Envirowheel – Scotland’s first environmental business support portal

Scotland’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change has launched an online portal for environmental business support. The Scottish Envirowheel (yes – that’s what it’s called) is an online tool for Scottish businesses to identify sources of environmental advice and information.

The portal was created by Scottish Business in the Community, BT Scotland and the 2020 Climate Group, with help from the Carbon Trust, Energy Saving Trust, Zero Waste Scotland, SEPA and Scottish Enterprise, as a starting point for Scottish businesses to find out more about key areas of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Delivery Plan.

 

 

The interactive Envirowheel identifies and provides links to help in six areas: energy, transport, waste & water, behaviour change, finance & legislation and business improvement. In each section there is more content on a range of sub-topics, including case studies and training courses.

The tool includes design elements so that it can be tailored for individual businesses and the Envirowheel can also be embedded in other web sites to spread the message.

 

A good idea – information and education are a vital part of helping businesses become more environmentally aware and an online portal must be a great way of doing it (using social media might also be  good idea – how about an iPhone app?). A snappier name would have helped, though - I suspect the design came before the name.

Greening UK government ICT – strategy released

Earlier this year the UK government set out its ‘Greening Government Commitments’ with the aim of building sustainability into all central government departments. It has now set out how ICT will be used to achieve these aims in a report called ‘Greening Government: ICT Strategy’. The report and associated documents are available here.

The document sets out the green ICT commitments and actions that central government departments and their agencies will take over the next four years. The strategy takes into account the dual role of ICT as both part of the problem and the solution – enabling a reduction in carbon emissions in the way government operates and provides services.

Greening the ICT infrastructure

The report considers four areas of greening the IT operation itself, much of which has already been proposed in previous publications on the subject.

• In terms of operations, the report reaffirms the use of a government applications store, consolidating data centres and the use of cloud computing, better management of end-user devices, and migration to the Public Services Network (PSN).

• The government is looking to work with suppliers to ensure greener design and manufacture.

• In procurement, consideration of both financial and green total costs of ownership.

• Ensure the reuse or refurbishment of surplus equipment – for instance in donating surplus equipment to benefit “Big Society” initiatives.

Exploit ICT to Green government operations

The government wants to ensure that ICT is used to enable change, such as:

• encouraging end-users to use ICT more efficiently

• reducing travel through teleconferencing and collaboration tools

• using less consumables, such as paper

• streamlining business operations

• promoting smarter ways of working, including flexible and remote working.

Exploiting ICT to Green public services

The Government believes it is essential to transform public services to make them more sustainable, which means a fundamental shift in the way services are delivered.

Under the digital and transformation agenda, there has already been progress in this area, for instance in making it possible to pay the council tax online, access local information via texts and information maps and make hospital and doctors’ surgery appointments via the internet, etc.

 

The strategy document also gives a new organisational structure for delivering green ICT in central government and has come up with tools and a methodology for assessing progress.

The Green ICT Maturity Assessment Model is a framework to benchmark progress across the whole of government. Each government department and office is required to track and report its maturity level, which covers ICT Services, ICT Technology, ICT Change and Exploiting ICT.

 

It’s quite a detailed document, but I’m not sure how much further it takes us than has been published already. It primarily sets out what needs to be done, rather than how it’s going to achieve it, so a lot will be down to the on-going assessment of departmental progress to ensure they continue with their own green initiatives.

There is, though, a specific list of commitments and actions and delivery timescales at the end of the report. It gives a number of checkpoints through to 2015 that departments, and the government as a whole, will need to meet.

The most reassuring thing is that the use of ICT as an enabler is prominent in the strategy. The government has made it clear that it sees IT as part of the solution and not just the problem. Nor is there any mention of government ICT being carbon neutral, the nonsensical target of the previous administration, which has, hopefully, been quietly dropped.

See you at Green IT Expo tomorrow

I’ll be at the Green IT Expo in London tomorrow listening to what should be some interesting presentations – hope to see you there.

If you want to discuss all things green ICT then grab me – always happy to talk.

IBM analytics determines wind turbine placement

Danish energy company Vestas Wind Systems plans to use IBM software and systems to help improve wind turbine placement, a major challenge for the renewable energy industry. Vestas believes that improving turbine positioning will speed up the adoption of wind energy internationally and help the company expand into new markets. 

