Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

Amazon Web Services (AWS - part of amazon.com) was set up in 2006 to provide companies with "an infrastructure web services platform in the cloud" (is that where angels sit?). What we're actually talking about here is an on-demand computing resources provide through Amazon.com’s global infrastructure.

Anyway, the company revealed an interesting development on Wednesday (via a blog post) with the launch of the Amazon VPC. The service enables enterprises to connect their existing infrastructure to AWS resources via a Virtual Private Network and also extend existing in-house capabilities, such as security services, firewalls and intrusion detection systems, to include the AWS resources.


Amazon does not require any long-term contracts, minimum spend or up-front investments to use the service and customers pay-as-they-go only for the resources they use.

So what, I hear you ask, has this got to do with green IT? Well if it works (and its still only in beta, with limited availability) it can add significant flexibility to companies in managing infrastructure resources, for example;

- The service can bridge the gap between needing more infrastructure and having a new, under-used data centre, with all the energy use that entails.

- It can accommodate business or seasonal peaks and troughs, avoiding unnecessary investment in resources that are rarely used.

- Large data centres, such as those run by Amazon, are typically significantly more energy efficient (although I have no specific info on Amazon's achievements in that respect).

Amazon is not the only company offering online infrastructure resources, but this announcement adds to the flexibility and potential uptake. It's not going to save the world, but its a potential advance in green IT.

Dell CSR report

Dell has made its 2009 CSR report available. It covers the company's environmental responsibility, social responsibility and corporate accountability activities for the past financial year and outlines future goals. The summary report is available here.

In the environmental area, some of the main achievements the company claims include:

* Exceeding its commitment to recover 125 million kilograms of used computer equipment for responsible recycling.

* Reducing product packaging by more than 9.5 million pounds and introduced its first curbside recyclable product packaging.

* Expanding its portfolio of energy-efficient products, with 148 Energy Star-certified desktops, laptops, workstations, monitors, printers and multi-function devices.

* Completing 88 projects to save 17 million kWh of annualised electricity use, avoiding 4,300 tons of annualised green house gas emissions.

* Meeting a goal to become operationally carbon neutral last year (although it was only through using offsets, which is by no means ideal - we reported on this in a previous blog).


It all sounds pretty impressive, but I would encourage readers to look at the small print in CSR reports to see what's actually covered and how it's counted. Dell seems to be ahead of me on that one, though. The press release states "Dell engages a range of stakeholders to ensure the report delivers the level of transparency the industry expects. Again this year, Dell partnered with Ceres, a national network of investors, environmental organizations and public interest groups to receive feedback and input on Dell’s report and performance. The company also engaged philanthropy- and diversity-focused stakeholders for additional feedback". Can't argue with that.

The company is also devoting more web pages to CSR, with the relaunch of its corporate responsibility site (at http://www.dell.com/corporateresponsibility). The enhanced site has triple the number of pages and Dell says there is more content around sustainable operations, diversity and inclusion and greener products.

All this does show just how important it is to set targets, verify achievements and get the information out there (even if it is subject to some scrutiny, e.g. the offset question). As I've said in the past, transparency in green activity is important if you want to be taken seriously (and any sensible company will be looking to leverage the PR benefit anyway). The rivalry between companies to be seen as greenest has become an important part of climate change activity, particularly where legislation is moving at a snail's pace.

Carbonetworks launch

Last week Carbonetworks launched its Software as a Service (SaaS) Performance Management Platform. It's designed to help companies conduct energy, greenhouse gases (GHG) and sustainability initiatives.

The platform includes three solutions:

- Carbonetworks Carbon Information Manager for measuring and reporting on GHG, energy, waste and water usage

- Carbonetworks Enterprise for scenario planning, risk assessment, forecasting, etc.

- Carbonetworks Connect, which helps in creating measurable sustainability initiatives and also connects companies to partners who can help them achieve the targets.

In the press release Keith Modesitt, Director of Product Management for Carbonetworks, is quoted as saying “The Carbonetworks Performance Management Platform allows our customers to move beyond compliance reporting and create actionable strategies for managing carbon, GHG, energy, waste and water.”

This is certainly the way this competitive market is going. Just counting carbon is not going to be good enough, the scenario planning will be essential and pulling in waste and water is added value. Carbonetworks is a leading 'pure play' carbon management solution provider but there's lots of competition and much pressure will come from the ERP/finance solutions providers (SAP, Oracle, etc) who will be building out their own offerings.

