A while back I wanted to put a new blade server into a rack at a data center only to be told there wasn't enough power. I offered to buy some more. Sorry no can do! Matters now appear to be even worse. In London, power is now being ring-fenced for the Olympics in a pre-emptive strike for what is becoming a scarce and evermore expensive commodity. It is time to Identify - Quantify - Modify and Manage your IT energy needs - the E-crunch is on its way.
There was disruption to the UK's power supply this week, created by what energy insiders described as a "gigantic coincidence." However, while things have returned to normal its worth checking all your UPS and back-up plans. At one hospital when the generator kicked in -- it burst into flames.
I've mentioned the energy crunch before but demand for power in the UK, particularly Canary Wharf and the City is already outstriping supply. Beware, HMG in its wisdom is giving the Olympics priority in the energy infrastructure.
Just come back from a seminar on Sustainable IT put on by Repton. I asked how you seperate the facts from the fiction regarding climate change. Two reports were referred to as prime source material EPA 2007 (Enviroment Protection Agency) and IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
One thing is for certain - the era of cheap electricity is over.
Michael O'Higgins, head of the Audit Commission, told a Government Computing conference this week that local authorities can use IT to reduce power usage in a variety of ways - one being by supporting home working.
WOW! I always thought Governement was supposed to show leadership -- not play catch-up.
At least the initiative makes way for us Web 2.0 evangalists to get the message heard.
From to 'Red Dog' code-name to the announcement of Microsoft Windows Azure (very blue), Ray Ozzie with his friends delivered a deft 2 hours presentation that opened the kimono to Microsoft's Web-tier operating system. Frankly much of the content washed over me, I am not a developer and the significance of some of it was hard for me to fully appreciate. 
It is estimated that by 2020, the IT and Telecommunications industries will account for about 3% of all greenhouse gas emissions, or 1.54 metric gigatons, equivalent to twice what the UK produces today.
You can also do a lot to offset printing cost. The main offender in wasting ink and paper is printing out web pages, because you end up printing half empty pages or worse. If you're working more at home it means managing costs. Printing expenses are a problem you never have to face up to in an office. At home, it's different. You just bought an expensive ink cartridge for your SOHO printer, you use it for a while, and then sooner than seems reasonable you're low or out of ink.
Following lab testing to find out how much ink is left in dead cartridges the results show OEM and aftermarket vendor cartridges leave a startling amount of ink unused when read empty. In fact, some inkjet printers force users to replace black ink cartridges when the cartridge is nearly half full. In some cases, printers report earlier on third-party cartridges trying to scare you away from using thiem. So have a spare on hand nd print until you're printing blank pages.
HP Smart Web Printing Utility (free) and GreenPrint (free trial) are designed to help you cut down on wasted pages when printing online content. Give them a try!
The top security dog for Microsoft in the UK has passed on these wise words for the coming Yuletide, they are all of course blindingly obvious but worth sharing nonetheless: This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Collaboration Technology 2.0 in the IT Energy category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
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