Vestas will use IBM BigInsights software and "Firestorm" supercomputer to analyse petabytes of structured and unstructured data. The data includes weather reports, tidal phases, geospatial and sensor data, satellite images, deforestation maps and weather modelling research, which all comes together to ascertain optimum turbine placement.

IBM InfoSphere BigInsights software is the result of a four years development by IBM Research. It’s powered by the open source technology Apache Hadoop and provides a framework for large scale parallel processing and the ability to enable "what-if" scenarios. When applied to the turbine placement problem, analysis that used to take weeks can now be done in less than one hour.

When the turbine is up and running the software and supercomputer will continue to be used to predict performance, analyse how each blade reacts to weather changes and determine the best times to schedule maintenance.

 

There are ambitious government targets for renewable energy production across Europe, so any technology that helps speed up the process is a help. Using heavyweight data analysis in this way should not only make things quicker, but also add more certainty to predictions of energy production and return on investment from specific turbine placements. That in turn should help in the planning application process, the biggest obstacle to onshore wind farms in the UK.

There will be increasing demand for any green ICT solutions that can help speed up renewable deployment (including the Bluesky research I  mentioned previously). IBM’s solution is just one example at the top end of the IT spectrum.

Bluesky secures €2.4m for renewable energy suitability project

UK-based aerial mapping company Bluesky has won a €2.4m grant to fund research into the development of a web-based renewable energy rating platform. The idea is to use geographic data to assess how suitable individual buildings are for solar energy generation and create a portal to deliver the results online.

Bluesky has made a name for itself by producing thermal maps that local Councils in the UK can use to help address fuel poverty, improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. This research, which goes under the name of “Development and demonstration of a dynamic, web based, renewable energy rating platform” is funded by the European Commission.

The research will initially use geographic data, such as aerial photography and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging – a Radar-like technology) to assess how suitable a property is for producing renewable energy. It will also look at ways that other data can be incorporated. The other aspect of the project is to create a web site that can deliver the results to energy companies, government organisations and others across the EU.

The initially focus is solar generation, but other types of renewable energy generation, such as wind power and ground source heat pumps, are expected to be added.

The company is working with a number of other organisations across Europe on the project, including the Solar Trade Association in the UK, Svensk Solenergi of Sweden, Solar Macedonia, Alemanys Saludes Asociados from Spain as well as the Universities of Leicester, Karlsruhe in Germany and Selcuk in Turkey.

 

The first question that any householder has when considering energy saving actions is whether their property is suitable for generating renewable energy, and if so, by what method. The stories of inappropriate systems being installed (solar panels on north-facing roofs, etc) abound. So the availability of some online information which could be used by individual property owners is a great idea. (I would certainly pay for an unbiased snapshot of my house’s potential).

It will be interesting to see what data is included and, hence, how detailed and accurate the assessment is. It’s not going to be perfect, but it just needs to fit requirements of usability, affordability and accuracy. Potentially a great Green IT application, and led by a UK company as well!

Data centre systems rough it and survive

According to a report in InfoWorld recently, a data centre has been running in a generator shed without any problems. In an experiment that has been running for nine months – from winter through to autumn – the servers, networking infrastructure and storage systems have shown better uptime than Google or Amazon.

Apparently there is a heater for the generator that creates some warmth in the shed, but apart from that it’s subject to the outside temperature and humidity. The test has been carried out by David Filas, a data centre engineer at the healthcare company Trinity Health, to show that IT equipment is tougher than most people think. The aim is to get Trinity Health to to raise the temperature in their data centres, despite a reluctant IT department.

It’s not a completely original move. Microsoft carried out a similar experiment running five HP servers in a tent from November 2007 to June 2008. The company reported 100% uptime.

 

It’s a tough one, this. If you are increasingly reliant on 24/7 systems availability they don’t want to take any risks. The manufacturers are going to play safe in specifying temperatures because they don’t want to get sued. So it’s really down to companies themselves to see what works, and they’re not going to do that unless there is a good reason.

What’s needed is a cost benefit analysis – what are the cost savings of turning up the data centre heat versus any additional risk of downtime. That might make people think about it a bit more. Where a potential risk is involved there has to be a financial incentive to make any changes.

Has anyone done any calculations?