Interestingly, the company also announced a consulting service, Carbonetworks Professional Services (CPS), to help customers "understand current carbon reporting compliances like the UK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), while helping them solve immediate technical problems such as data migration or interoperability and preparing them for future platform updates". I can't really see this as a long-term opportunity. The software should be counting the carbon, understanding and complying with legislation has to be an internal function in the longer term, and data issues are down to the IT department. But I guess lack of knowledge and awareness will generate business in the meantime.

Real-time emissions feed

There is no end to the amount of detail that may need to be incorporated into assessing a company's carbon emissions. For example, the conversion tables supplied by Defra in the UK provide 20 fuel types split by three greenhouse gases (each with a different conversion factor) to come up with a CO2e figure. In addition there are separate conversion tables for process emissions, passenger transport fuel, freight transport fuel, refrigeration and more. No wonder that the Carbon Emissions Management Software (CEMS) market is taking off.

Until now, though, anyone in the UK trying to understand the carbon impact of the electricity they use has only had a single static conversion factor for grams CO2 per kWh of electricity, updated a few times a year.

However, Real Time Carbon, a joint project by AMEE and Demand Logic limited, has launched an online, real-time carbon calculator which shows the grams of CO2 emitted per kWh of electricity currently being generated.



It's not just about more accurate recording of emissions. According to the web site "The aim is to encourage incorporation of the feed into embedded computing devices that already control electrical loads. That will include Building Management Systems that control heating, ventilation and air conditioning loads in commercial buildings".

It may seem over the top for most purposes at the moment, but every year achieving incremental emissions savings will be harder and harder and getting down to this sort of real time detail and using it to automatically control energy use is going to be inevitable. (There is also the potential to combine this with the increasing use of data centre power capping - of which more later - to reduce emissions).

Top green outsourcers

The annual research into outsourcing from the Brown-Wilson Group/Black Book Research has just been published. The research slices and dices the industry in various ways to produce a number of research reports, but one aspect is an analysis and rankings of the top 50 green outsourcing vendors.

The rankings are based on survey responses from vendors (around six areas of operational sustainability:

- The Black Book's own sustainability metrics, covering environmental protection, social improvements and
economic growth.

- UN Global Compact: Social and economic principles.

- UN Global Compact: Environmental principles.

- ISO 14000 environmental management standards.

- The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.

- The Green Sigma consulting offering which is based on the Lean Six Sigma efficiency criteria.

Anyway, the top twenty from the analysis were:

Xerox
Accenture
CSC
Capgemini
IBM Global
Oracle
HCL
Patni
WNS Global
Hewlett Packard/EDS
Aramark
Perot Systems
Logica
Wipro
SITEL
Mastech
Oce Business Services
SAP
CIBER
SAIC

I have some reservations about the rankings (for instance, Capgemini has a very country-based approach so where does the response refer to?) but there's a lot more detail and analysis in the report, which is available here and worth a look.

EPEAT geographical expansion

The Green Electronics Council, instigator of the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) programme, has announced an international EPEAT purchasing registry, which will allow manufacturers to list ‘green’ computers and monitors in 40 countries.

Launched in 2006, EPEAT has a registry of over 1,000 products from 30+ manufacturers. As we've pointed out before, it has a lot of weight because federal acquisition regulations in the US require federal agencies to purchase at least 95% EPEAT-registered products in relevant categories. Significantly, the standards have been increasingly widely adopted outside US government purchases and starting to be looked at by public sector buyers in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

Now, though, the EPEAT publicly-available registry enables electronics manufacturers to list green computers and monitors in each of 40 countries, i.e. products will be rated in each of these countries (rather than just the US). The expanded registration covers the US, Canada, various European countries, China, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Mexico.

The minimum registration, the EPEAT Bronze level, requires products to meet 23 environmental performance criteria. Depending on the number of 28 additional optional criteria the product meets it can be rated EPEAT Silver or EPEAT Gold, the highest level.

It's certainly a worthwhile expansion, since products are not the same in every country so the value has been limited outside the US. It's also having an impact. According to EPEAT, in 2007 registered products helped reduce use of toxic materials resulting in the elimination of 124,000 metric tons of hazardous waste and helped save approximately 42.2bn kWh of electricity.

