represented more than 2.75M units WW. Since almost all these units were replacing desktop PCs in the business sector, this represents a significant slice of this market place.

For static workers, the thin client will become more and more prevalent, especially as IT departments look to become more energy efficient and in industries where security and compliance issues are crucial. However, those workers who need to bring their computers with them will continue to use laptop PCs.

From an environmental perspective, what are the advantages of going with thin clients? Any disadvantages?

There are an array of environmental advantages for using thin clients versus traditional PCs from lower material use to reduced energy costs and less carbon emission. In fact, IGEL thin clients were used in a recent study conducted by the world-renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany – the study is an environmental comparison of thin clients versus comparable PCs. In this study, thin clients were found to have significant power, environmental and financial savings. In fact, by switching from a PC to a thin client environment, U.S. businesses could save about $354.7 million in electricity bills and slash CO2 emissions by about 2.45 billion pounds a year. The full report can be found at by following this link.

Not only do thin clients reduce CO2 emissions and energy during use, they also save energy and waste during manufacture and transport – compared with PCs they have 35%-40% of the weight and 19%-30% of the volume. They are also easier to recycle since they have far less materials and are simpler.

What is your take on free software? Do your thin clients support it? Overall, do you think the TCO of using free software is less or more than commercial packages? If so, for which ones?

IGEL has been a pioneer in using Linux as a thin client operating system (we were the second largest supplier of Linux thin clients in 2005) and our customers benefit from using open source code within our units. Because many of our thin clients are based on Linux and we have so much experience with it, we can give organizations easy access to Linux-based infrastructures using the X-Windows or NX protocols.

Gartner predicts that energy will account for 50 percent of the typical IT budget by 2012. Do you agree with this number? How do thin client initiatives help to reduce this number?

All the evidence points to energy taking an increasing amount of the IT budget and 50% by 2012 is perfectly possible. This is especially true if the cost of air conditioning is taken into account for the data center and work place. This is often missed out in calculations. For every watt generated by a piece of IT equipment, 1W-3W of air conditioning power is needed to remove it depending on the efficiency and location of the air conditioner.

As noted above, thin clients have been found to be more energy efficient than comparable PCs by about 51% -- and that includes the energy costs of servers and data room cooling. By switching to thin clients, businesses could save $354.7 million in electricity bills alone.

Organizations will be able to make significant reductions in CO2 and energy from IT using a combination of thin clients, virtualization, and 64 bit computing.

What is the future of thin clients? Any exciting upcoming technologies?

Our vision for the future of thin client computing is to have a single device with many functions – we see thin clients as a platform for digital service and device consolidation. Just like electricity, you’ll be able to plug into a network and access all the digital services you need: your email, office productivity suites, enterprise applications, voice, or streaming images. All of these digital services would be hosted elsewhere on the network, but you could have easy access to them from a single, easy-to-manage, secure device. Thin clients will grow to be more expandable, simple, flexible and scalable.

In regards to our own products, we are certainly making strides toward these digital service goals and plan to introduce new features to our devices later this year.

Will we see more or less of these things, and what are the biggest drivers for these changes?

The thin client market is certainly growing and will continue to grow – especially as businesses face more security and compliance issues. Thin clients, because they are innately less susceptible to viruses and malware and because they have little internal memory, are ideal for companies that need to meet strict security and compliance regulations.

The growth of new forms of server-based computing, such as VoIP, will accelerate the use of multi-use thin clients that help device consolidation and reduce complexity on the desktop.

In addition, as environmental concerns continue to grow and as businesses look to become more green, the energy and other environmental savings offered by thin clients will become increasingly important and lead many companies to reconsider their use of traditional PCs to reap the cost and energy savings of thin clients.

PowerTOP For Linux Adds Hours to Battery Life

Power usage is a hot topic for computer users everywhere. For some, it's a matter of how long a laptop lasts without being plugged in. For others, it's controlling the temperature of hundreds of systems within a datacenter. For all of us, it's about keeping the electricity bill under control and being kind to the environment.

I have focused on all kinds of ways to save computer-related energy. There's PowerEscape, a tool to optimize algorithms. There's Black Google which is making the rounds today, and there's switching to thin clients. But now there's a new tool which can cut your personal PC power consumption almost in half.