Uptime Institute lets down climate savers

The Uptime Institute has started a competition to see who can remove most unused servers from their data centre. According to the Institute there will be two winners, one for most IT equipment removed and one for the largest percentage of IT equipment taken out. “We don’t care how you get there … Just unplug and decommission those machines”.

The idea is to save energy. The Institute believes that 10% of most companies’ servers are probably doing nothing, so wasting power and cooling resources. Just taking out one rack server can save $500 per year in energy, another $500 in software licenses and $1,500 in hardware maintenance costs, says the organisation.

Unfortunately, though, the emphasis seems to be entirely on cost savings, with little regard to the carbon emissions implications. The competition is focused on getting rid of “out-of-date, obsolete servers” with no thought to the embedded carbon in the devices. You just need to show that the servers are no longer plugged in and provide the UPS output readings before and after the change to prove the energy savings.

The fact that the promotional blurb describes this as more than just “shaving a point off your PUE” just highlights the shortcomings of the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) as a carbon-saving measure. The PUE only measures the efficiency of power use in the data centre.

According to a paper last December from researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Green Design Institute, there is more carbon generated in the manufacture and delivery of an IBM rack-mounted server than there is in its entire lifetime of use. The best way to save the planet is to maximise the use of devices by reusing them elsewhere, if possible, or otherwise ensuring proper recycling, so as to minimise the carbon required to build a new one. Electronic Product Stewardship and waste disposal schemes around the world emphasise the importance of reuse and recycling in reducing carbon emissions.

Unfortunately, this competition is primarily focused on saving power costs by decommissioning servers, with little reference (as far as I can see) to what happens to them next. A golden opportunity missed. With hardware manufacturers working hard to minimise the carbon footprint of products, the Uptime Institute could have helped.

If you want to enter the competition, the winners will receive free passes to the Uptime Institute Symposium next year. But do, please, ensure that decommissioned equipment is disposed of in the most carbon-efficient way.

ICT firms excel in Newsweek’s green company rankings

In Newsweek’s latest rankings of green companies, one of the most noticeable aspects is the number of ICT organisations that dominate the top-end of the rankings. For the US list, IBM is in top place, with six other ICT companies in the top 10. The global list is only a little less impressive, with five ICT businesses in the top 10.

The scores from which the rankings are derived are based on three components. Environmental impact accounts for 45% of the total score and is a measure of the company’s overall environmental footprint. Environmental management assesses each firm’s environmental policies, programmes and targets, as well as products and services, and also makes up 45% of the score. The remaining 10%, a new aspect added this year, is for reporting and transparency around environmental data. Two sets of rankings were produced, one listing the top 500 green US companies and one for global companies.

For the greenest US companies IBM tops the list. Also in the top 10 are HP (2), Sprint Nextel (3), Dell (5), Accenture (7), CA Technologies (9) and Nvidia (10). A total of 12 ICT companies were listed in the top 25.

For the Global list, IBM was in second place, followed by BT Group (6), Tata Consulting Services (7), Infosys (8) and Swisscom (10). In all there were 14 ICT companies in the top 25.

Looking at the top 25 Global rankings by nationality, while there are more US companies than from any other country – four in all – after IBM in second place the next greenest US ICT company is in 15th place (HP). By comparison, India has two companies in the top 25 of the Global green list, but they are in seventh and eighth place – an impressive showing. All other countries have just one ICT player in the top 25 – UK, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Germany, Finland, Korea and Italy.

 

ICT companies come in for a lot of stick because their products and services consume a lot of energy, but the Newsweek assessment helps redress the balance. The industry does seem to be putting in the effort to be at least above average in their green efforts.

Of course it’s not just for altruistic reasons. The industry is very aware of how important green ICT is in achieving a low-carbon economy and hence the business opportunities in the future. Making the company and its products and services as green as possible is a potential differentiator in winning that business. No bad thing, though.

Global investors come out for climate change policy action

A group of 285 investors around the world, representing assets of more than $20 trillion, have released a statement saying that they believe climate change presents major long-term risks to the global economy and to the assets in which they invest. But they also say that long-term climate change and clean energy policies present significant opportunities for investors, creating new jobs and businesses, technological innovation, and a foundation for economic recovery and growth.