This is going to give a significant boost to the adoption of EPEAT as a world standard for electronic product comparison, particularly in the public sector. Much will depend on acceptance in local markets, but EPEAT points out that the criteria on which products are judged are "determined by experts with a wide range of perspectives, including manufacturers, environmental advocates, public and private purchasers, researchers, recyclers, government officials and other interested parties. Growing participation by international stakeholders ensures that the system meets the needs of local purchasers and manufacturers".

How green is your supply chain?

The Business Performance Management (BPM) forum has carried out an online survey aimed at measuring how companies are managing the complexities of supply chain demands, distribution costs and environmental concerns. It's certainly going to be a complex challenge in the coming years.

The full report is here, but among the findings gleaned from the 125 responses was that a multitude of factors are putting pressure on executives responsible for managing the value chain, including the economic situation and corporate and industry environmental concerns.

In terms of managing the issues, the lack of transparency into the operations of complex supply chains may be hampering performance. In all, 60% of companies have none, very low or marginal visibility across all tiers and levels of their supply and value chain. Survey respondents identified the top business benefits of greater visibility as cost savings, better customer support, and environmental compliance, so this lack of visibility could be putting companies at a competitive disadvantage.

The survey also identified a need among supply chain professionals for better standards and key performance indicators for measuring sustainability levels of their supply chain partners. Two thirds or more don’t have goals or scorecards to measure supplier sustainability but see the need for adopting a standardized scoring system.

The respondents are expecting customers to put more green pressure on their providers. A total of 76% said their customers have not yet asked them to measure or reveal their carbon footprint, but two thirds expect to be asked in the next year

And finally, only 20% currently use a single, hosted platform that integrates all of their value chain network. Of those that do, 58% have seen an impact on value chain performance.

Clearly there is a need for better supply chain management software and suppliers are working on more comprehensive solutions that more closely address sustainability issues. It's a complex problem, though, with some sticky issues around the extent of company responsibility, product life cycle emissions, double counting, etc, so there is no quick and easy answer. IT solutions (and services) will continue to evolve in the coming years to match the environmental and sustainability demands.

British Gas home energy management trials

British Gas New Energy (BGNE), the division of Centrica launched to provide low-carbon and energy efficient products and services, and AlertMe.com, a smart energy and monitoring solutions company, have announced a collaboration around home energy management.

The two companies plan to trial a home energy management technology which is designed to help customers cut their energy consumption, save money and reduce household carbon emissions.

The AlertMe.com energy kit, which is the basis of the service, is connected to the internet and provides an online ability to measure and control individual appliances as well as measuring and managing overall energy usage. Home-owners can view the information and change settings. The system can also automatically optimise consumption, for example by turning off the heating when the house is empty or turning off appliances left on standby.

The first offering to be trialled will be an automated heating control system so that consumers can adjust their home heating at any time from the Web or a mobile phone. So householders can turn on their heating before they get home, or control it when away on holiday. The service could be made available to British Gas customers by the end of 2009.

It's a good opportunity for AlertMe, which secured £8m in Series B funding by investors Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners in June.

California plans for climate change

Most green IT discussions and actions are around reducing carbon emissions, but there is also a considerable role for the industry to play in helping companies manage the inevitable impacts of global warming.

A reminder of this role comes with the release of a discussion document from California's Natural Resources Agency looking at how the state should adapt.

Called '2009 California Climate Adaption Strategy', the document looks at the latest science on how climate change could impact the state and provides recommendations on how to manage those threats in seven sector areas: public health; biodiversity and habitat; ocean and coastal resources; water management; agriculture; forestry; and transportation and energy infrastructure

The press release points out that California’s ability to manage its climate risks is dependent upon a number of critical factors including; economic resources, technology, infrastructure, institutional support and effective governance, public awareness, access to the best available scientific information, sustainably-managed natural resources, and equity in access to these resources. There's a lot of ICT in there and it's going to be the cornerstone of much adaptation around the world.

Dell power calculator

Dell has launched what it calls the Dell Client Energy Savings Calculator, a tool for customers to estimate the energy consumed by a computer in a year and hence the operating cost.

The calculator is quite detailed, using information on the type of system, end user usage profile and some configuration settings. It lets you select energy saving features and compare the impact. It even accounts for the time that the system goes into low-power modes, during lunch or other breaks, which has an impact on energy used.