It is rare to find a tool that actually digs into your machine to analyze each program that is running for power use. But Powertop from Intel does exactly this - it's a tool which provides information on reducing power usage, tips, and tricks for Intel-based computers running Linux. PowerTOP looks right at the programs you are running; by fixing (or closing) these applications, you can immediately realize the power savings. You'll also see the estimated time left for battery power if you are running a laptop.

This stuff is not for the faint of heart - they talk about rebuilding the Linux kernel like they are ordering a pizza - but the savings are incredible; one guy extended his battery life from 4 to 7 hours. If you're not a kernel hacker, don't worry, the power improvement will surely be included in the next Linux release. :: Linux PowerTOP

San Fran Goes Dark, Cripples IT

Probably know that San Fran went dark a few days ago for two hours, affecting 30 to 50 thousand customers. Granted, lack of a live wire is bad for people, but it's also bad for data; the blackout took many big internet sites offline, including 365 Main, Craigslist, Technorati, Yelp, AdBrite, TypePad, and LiveJournal. Imagine the outrage; not only was I prevented from blogging, but my non-stop feed to the free section of Craigslist wasn't working!

Power outrages are increasingly common; Pakistan and India have daily cuts, and the whole island of Jamaica regularly loses power. What is most unusual is that strom shortages are appearing in the developed world as well. For example, Barcelona went dark (350,000 without power), and the St. Louis Arch went dead on Sunday, trapping dozens of tourists.

Power outages are caused by various factors including load, aging infrastructure, and chaotic mishap, and cities are fraught with all of these items. Bottom line for IT is that urban areas are no place for your data to grow up in; get it out. The Land of Fire and Ice might be a good try; barring that, at least run your operation efficiently, ala Google.::SFGate

Facts and Fallacies on Black Google

I can see from my hit counter that Black Google is making the rounds again. It's interesting; this is the third time the Black Google wave has crashed over the world. Since some of the facts get tangled every time, I thought I would do a little Q&A on the topic.

Q: Are the calculations in the original post correct?
A: Yes, the calculations are correct, Black Google would save 750 MWh a year. Thousands of people have reviewed the calculations - they are right.

Q: But some sites are reporting a 3000 MWh savings...
A: The original calculations were not correct because I assumed that the power savings was for every monitor, and in fact this is not true. This is a viral mistruth, probably caused by the fact that the original link still has '3000' in it. 750 is the number.

Q: You are talking about the LCD monitors right? They have a backlight that is always on, and use the same amount of energy or even a little more to show black. You have to exclude them from the calculations.
A: That is correct, using Black Google makes little or no difference when you have a LCD monitor. This was set straight almost immediately, but there are still tons of postings and comments on this issue. It's has been common knowledge for months. The 750MWh number reflects this fact; Black Google still saves energy.

Q: So, in a year or two the whole thing will be pointless because CRTs are going away.
A: They are being replaced, but as of 2006 25% of all the monitors in the world are still CRTs, and that number goes up for China (50 percent) and South America (75 percent). Also, there are new technologies such as plasma and OLED where white costs money - these technologies are on the rise so we will be right back in the same boat. And there are handheld devices as well, battery operated where power is a bigger deal.

Q: So, 750MWh is the right number?
A: No, it's higher now! Pablo Paster did some recent calculations and the savings is up to a conservative 1500 MWh. The reason is that Google is getting more traffic, and that he counted page hits while I just counted queries.

Q: So Google took your advice and created Blackle? Good for them!
A: No, Blackle is an independent site runs by HeapMedia. There are quite a few out there now, including Earthle, Greygle, GreenerGle, one at blogspot, Ninja, Trek Black, Spanish Black Google, and German Black Google. But my all time favorite is the guy who made the mega site of bible studies based on a misspelling of one of these engines.

Q: It hurts my eyes to use Black Google - white on black is the most natural.
A: The white on black palette was probably just adopted from the paper printing world, and there have been several studies (many from the 80s) on what the best color scheme is. I've heard white on grey, green on yellow, white on green, green on black, amber on black, and white on black. I think the jury is still out.

Q: Why doesn't every big site adopt a black blackground - MSN, Yahoo, Amazon, etc.?
A: Why doesn't every big site do this?

On Fox Tonight

Catch me on Fox 25 News (Boston) tonight at 10pm talking about carbon offsets. Here's a primer to get you going:

Want Some Carbon With That?

You Want Carbon?