The statement points out that massive investment in low-carbon energy will be required. But there will only be sufficient private investment if there is a clear, credible and long-term policy framework that incentivises investment in low-carbon technologies.

To attract private sector investment, governments need to:

• Ensure that effective policies exist. These should include(among other things) clear GHG emissions reductions targets, comprehensive energy and climate change policies, support for renewable energy generation and adaptation measures to reduce unavoidable climate impacts.

• Ensure that the policies are well designed. So, for example, there should be appropriate incentives to invest and recognition that scale is essential in enabling low-carbon investment to be more cost-effective. Policies should also be transparent and long-term – large-scale investors need policy certainty.

• Ensure relevant regulatory bodies are in place with sufficient resources and the authority to ensure that climate change and related energy policies are effectively implemented.

The statement goes on to say that an international climate change regime is critically important. It would signal serious international resolve to tackle climate change, promote confidence that government commitments will be delivered and provide a forum for governments to encourage more ambitious national actions.

 

It’s curious that governments often back away from climate change legislation on the grounds that it would impact their industry competitiveness. By comparison, companies and investors see the potential negative impact of climate change on their businesses and the opportunities of a future green economy and look to governments to put the appropriate policies in place. A lot of that future relies on the enabling capabilities of green ICT.

An independent measure for storage system power efficiency launched

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has announced the release of its Emerald Power Efficiency Measurement Specification and Program. The Emerald Measurement Specification is an independent method for measuring storage power efficiency and the Emerald Program provides an industry–wide database of measured test data.

It’s part of the SNIA’s Green Storage Initiative (GSI), which is looking for ways to make storage technologies more energy efficiency and to minimise the environmental impact of storage. The Specification has been a collaboration between more than 25 member companies.

The Measurement Specification is in several parts:

• Taxonomy: An industry–wide means of segmenting storage systems that will be used to categorise the test results.

• Test Methodology: A detailed methodology for testing various types of storage systems with load generators and power measurement instruments.

• Test Metrics – Both for an Idle Measurement Test, when storage systems are powered up but not doing anything, and for an Active Measurement Test, where storage products are in an “active” state and processing requests for data transfer.

The SNIA Emerald Program website will provide the resources needed to carry out the tests and submit storage system power usage and efficiency test results. The Program is available to anyone, not just members. HP and IBM, both SNIA GSI members, have apparently already submitted test results for their commonly used data centre storage systems.

 

 

The market for data storage systems has been growing rapidly in recent years and storage can account for as much as a quarter of the power used in data centres. So storage is becoming an increasing green IT focus. Storage virtualisation is growing and tiered storage promises to help keep a lid on costs and emissions, but these technologies and practices can only use the hardware that’s on the market.

This independent measure of power efficiency from the SNIA should put renewed focus on the storage hardware vendors themselves to improve power efficiency. Well done to HP and IBM for leading the way.

UK companies are recycling IT waste, but not sending it for reuse

A month ago Computer Aid, a not for profit organisation that provides refurbished PCs to developing countries, released the findings of research into how companies dispose of their IT and why. The headline findings were that:

• 1 in 5 senior IT decision makers in the UK are “not confident” that none of their company’s unwanted IT goes to landfill. In fact only 65% were confident or very confident that all their unwanted IT avoided being sent to landfill.

• Only 14% follow best practice IT disposal and send their working IT for reuse.

• 83% of those who don’t reuse would like to do so if possible.

• On average, 542 PCs are disposed of per large company per year. Typically, UK companies replace their base units every 3.7 years and their monitors every four years.

The research was based on responses from 100 senior IT decision makers in UK companies with 1,000 or more employees.

Encouragingly, 83% of respondents state that their company is compliant with the WEEE Directive – the legislation aimed at reducing the volume of e-waste generated and the promotion of reuse, recycling and recovery of working equipment. The down side is that 13% had never heard of the Directive at all. This at a time when the WEEE Directive is being revised – tougher e-waste rules are working their way through European legislation even now.

Recycling IT equipment is the preferred option for disposal among respondents, with 28% recycling all of their IT and 41% recycling more than half. But only 14% follow best practice in IT disposal (and the preferred disposal method specified in the WEEE Directive) and send all their working computers for reuse and recycle the rest. Among the rest, 63% cite data protection concerns as a reason for avoiding reuse. Cost is a factor with 53%, while 24% suggested that contractual obligations to a leasing company prevented them from doing so.

