a sustainable innovation and knowledge portal
Personal Mission
Welcome to a website portal focused on introducing information about Sustainability practices, Innovation, and Knowledge Sharing. These links are the "jumping off points" to new knowledge, information and inventive principles; methods and means to spreading the wealth of all knowledge around - planting the seeds in others around the globe so that they, in turn might learn, grow and become our teachers.
"All people are connected through no more than 7 degrees of separation - and so it is with all information. Let us expand our collective knowledge by exploring those connections and build our teaching tools!"
Wikis are an excellent way to open up the sharing of information to the widest possible audience and that is why I'm leveraging them as much as possible. Feel free to quote or link to the information provided here (just please provide appropriate reference - like you would on Wikipedia).
Notable BLOG Posts
Green IT Innovation - Data Center Efficiencies to reduce Carbon Footprint - Part 3
By Todd Rawlings
The Green Data Center - Greening Up your Data Center from the Inside Out.
Part 1 and 2 of this series dealt with server consolidation and access to green energy as ways to help reduce your company’s carbon footprint. This article gives you front-line knowledge about Data Center energy efficiency changes that really work and don’t require large capital investment.
Every DC is different, so we’ll focus on general things that should work no matter how your DC is configured. One of the best places to start is getting a LEED assessment of your building(s). The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. This assessment will provide you with a baseline report with current and potential scores based on criteria like whether your air conditioning has an economizer mode.
The bank where I worked had an assessment done for our DCs and it identified several quick and inexpensive changes:
- Monitor computer room humidity and program all AC units to operate in a way that prevents them from “fighting” each other (one unit humidifies while another dehumidifies).
- Measure the cycling of AC units within your cross connect and high density rooms so that only the units required for cooling the load are operating, leaving the remaining units in a standby mode. Be sure to switch “lead” and “backup” AC units on a regular basis to avoid over-stressing one unit.
- Conduct a raised floor survey to verify floor cut-outs and penetrations are plugged and hot-cold aisles are configured correctly; resolve as necessary. This will need to be monitored and changed as your DC configuration morphs over time.
- Check your server operating specs; you can often increase the raised floor ambient temperature and broaden your humidity set points.
- Replace 30W fluorescent bulbs with 25W and turn off lights where no work is being done.
- Utilize the power saving abilities on technology equipment. Many items don’t need to be running at full power 24/7, so have your staff look for opportunities (i.e., monitors can be allowed to turn off completely during non-use, new servers and power supplies will draw only the electricity they need).
Green IT Innovation - Data Center Efficiencies to reduce Carbon Footprint - Part 2
By Todd Rawlings
Access to Renewably-Generated Electricity – A Key Criterion for your next Data Center
Electricity is the most important energy resource your Data Center (DC) will need for operations. At the company where I helped lead Green IT efforts, one of our typical DCs consumed $650,000 of electricity each year (more than 13 million kilowatts) and, like every DC; we needed a reliable source because you never want to be running off your uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) or diesel generators very long. Add in your goal to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and you begin to understand the challenge that finding the right location can pose.
Green IT Innovation - Data Center Efficiencies to reduce Carbon Footprint - Part 1
By Todd Rawlings
When most IT managers think of DC efficiency, they jump right to the topics making the most headlines, “Strategic hot and cold server rows, high efficiency power supplies, LEED certification analysis and building retrofits, etc.” Yes, I’ll cover those things in some detail in Part 3, but one of the most effective and least costly ways to cut your total electricity usage (and therefore your company’s cabon footprint) is to reduce the overall number of servers you’re using and especially strive to phase out older model servers.
Nine Keys to a Successful Green Ideas Program - Inside Your Company
By Todd Rawlings
Back in 2007, before the great mortgage crisis, bank failures, acquisitions and the like, I worked for a leading U.S. bank with more than 50,000 employees, "Fair, Caring, Human, Dynamic and Driven" as their core values in an award-winning IT division with more than 2000 technology professionals nationwide.
...I knew taking a leadership role in this Green Tech program would enable me to have a more immediate positive impact. I could think of no better way to act locally than to help my own company become more sustainable . . . so I volunteered to get the Green Ideas and Green Technology Program started. Now I'm going to share our lessons learned so you can get your own program started faster and with more success!