Built on Guilt - Carbon Offsets

(Update - Link Here.)

Thanks

Ecoiron dropped under 3,000 on Technorati today, two months after dropping under 5,000. Thanks guys, you're the best, I'll keep cranking it out. And if you are interested in writing for ecoIron, drop me a line.

Economics of Virtualization May Be "Off Planet"

With the promise of reduced costs and increased efficiency, the virtualization rage continues in the techno-sphere. The basic premise of virtualization is to make one server do the work of many; this increases utilization, and hence requires less servers. Fewer servers mean less power, which in turn means less CO2, thus saving the planet. Simple.

But now there's a counterpoint; "yes, you have fewer servers in a virtualized environment, but each one of those servers is more heavily utilized, and because they are doing more work their power consumption goes up. The net gain is zero." Can that be? When I interviewed Foedus, they claimed one could get up to a 20 to 1 reduction in hardware using virtualization; it's hard to believe that doesn't more than make up for the extra power. Quocirca did their own analysis and came to the same conclusion. On the other hand, when I interviewed John Engates of Rackspace, he agreed that the power to run the heavier-laden box beats the costs of buying it - the juice beats the iron.

There's got to be missing pieces of the puzzle here - perhaps not all servers virtualize well, or we need to take into account the specific kinds of applications being served. And other items, such as ambient temperature and facility design, clearly make a big difference as well. The takeaway is that, like most things, establishing what power savings you are going to get from an infrastructure virtualisation project is not straightforward, but there is a potential for a win-win here - you will not only be saving the planet, but also money. And with the total power costs over the lifetime of a server currently estimated as being in the region of 50 per cent of the hardware costs, self-interest may play as big a part here as enlightened altruism; I'm still for jumping on the calliope.::Quorica :: The Register

A Horde of Hosts : Interview with John Engates, Rackspace

With over 30,000 servers and 12,000 customers, Rackspace is one of the biggest hosting providers in the world. Big companies can be slower to take environmental initiatives - they are aren't running all these boxes off of solar, for example - yet when they do make a move it usually has a bigger, longer lasting impact. TH recently had the 'tunity to interview John Engates, CTO of Rackspace, to see what they were up to.

Hi John, can you explain what Rackspace does?

In its simplest form, we offer managed hosting; this is an offering whereby companies look to outsource their hosting solutions.

Rackspace Managed Hosting delivers enterprise-level managed services to businesses of all sizes. Serving more than 12,000 customers in eight data centers worldwide, Rackspace integrates the industry’s best technologies for each customer need and delivers it as a service via the company’s award-winning Fanatical Support™. Through trusted relationships, Rackspace serves as an extension of its customers’ IT departments, enabling them to focus on their core business.

The average replacement cycle for hardware is two to four years - what is your timespan? Do you have any plans to extend it?

Rackspace replaces hardware as customers order new hardware or as their contract ends and they leave the company. Rackspace does attempt to recycle that gear as long as is reasonably possible. They don’t have a mandatory replacement timeline, so they use it as long as possible.

The average CPU utilization for hosting is absurdly low, often as low as 10 percent... do you have a number the CPU utilization of your equipment? How does this compare to the industry standard?

Don’t have specific numbers, but the nature of Rackspace’s business (production managed hosting services) lends itself to generally higher utilization than typical corporate datacenters.

Do you use virtualization? What if any advantages for the environment do you see in using this technology?

Rackspace does not currently have a virtualization offering, but plans are underway to announce one in Q4 2007.

While virtualization may offer a few advantages to the environment, it is important to point out that in the long run, virtualization does not provide significant environmental advantages. Virtualization does enable IT managers to add more servers (applications) on to fewer machines, reducing the amount of hardware needed and power consumed. Reducing the amount of hardware can certainly cut cost, but virtualization simply allows a server's CPU to run at a higher utilization. And the higher the utilization of a server, the more power it consumes. The additional power cost from virtualized servers will offset any savings created by purchasing less hardware (as hardware is relatively cheap.)

From an environmental perspective, what are the advantages of going with a managed hosting provider? Any disadvantages?

Service providers like Rackspace have the scale and resources to develop their own management tools, and Rackspace creates multiple efficiencies and reduces costs for its customers.