© The Green IT Review (www.thegreenitreport.com)

Electric car charging managed by smartphone – IBM pilot

IBM Research is working with EKZ, the electricity provider in Zurich in Switzerland, on a pilot project that will allow consumers to manage the charging of their electric vehicles using mobile devices. The IBM app, which runs on most smartphones, tablets and web browsers, brings together information from the vehicle, the utility provider and the driver.

Using the application electric vehicle owners can use their mobile device to check whether their car’s battery level is sufficient for its next journey. The app can also be programmed to start battery charging at a particular time, for example when rates are lowest or when a trip is planned.

IBM has developed the web-based app, which uses a data recording device created by the Zurich University. The device was installed in several electric vehicles to collect information on battery charge level, location and the power source. This monitoring capability not only helps the electric vehicle user, but also provides the utility with insight into energy generation and consumption, which can help to better manage power loads during peak charging times.

Electric vehicles can be used to buffer the irregular production of electricity from renewable sources and create a balance between supply and demand. The app even allows vehicle owners to delegate the responsibility of recharging the battery to the utility provider, which can schedule charges based on the availability of renewable resources, such as sun and wind. The pilot project transmits real-time production data from photovoltaic solar panels to the cloud service, so that the vehicle is charged when solar electricity is being produced.

In this way the project could help Switzerland achieve its goal of increasing the proportion of electricity produced from renewable energy by up to 10% of the country's present-day electricity consumption by 2030.  (Approximately 55% of Switzerland's electricity production already comes from renewable sources).

 

In sounds futuristic, but it’s not. Smart grids are coming and electric vehicles are coming – there’s a significant inter-dependency between the two. And electric vehicle users will need to be confident about remaining vehicle range, when and where to recharge, costs, etc. Its ICT that will bring all this together in a familiar and easily accessible solution – there’s nothing that fits the bill better than a smartphone app. This is the sustainable future that is only really going to work thanks to green IT.

(PS The press release says that the system will ‘allow consumers to conveniently charge electric vehicles and monitor their energy costs using mobile devices’. Charge an electric car with a smartphone? That’s further off!)

Half of US data centres are using natural cooling

Research published by the Green Grid, a non-profit consortium working to improve data centre efficiency, shows that 49% of data centres in the US are now using natural cooling to save energy and cost. Another 24% said they are considering doing the same in the near future. The average savings were 20% on energy costs and 7% on maintenance costs.

The results come from a survey on the use of economisers – cooling devices that take advantage of outdoor conditions to provide all or some of the data centre cooling, reducing the need for refrigeration. Economisers are either air-driven, with cool air blown straight into the facility or using heat exchangers to cool the outside air first, or they use the outside air to help chill the water used to create the cool air inside the data centre itself.

Despite the savings, it seems that the economisers are not being used as much as they could be. They were only used around 80% of the time they would be effective due to concerns about switching between the economiser and other mechanical cooling systems and the maintenance of the economiser itself.

The main barrier to using economisers was the difficulty in retrofitting existing facilities, reliability concerns and initial installation costs. But the level of satisfaction suggests the effort is worth it, with 80% saying they would recommend economiser use.

The survey was conducted in early 2011. A total of 115 people responded, all familiar with their data centres’ cooling system. Only those with data centres larger than 2,500 square feet were asked to participate because of the low likelihood of economisation being used in smaller facilities. Of those that responded, half had data centres smaller than 25,000 and the rest were larger. Most data centres (90%) were located in the US, with 6% in Europe.


It’s good news, although a bit of a surprise, that economisers are being used so much – a major contributor to green IT in the data centre. Of course the amount of time they can be effective depends on outside air temperature, so will vary considerably. Looking at the report itself, the data suggests that over 60% of data centres have the economisers on for less than half the year.

Even when they are on they will mostly only be partially contributing to cooling. Even so, I would have expected to see some impact on power usage effectiveness (PUE), the Green Grid data centre metric that compares total data centre power use with the power required to drive the IT equipment. The less cooling power used the lower (and better) the PUE. But while over 70% of respondents reported their PUE, the report found that there was no statistically significant difference between the PUE reported by those who use economisers and by those who don’t.