The tool does give greater granularity in calculating relative costs (although designed for Dell systems, in terms of the power management settings) but I can't help wondering whether purchasers really need (or want) this degree of detail.

New York delays e-waste law

New York's Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act was due to come into force at the end of July, but has been delayed after the US Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), and ITAC Systems, Inc. took legal action.

The new law, which was passed in February 2008, requires electronics manufacturers to accept electronic equipment from any person in New York City (NYC) for recycling or reuse. Electronics manufacturers are required to submit an Electronic Waste Management Plan for the collection, handling, and recycling or reuse of covered electronic equipment

The case centres on the fact that NYC is regulating businesses that may have no NYC operations and the costs may be passed on to consumers also outside the city. The NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has postpone the introduction of the law pending an injunction decision.

It just shows what a minefield environmental legislation is. On the face of it the law is a good thing, but manufacturers are only likely to go along with it if every city and country around the world introduces legislation at the same time, so there's a level playing field. This is effectively the issue at the Copenhagen conference at the end of the year, with many countries likely to say 'we're not cutting our emissions unless you do too'.

Google data centre does away with chillers

A couple of weeks ago Data Centre Knowledge reported that Google is now operating a data centre in Belgium that has no chillers to assist the cooling.

The company - which, as we have reported in the past, has some very high efficiency ratings for its data centres, as well as some novel ideas on how to power and cool them - is relying on 'free cooling', i.e. using the outside air. Apparently the climate in Belgium is such that free cooling is available almost all year round.

It's that 'almost' that's intriguing - what's the company going to do on those odd days (apparently around seven on average) when it is too hot?

Google says that it will turn off equipment as necessary to reduce temperatures and also shift the load to other data centres. It means the company will be watching the weather closely in the summer ready to take any necessary action.

But, as the article points out, it raises interesting possibilities. A company with the global data centre coverage that Google has could start to dynamically switch workloads to maximise savings from off-peak energy in different time zones - a 'follow-the-moon strategy'!

It's going to have to get more reactive, anyway. If Belgium has seven days when it's too hot now, what about when climate change starts to impact ...

GHG emissions factor problems

Best Foot Forward (BFF), a carbon accounting consultancy, apparently uncovered some errors in the new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions conversion factors issued by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) a couple of weeks ago.

The conversion factors are used to calculate carbon emissions from a variety of fuel types and sources. The errors in question were connected with factors for biofuels and aviation. The company apparently also raised other data and methodology concerns and queries with Defra/DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change). The main problems were quickly fixed and new tables published, but there still seems to be some outstanding queries.

This is a bit worrying. The conversion factors are the basis for all GHG calculations and there are a lot of them. They vary by fuel type, source, emissions type, by country and over time. In some countries (e.g. the US) factors can vary by region, supplier and even facility. If you're an international company tracking emissions over time, then a wrong factor can make a huge difference.

With so much depending on these factors being right (including the governments own legislation), lets hope some significant effort is being made to ensure errors don't get through again.

The lesson for users is to make sure you always have the latest figures. Better still, use an online Carbon Emissions Management (CEMS) solution that automatically accesses conversion databases.

UK public sector misses emissions targets

I've been saying for some time that the UK public sector has not been giving the lead on reducing emissions that you would expect, given the ambitious carbon reduction targets the government has set. Well that view has now been confirmed by a report from the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), which comprises 15 backbench MPs.

In its 'Greening Government' report the committee relayed the findings of the Sustainable Development Commission, which concluded that in 2007–08 the Government was not on track to meet its target for the reduction of carbon emissions from its own buildings. Whilst it was on target for recycling and for the sourcing renewable electricity, it performed less well than it had in the previous year.

The report notes "The ease with which the Government continues to meet some targets, even when its performance worsens, indicates the urgent need for the Government to set itself stringent targets that match the high level of ambition of its own policies on climate change and sustainable development".

It seems that only central government departments and their Executive Agencies are required to report their performance against the targets. "We urge the Government to extend a system of targets and monitoring to the wider public sector, including its outsourced operations" (my italics).

The UK government is certainly going to have to get tougher in setting and managing emissions targets in the public sector, which means that there is likely to be more ICT demands to achieve efficiencies in a sector that has been the prime UK market opportunity for some time.