On a related note, Rackspace recently announced a “green” data center. The new facility will provide capacity to add more than 40,000 servers to support Rackspace’s growing customer base; it will help to reduce Rackspace’s dependency on fossil fuel. Slough Heat and Power, which will supply the Rackspace data center with the required power, does not burn coal and instead uses clean wood chips and fiber fuel, both renewable, biomass energy sources. In the process, material is shredded and converted into small, odourless cubes, which are then combusted to generate electricity, hot water and steam for local businesses and residents.

What is your take on free software - do you use it? Overall, do you think the total cost of ownership (TCO) of free software is less or more than commercial packages?

Rackspace uses open source software, but it’s not all free. They do pay maintenance fees for the Linux software they deploy. Even open source software that doesn’t require a maintenance fee is not really “free.” The costs of maintaining a free software environment may be slightly less expensive than the commercial alternative, but there are pluses and minuses to either, so Rackspace always recommends looking at your pool of talent and choosing the software based on who is going to be operating and maintaining it.

Gartner predicts that energy will account for 50 percent of the typical IT budget in the next few years. Do you agree with this number? How does managed hosting/green grid initiatives help to reduce this number?

Rackspace is seeing projections in their datacenter models that tell them that those numbers are not at all unrealistic. Managed Hosting will help reduce the cost when compared to a typical corporate datacenter. Rackspace can negotiate better power arrangements and they have the scale to implement more efficient technologies than most typical IT datacenters would be able to accomplish. Rackspace also has the scale to have people on staff thinking about efficiency on a full time basis. Their participation in Green Grid is an example of their commitment to driving efficiency in the datacenter. Rackspace believes it will improve efficiency and potentially help offsite rising energy costs.

What is the future of managed hosting? Will we see more or less hardware consolidation in the IT industry, and what are the biggest drivers for these changes?

Rackspace sees the future of managed hosting as ‘All IT is hosted,’ meaning more and more companies will need more than just there website hosted. They’ll need solutions like email and internal infrastructure hosted with a provider like Rackspace. Rackspace feels if it is not your core business, if it’s not revenue-generating, then you are wasting time, money and manpower supporting it internally when you can let companies like Rackspace host it better and faster.The biggest drivers for changes like hardware consolidation lie in better technology. Virtualization obviously has its pros with more applications running on fewer servers, but as the servers in general improve, they will be able to run more applications before using virtualization.

Verizon Gets Out of The Copper Business

Copper hit $3.66 a pound today on the COMEX exchange - that's a lot. Copper is heavier than iron, and the weight really adds up quickly. For example, it only takes 146 pre-1982 pennies to make a pound. Yes, that means you can make $2.20/lb. by melting down your pennies. Except, of course, it is explicitly illegal to do so. At current rates, A cubic inch of copper is worth a little over a dollar; a cubic foot is (get this) worth over $2000.

It's not just copper; aluminum, zinc, bronze and stainless steel are all commanding high prices these days. These may seem like novel facts until one more novel fact is added; that is, a lot of public infrastructure is made out of these metals. Enterprising folks are literally ripping off anything that isn't nailed down - bleachers for example. Beer kegs aren't being returned, and some police departments can't get ammunition. Fortune, for all its glory, printed a veritable how-to guide on how to pick and choose the Choice items in publo-sphere. And some big companies, like Verizon, are taking big hits.

Verizon, the telcom provider, is bleeding from every pore; vandals stole over $300,000 in copper from their cell phone towers last year, and that was just in California! In addition, their copper cable network is collapsing, because subscribers are abandoning it in favor of their faster FIOS (fiber optic) network. Maybe that's why Verizon made the decison to kill off their copper infrastructure.

Some malcontents are complaining that they are screwing the customer, because if they don't like the new FIOS service then 'they can't go back to copper lines'. Who? Wha? Guys, when a rogue cuts at 20 foot section out of a trunk cable and sells it for the copper, there's no phone service, and one can hardly expect Verizon to maintain two infrastructures. Scarce resources will require some adaptation; Verizon's new silicon-based FIOS is faster and more resource efficient. And it won't get ripped off either. (follow up - oops, I guess it does get ripped off!) :: CNN

Mike Dell Drives a Hummer - Boo Hoo or Yee Haw?

Last month AutoMotoPortal filled us in on the cars that famous geeks drive. It's interesting, if not surprising, reading. Turns out that Mike Dell drives a Hummer a good deal of the time; let's look at the environmental repercussions of that bit of information, and figure out what to do with it.