You would think the 20% savings in energy costs would show up in a reduced PUE. The study notes that ‘The lack of correlation does not seem to affect owners’ satisfaction with economisers or the perceived savings in an individual application of economisers’. It does rather suggest that either the economisers savings are over-estimated or the PUE calculations are out. Either way, it’s something that the Green Grid plans to investigate further.

Wireless technology is good for the environment – US report

A report looking at the environmental opportunities and challenges of the use of wireless technology in the US has found that innovative wireless applications can reduce costs and benefit the environment. The study focused on the areas of transport, utilities, agriculture, and public services, but found environmental benefits in almost every industry.

By way of example, in the transportation sector, responsible for more than 40% of carbon emissions, wireless technology applied to fleet management alone has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 36 million metric tons — the equivalent of removing six million passenger vehicles from the road. In the agriculture sector, soil-monitoring sensors are providing farmers with valuable information that helps them control the amount of water, fertilizer, and pesticides that they use, saving resources and minimising the use of chemicals. Wireless technology is also an important enabler of smart grids, which have the potential to reduce carbon emissions in the US by 360 million metric tons.

As well as businesses, consumers are also using wireless technology in ways that can benefit the environment. For instance, in San Francisco they are using wireless technology to find scarce parking spaces, which helps them save on fuel and prevent the wear and tear on their vehicles.

The report, available here, was commissioned by CTIA – The Wireless Association, the international body representing the wireless telecommunications industry. The work was done by BSR, a membership organisation focused on developing sustainable business strategies and solutions.

 

Well I think we already knew that wireless technology was an essential part of Green ICT. Back in 2008 the Smart 2020 report estimated the emissions savings that all of ICT could achieve would reach 15% of global emissions in 2020, five times more than the emissions from the entire ICT sector at that time. But this study is more specific in its approach and its nice to hear confirmation from a US-based source.

The report is pretty thorough in covering what wireless technology can achieve. It also looks at some of the negative impacts resulting from an increase in use of wireless technology, including the growing demand for wireless hardware that’s replaced every year (thanks Apple!) and an increase in the number of bird deaths caused by mobile phone towers.

Microsoft loses its way on the path to lower carbon emissions

In its 2011 Citizenship report Microsoft owns up to being behind in its plans to reduce carbon emissions. The company reports that in 2010 the greenhouse gas emissions it counted were up almost 16% to 1,502,736 metric tons CO₂e. The growth by type of emission was:

• Scope 1 (direct emissions) up 14%

• Scope 2 (indirect - electricity) up 11%

• Scope 3 (indirect – air travel only) up 40%

The company’s focus is in reducing emissions in three areas 
of operations seen as having the greatest potential for emissions reductions: data centres, travel, and facilities. But despite the actions taken, Microsoft has fallen behind in it’s target.

 

 

The goal is to reduce carbon emissions per unit of revenue by 30% (from 2007 levels) by 2012. No details were given of overall progress to date, but with emissions up almost 16% in calendar 2010 and revenue up just 12% for the financial year to June 2011, it looks like emissions per unit of revenue took a step backwards.

It’s no surprise, then, that the company is ‘developing new strategies to meet our goal’ - I look forward to hearing more.

 

At least Microsoft has published detailed emission figures, even if it is a bit cagey about progress towards targets. Apple hasn’t even done that. In its 2011 Global 500 Report the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) lists Apple as one of the top 10 largest non-responders by market capitalisation. Strangely, the company did answer the CDP questionnaire in 2010 but in 2011 it declined to participate. Shame.

UK Government launches a biomass carbon calculator

The UK Government has launched a Biomass and Biogas Carbon Calculator designed to help bioenergy producers report to Ofgem for compliance with the requirements of the Renewables Obligation Order. The Order places an obligation on licensed electricity suppliers in the UK to source an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources.

The software, developed by E4tech, calculates the greenhouse gas emissions of generation plants fuelled with solid biomass and biogas. It can also produce annual reporting tables, which should help electricity generators report the carbon intensity of their electricity to Ofgem on an annual basis.

The software is based on the calculation methodology set out in the European Commission's Renewable Energy Directive. E4tech developed the Calculator with input from generators, trade associations and representatives from the farming, forestry and waste sectors. The project is supported by the Environment Agency, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the NNFCC, and the Calculator is available on Ofgem's website.