The comment on outsourcing could also implications for some of the existing major IT services contracts, such as Capgemini/HMRC and the troubled BT/CSC NHS contracts.

Smart grid dangers

Whilst smart grids seem to be moving ahead, there have been reservations expressed by various parties.

One danger, raised in a US House Science subcommittee meeting on smart grids (according to ScienceNews), is the impact of electromagnetic pulses (EMP). These are are often associated with nuclear weapons or a major explosion and effectively knock out all electrical and electronics systems through a voltage surge. It would 'only' take a small, nuclear warhead detonated overhead to knock out a vast power system, it was claimed by one Republican congressman at the hearing.

A different issue is around the privacy of smart grid users. thestar.com reports the concerns of Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's information and privacy commissioner, after 179,000 Toronto Hydro e-billing accounts were illegally accessed last week. Cavoukian, commented that it is a warning to utilities who are beginning to modernise their networks.

Her comments came in the light of Google's plan to work with Toronto Hydro to demonstrate PowerMeter, Google's residential energy management tool, and the need to ensure that personal information is protected.

Valid concerns, but it seems to be that they're no more relevant to smart grids than to any other aspect of systems that rely on ICT. For instance, if the analyst firms are to be believed we'll all be relying on cloud computing and the 'Internet of things' in a few years anyway, so you won't need to knock out the grid, just the internet.

Ofgem's green proposals

In its proposals for the Distribution Price Control review for 2010-2015, Ofgem, the UK gas and electricity regulator, has included a new £500m Low Carbon Networks Fund for large-scale trials of advanced technology and commercial initiatives.

The proposed fund (worth £100m a year for five years) will support trials of smart grids and new commercial arrangements with customers. These capabilities are seen as necessary to help the networks accommodate growth in local generation, electric vehicle use and other developments anticipated in a low-carbon economy.

Whilst the expectation is that the main demands for these capabilities will not be before 2015, Ofgem believes that the likely extent of change and the time needed to install new equipment means the suppliers should act now.

It's certainly going to be a long process to get an effective smart grid up and running, so the sooner the investment starts the better.

Sun and Emerson partner for green data centres

Sun Microsystems and business continuity specialist Emerson Network Power have announced a global sales alliance aimed at providing organisations with the techniques and technologies to increase the productivity and energy efficiency of data centres.

Sun's data centre efficiency consultants will work with Emerson's local Liebert (an Emerson subsidiary) power, cooling and services specialists to assess, develop and maintain solutions. The companies will jointly deliver both the plans and products and services for improved data center productivity and efficiency.

Amy O'Connor, vice president of marketing, Sun Services, said, "Data centre efficiency is a leading priority for our customers and our alliance with Emerson will help enable us to collaboratively assess a customer's current IT operations and identify opportunities to increase productivity and improve efficiency of the data centre. Together, we'll help customers minimize capital investments that can be used to fund changes based on the savings from operational costs—an appealing approach in today's economy."

With the opportunities in the market around the greening of data centres, this alliance makes perfect sense for both parties. But it shows how, when it comes to all things green, you need to bring together expertise to get the best solution. A few years ago Sun, as a business solutions provider, might not have wanted to be too closely associated with a company like Liebert that 'just' sells things like cooling or UPS systems. Now it's an advantage.

France looks to a carbon tax

The panel of experts that were looking into proposals for a French carbon tax (which we reported back in June) has proposed that the country should aim to introduce a scheme by 2010, according to a Reuters report.

Under the plan, France would charge 32 euros ($46) for every ton of carbon dioxide emitted in 2010 and lift the tax progressively to 100 euros by 2030. The tax will affect all sectors that are not part of existing emissions trading programmes, but the government has pledged to offset any tax with cuts elsewhere.

The tax is expected to bring in 8-9bn euros, divided roughly equally between households and businesses, the report said, although the level of the tax will be one of the key points under discussion. However, the plan has already come under criticism from intensive fuel users such as farmers and fishermen.

The report is expected to provide the basis for legislation, due to be debated after the summer break. It's part of France's aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2050.

There's a long way to go, but carbon taxes are gaining ground in Europe. Sweden, which currently holds the European Union presidency, is expected to present an EU-wide carbon tax plan shortly and Denmark and Norway already have carbon taxes in place.