Dell has received high eco marks, and much of this credit could easily be attributed to Michael Dell himself; does he get Bonus for his hard work? Thoughts were muddied and confused on the issue, and some kind of comparison was needed. Let's take Mr. Dell, myself, and the "World Citizen" who survives on $2 a day (they are half the world's population by the way). Now, let's overlap these three guys with driving a Hummer, a Prius, and a Bicycle. Here are the results.

Michael Dell
Hummer
First Thought: couldn't he do with less car?
Second Thought: might be justified (don't billionaires need security personnel?)

Michael Dell
Prius
First Thought: that would be a statement!
Second Thought: probably doesn't meet his needs as a global executive.

Michael Dell
Bicycle
First Thought: wow!
Second Thought: is an idiotic waste of Michael Dell's time.

Myself
Hummer
First Thought: what am I doing in this thing?
Second Thought: is one of most absurd decisions I made in my life!

Myself
Prius
First Thought: I'm sacrificing some leg room, but it gets good mileage.
Second Thought: might be the next car for me.

Myself
Bicycle
First Thought: if I don't get killed on the streets of Boston, I'll feel good.
Second Thought: is fairly unrealistic for a busy guy with a family.

World Citizen
Hummer
First Thought: I hope it makes carrying water from the well ten miles away easier.
Second Thought: is none of my business - who am I to say what a guy living on $2 a day can and cannot do?

World Citizen
Prius
First Thought: I hope it makes carrying water from the well ten miles away easier.
Second Thought: is none of my business - who am I to say what a guy living on $2 a day can and cannot do?

World Citizen
Bicycle
First Thought: I hope it makes carrying water from the well ten miles away easier.
Second Thought: is none of my business - who am I to say what a guy living on $2 a day can and cannot do?

Let's tally the results; Dell's vehicle of choice seems bad, but in fact it might be the most practical one of the three for him. The Hummer and bicycle were bad choices for me, but the Prius seemed good. Finally, I felt so bad for the $2 a day guy that I didn't really care what form of transportation they had.

Overall, it seems like practicality, tailored to personal needs and situation wins the day. I challenge the readers; is there a better environmental argument?

Oh The iPhone, Oh The Abuse

Leaders do things that are new - they explore the unknown, turn the world on its head, break up old patterns and ways of doing things. For these reasons, leaders are going to catch shrapnel from all angles. In fact, if you want to locate the leader, it's pretty simple; just find the guy taking the most abuse.

Like Apple and their poor iPhone. Oh the abuse! For starters, they are gouging the customer, selling a $220 item for hundreds more. It's been hacked to run on non-ATT networks, and the eWaste reports are already pouring out of the news-o-sphere. And the tiltable screen, where the picture automatically rotates when you turn it sideways, may already be copyrighted by Sony. We can assume they didn't use a mercury switch to implement that little feature, can't we?

Boo hoo, poor little pome. But let's get down to the the green tacks - fact is, the iPhone will be the last phone you will ever buy. You will not trade it in 18 months. It is unlikely you will drop a $600 phone in the toilet. The iPhone and its kind are going to end the planned obsolescence cell phone cycle. That's why Apple is the leader, and that's why the iPhone is great. :: Gizmodo

Secret, Efficient Power Supplies From Google

Google, google, google, google - what don't they have a green pinky in these days? The coolio-video above 'strates how they design the custom, super efficient power supplies for their server farms. Google builds its own machines (and has for some time) using a team of hardware engineers expressly dedicated to the task. With the goal of efficiency foremost in mind, it's no surprise they are leading the pack in this area as well; can you leave some for the rest of us please? ::Ubergizmo

Cell Phones Outpace Humans in 'Births' by 5 to 1

I recently suggested that flesh and blood planet dwellers (humans) may soon be competing for resources with electronic machines (computers). A recent report from CNN just drives it home; global mobile phone use will top 3.25 billion users in 2007, mostly due to demand from China, India, and Africa. That's about half the world's population with a cell phone.

The similarities between cell phones and babies are many. They both require you to keep them powered continuously. They both get born - cell phones at about 1000 phones a minute, based on subscriptions and babies at about 180 per minute, over five times slower. Strangely, cell phones are also like babies in that you can have more than one. In fact, over 30 countries already have a saturation rate of over 100 percent, meaning there are more cell phones than people in these countries. Finally, they both seem pretty indispensable; a recent British survey suggested that one third of those polled wouldn't give up their phone for a million pounds. Let's hope they say that about their kids.