The Green IT Alliance formed in France

A number of companies have come together in France to form the Green IT Alliance (agit). The overall aim is to help companies reduce their IT carbon footprint and to develop IT solutions that make their organisations more sustainable.

The group wants to educate users on green IT issues, get involved in the creation of standards and regulations, promote innovative approaches to Green IT, share best practice and fight greenwashing.

The Board of Directors consists of the three founding members, Tristan Labaume, founder of Greenvision, Thierry Rudowski, Co-founder of Zen'to, and Frédéric Bordage, who is an independent consultant and the man behind GreenIT.fr.

It’s an independent, non-commercial organisation open to any organisation providing Green IT services or solutions or wishing to contribute to the development of Green IT in France. Members already recruited include APC, APIS Engineering, Bluelight, Deal-Force, Ecologic, Evernity, Interexion, Markexpanciel, Optical Data Center (ODC), PCI and Sequovia.

Use of electrical gadgets threatens UK’s carbon reduction targets

According to a report from the UK’s not-for-profit Energy Saving Trust released last week, Britain’s love of electrical appliances and gadgets could result in the country missing its carbon emission reduction targets.

It seems that UK households now own three-and-a-half times as many electrical appliances and devices as 20 years ago. With a target of 34% reduction in domestic appliance carbon emissions by 2020 (from 1990 levels), at the current course and speed the UK will overshoot by some seven million tons.

The Elephant in the Living Room (an update on a previous report called The rise of the machines) covers a variety of devices – lighting, refrigeration, cooking, washing, consumer electronics and home computing. It points out that between 2000 and 2009, electricity use from home computing more than doubled, from 3.1TWh to 6.5TWh. In that time the number of devices in British homes – including desktop and laptop computers, and peripherals like scanners, printers, disk drives – rose from 30 million to 65 million.

 

 

Energy consumed by home computing is now expected to rise slightly less than thought in the previous report five years ago, to reach 6.9TWh by 2020. Included in the reasons for the lower target were the consolidation of functionality in fewer devices, the move to LCD and LED screens, and the move to laptops, which are inherently more power efficient.

 

The real problem here is the proliferation of gadgets. The report points out that increasing functionality within existing devices may mean more power consumption and the divergence in device types adds to the problem. While much of the work we previously did on big, inefficient desktop computers is now being done on small, more efficient machines, the proliferation of those devices - netbooks, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, e-readers, etc – may mean more energy used by chargers.

It’s not helped by the fact that some of those units and formats have become trendy, fashion items. So people upgrade just to be seen with the latest device. It accounts for much of the disappointment last week when Apple announced the iPhone 4s, rather than a new style iPhone 5.

© The Green IT Review (www.thegreenitreport.com)

New greenhouse gas measuring standards released

On Tuesday the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol launched two new standards. The Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards are designed to help businesses to better measure, manage and report their greenhouse gas emissions.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative was formed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The organisation developed what is now the de-facto standard methodology for measuring greenhouse gas emissions and the basis for most emissions legislation.

I reported on the two new standards when they finished their initial road testing just over a year ago. They were created to help businesses measure their climate impact beyond their own operations:

• The Corporate Value Chain Standard will give a better view of emissions across a company’s value chain, including the products it produces, buys and sells, and hence where to focus resources to have the biggest emissions impact.

• With the Product Life Cycle Standard companies can measure a product’s entire emissions from materials, manufacturing, use and disposal. It should result in better product design and more informed consumer choices.

 

It’s taken a while for the standards to emerge – after the testing phase the final versions were expected in March this year. But the time taken is not really surprising given the number of organisations involved. Apparently more than 2,300 participants from 55 countries, representing business, NGOs, academics and policy makers, contributed to the process and 60 companies road tested the new standards.

Universal standards are certainly needed. Many companies now measure their directly created emissions and those from the electricity they use (GHG’s Scope 1 and Scope 2) but it’s harder to account for indirect (Scope 3) emissions – often companies don’t get past measuring business travel. The lack of a clear methodologies has been a contributing factor. But the Carbon Trust in the UK last week reported research that found that 42% of multinational companies not currently addressing supply chain emissions plan to do so within the next 12 months. This new standard should help the process as well as making comparisons between companies more meaningful.