Is it a crisis? Well, the average cell phone uses about 3 watts, and there is the power and associated with charging it, the cost of running the towers, and the costs to actually make the phone. The cost of the baby is a few hundred calories a day, plus the caloric manufacturing costs. These facts and figures constitute the typical environmental scenario - small increments that add up big - but unless you are a believer in unlimited energy, the smart bet is the one where we ultimately have to stop making electronics, or babies. : CNN

The Cheaper PC, the Smaller PC, and the Greener PC

The computer industry is constantly producing smaller and cheaper machines. On the face of it that seems great, but is it really? What are the benefits or smaller/cheaper PCs? Furthermore, are they eco?

Let's see what we got; for starters, cheaper computers will invariably mean more computers, maybe a billion more by 2015; some think that demand will explode when an $80 dollar price point is hit, which is rapidly approaching. In energy terms, an efficient laptop uses about 25 watts of power; a desktop uses much more (call it 100 watts), which is roughly the power a human being on a 2200 calorie diet requires. So, in energy terms, adding a billion desktop PC is like adding a billion humans to the planet; adding a billion laptops is like adding 200 million. Can the planet afford those kind of resources? Probably not, without getting into the sticky situation of machines competing with humans for resources. So, cheaper computing will place more burdens on our ecosystems, and us.

How about smaller computers? It is doubtful that these would drive demand, but they might use fewer resources to create. Take for example the Space Cube, which claims to be the world's smallest PC. It measures just 2 x 2 x 2.2 inches, which is enough volume for 64 MB of SDRAM and a CPU that can go as fast as 300 MHz. Eco-wise, there are a few benefits but not many; the processor uses generally the same amount of resources to create, although you would save a bit on power consumption. And the SDRAM may be a little more eco-friendly to produce than a hard drive. The other items - keyboard, mouse, monitor - fall out of the equation, so a nix must be given to the 'smaller=more eco' hypothesis.:: KrisTV :: SciFi Tech

Scoring the Green Electronics Scorecarders

Rating electronic vendors on how well they are doing environmentally, their green-wise-ness as it were, is a popular phenom these days. Currently there have been three attempts of note; the EPA took a crack at it with the EPEAT standard, Greenpeace gave a go with their Green Electronics Guide, and now we have yet another, the Climate Counts scorecard which rates vendors (not just electronic vendors, but they are included) on their climate change efforts.

A quick site perusal reveals that the scales are not comparable; Samsung rates poorly on the Climate Counts page, yet does well on the EPEAT page, and is somewhere in the middle on the Greenpeace page. One (not just me) might wonder how to interpret the results; here is a short guide on inspecting the inspectors.First, is the rating system inclusive or exclusive? An inclusive system allows every potential vendor to be rated, an exclusive system concentrates on a select set of vendors. Inclusive systems (such as EPEAT) are better because every manufacturer can get rated; if someone starts making LCD monitors in their garage tomorrow they can run through the scorecard and see how they stack up. Exclusive systems (Greenpeace, Climate Counts) focus on just a few companies, usually from a list they create themselves. This brings into question why that particular subset of the industry was chosen, and it is also difficult to change the group as time goes on - what would be the rationale?

Second, is the system participatory, meaning did the reviewees get a chance to comment on, and help create the rating system? For example, the EPA spent three years working with all the major computer vendors to create the EPEAT point-based rating system; Climate Counts did some of this it seems, and Greenpeace might have had a few meetings as well. However, I'm pretty sure the latter two didn't spend three years, and countless meetings with dozens of stakeholders developing their scorecards. Participatory standards have greater incentives for the manufacturers to participate, are generally more realistic, and have greater accountability as well.

Third, what is being measured and as a corollary, should you care? Treehugger's take on it is that Greenpeace rates environmental policy, Climate Counts rates greenhouse gas emissions, and EPEAT rates physical factors of particular products; choose the element(s) that are most important to you. Of course, some items such as revolutionary changes in design are missing from all the rating systems; Apple, for example, gets no credit for single-handedly creating the desktop publishing industry, saving billions of trees, or converting the entire music industry into digital format, saving billions of CD-ROMs. Again, if this is what you value you don't need a scorecard, you just follow the leader. :: Worldchanging :: Valleywag