The Product Life Cycle Standard will also make it easier to compare products and encourage competition between companies – it’s apparently particularly suited to international organisations. The Carbon Trust has also announced that it is the first organisation to certify to the new standard, which will be offered alongside the existing BSI PAS 2050 standard.

Both standards will no doubt shortly be included in the variety of carbon emissions management software solutions now available in the market. It’s an area of green ICT that’s constantly evolving, with new standards, legislation and voluntary reporting agreements emerging all the time.

Smart city investment will reach $16bn a year by 2020 - Pike

Pike Research has forecasts that investment in smart city technology infrastructure will total $108bn during the years from 2010 to 2020.  By the end of the period the annual spending will reach nearly $16bn.

The cleantech market intelligence firm points out that in the next 20 years the world population will grow from 6.9 billion to 8.3 billion people and the urban population will grow even faster. More people now live in cities than in rural areas, so cities are the focus for new approaches to energy efficiency, building design, transportation, waste management and energy use, all requiring large-scale investment.

Pike defines a smart city as ‘the integration of technology into a strategic approach to sustainability, citizen well-being and economic development’. There’s no single technology or model that defines a smart city, although some technologies, such as broadband, the use of smart meters and intelligent transport systems, are seen as key.

Pike says that while there are lots of pilot projects and small-scale developments that are looking at the smart city from a holistic perspective, there are no examples yet of a smart city on a large scale. It puts that down to the technical, financial and political hurdles that are yet to be overcome.

The ‘Smart City’ report looks at the impact of the smart city on key technology markets, the strategies of players, and forecasts the size and growth through to 2020, including the key industry sectors and the main regional markets.

 

Figures on how much money will go into building smart cities in the future vary widely – it very much depends on what you’re counting. But as the ‘smart’ name suggests, an awful lot of it is ICT.

This market really is a huge opportunity for the industry in the coming years, something that IBM, in particular, has recognised - although a lot of the other major IT services companies are also vying for a piece of the action. But the opportunities are pretty diverse, so there’s plenty for all.

As with all major infrastructure opportunities, there’s a lot of partnering going on, since solutions cross technologies and industry sectors. What make’s it even more interesting is that often the technology doesn’t yet exist, at least not in a useable form, so collaboration between ICT players to create the best solution will be even more important.

Oracle test processes a billion smart meter readings in an hour

Oracle has announced that in a test its Utilities Meter Data Management software processed 1 billion smart meter reads per hour. The software also calculated four bill determinants for each of 19.3 million bills — a total of more than 77 million bill determinants. (A bill determinant is the results of a calculation that produces a customer’s consumption for a defined period of time.) The test used data from 5.5 million smart meters measuring consumption in 15-minute intervals.

 

Well someone needs to check whether it’s possible to handle the vast amounts of data that will be generated by smart meters! It’s a question that will become even more important over time. As smart grids are rolled out they’ll need software to process extremely high volumes of consumption data and as the grids and meters become more sophisticated the volume is likely to increase significantly. It’s not just for the utilities’ benefit - consumers will want to know their consumption and tariffs and be able to adjust accordingly, in real time.

ITU agrees methodology to assess environmental impact of ICT

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has made the tantalising announcement that it has reached agreement on a globally-recognised set of methodologies to assess the environmental impact of ICT.

The announcement came last Thursday at a meeting of the ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in Seoul, Korea. The press release seemed to suggest that further details would be announced that day, but as yet there’s nothing on the ITU-T web site.

The organisation has been working on a new set of standards for some time. Various other bodies have been involved and the new methodology is apparently aligned with the Digital Agenda of the European Commission

In addition, the ITU standardisation group has agreed to produce reports on due diligence guidelines for conflict minerals supply (the proceeds of which are used to fund violence and conflict) and on environmental protection and recycling solutions for mobile device batteries.

 

The ITU has been working with industry and government members to try and get agreement on an internationally recognised set of methodologies to be approved by the end of the year. The aim was to include both a methodology for ICT companies to measure their own carbon footprint and also a way to estimate the emissions savings that can be achieved in other sectors through the use of ICT.

Let’s hope the new methodologies, coming from such an influential body, don’t just muddy the waters, given the number of definitions and methodologies already being used or in discussion. I let you know when I hear more.