EnergyUse
Latest
Greenpeace slams tech giants over dirty data centers
Greenpeace has published its latest report on what powers the internet, and who's working hard to keep our tweeting sustainable. The nonprofit began researching the energy consumption of the IT sector back in 2009, estimating the environmental cost of every Netflix video we watch. It describes data centers as the factories of the 21st century and wants to see companies move across to renewables to keep them going. The report puts Apple at the top of the pile for the third year running -- a far cry from when it came in last place, back in 2011.
Facebook releases its 2011 energy usage report, details your carbon footprint
More Facebook news, but this time we're back to the numbers instead of reporting on a new feature, improvement or integration. As part of its mission to swap the familiar blue for something of a greener tinge, Facebook released today its carbon footprint and overall energy usage figures for 2011. Turning bio-babble into easy visualizations, the company points out that for the whole year, an active user occupied roughly the same carbon footprint as one medium latte. Or, if you're a fan of the tipple, a couple of glasses of wine. Impressively, 23 percent of the social giant's energy usage came from clean and renewable sources, which puts it well on the way to its 2015 target of 25 percent or more. If you'd like more info and a complete breakdown of the stats, the full report is available at the source link below.
The energy required to charge an iPad
All of our electronic gizmos, whether as large as a 27" iMac or as tiny as an iPod nano, need electricity to thrive. Om Malik, the brains behind GigaOm, wondered just how much energy it took to keep an iPad going. Fortunately for Malik, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has published the results of new research that details how much an iPad costs in terms of electricity. EPRI conducted its study at its power utilization lab in Knoxville, Tennessee. The research showed that an "iPad consumes less than 12 kWh of electricity over the course of a year, based on a full charge every other day. By comparison, a plasma 42" television consumes 358 kWh of electricity a year." Based on an average cost of electricity, the annual cost of keeping that iPad alive is about US$1.36 per year -- the actual cost would vary depending on what your local electric utility charges per kWh. EPRI did the same study for an iPhone 3G and found that it consumed 2.2 kWh of electricity every year, or about $0.25 annually. Of course, there's more than one iPad on the planet, so EPRI calculated the energy impact of all of the iPads sold and came up with a number of 590 gigawatt hours (GWh). According to EPRI, "In a scenario where the number of iPads tripled over the next two years, the energy required would be nearly equivalent to two 250-megawatt (MW) power plants operating at a 50 percent utilization rate. A quadrupling of sales in two years would require energy generated by three 250-MW power plants." Lest you think your iPad is an energy hog, consider a comparison to a laptop. EPRI found that laptops (no model specified) feast on about 72.3 kWh of electricity per year at an average cost of $8.31. That's six times the energy impact of your iPad.
Report: data centers accounted for just 1 to 1.5 percent of electricity use last year, Google claims less than 1 percent of that
You'd think, watching companies like Apple break ground on sprawling data centers, that the number of servers powering our untethered lives was on the rise. In a different decade, you might have been right. But not this one. According to a study prepared at the request of The New York Times, the number of servers in use has declined "significantly" since 2005. That's mostly because of the financial crisis of 2008, says lead researcher Jonathan G. Koomey of Stanford University, but we also can't discount the effect of more efficient technologies. What's more, he says, servers worldwide consume less energy than you might have guessed: they accounted for somewhere between 1 and 1.5 percent of global electricity use in 2010. And while Google, the king of cloud computing, has been cagey about revealing just how many servers house its treasure trove of data, the company said that of that 1 to 1.5 percent, it accounted for less than 1 percent -- meaning, just a hundredth of a percent of all the electricity consumed last year. All told, data centers' energy consumption has risen 56 percent since 2005 -- a far cry from the EPAs 2007 prediction that this figure would double by 2010, with annual costs ballooning to $7.4 billion. Then again, this slower-than-expected growth could well be temporary. Though Koomey can't specify to what extent the financial crisis and technological advancements are to blame, he insists, broadly speaking, that we're primarily seeing fallout from the economic slowdown -- a stay of execution, of sorts, for those of us rooting for energy conservation.
4Home, Marvell partner for energy monitoring plug computer
If you asked Intel what this is, the company would tell you it's an experimental power sensor; if you asked a storage guru, they'd ID it as the PogoPlug. Truth be told, it's a miniature Linux computer designed by Marvell -- who's apparently decided to beat Intel at the former function. Through a partnership with 4Home, Marvell's latest 2GHz SheevaPlug will become a smart meter that measures power consumption right from the outlet, ostensibly allowing you to figure out which blasted light the kids left on this time without shoving a pricey home automation kit into your walls. No word on how much it'll cost to keep tabs on your energy bill or when you'll be able to do it, but we'll ask those important questions and more when we see the device for ourselves later this week. PR after the break.
Intel's experimental sensor analyzes appliance power consumption from single outlet
It's pretty much set in silicon -- in the future, you will monitor your home power consumption, and perhaps even enjoy doing so. Futuristic touchscreen panels and free monitoring software abound, each designed to reward you with a warm, fuzzy Captain Planet feeling and a reduced energy bill when you finally turn off that blasted light. Thing is, unless you've got a home automation system, you won't know which switch to flip. Intel wants to change that with a new wireless sensor that can identify each individual appliance in your house by their unique electrical signal, just by plugging into a single outlet in your house. The reportedly low-cost sensor works by simply recognizing voltage drop patterns when devices are turned on and off, and doesn't require special appliances to function; Intel demonstrated it on a standard toaster, microwave and fridge in Beijing this week. Demonstrate your supreme demand for this "why didn't I think of that" idea by directing traffic to our source link -- you can jump to 20:10 to see the sensor in action. Update: Come to think of it, that looks just like a wireless version of Marvell's SheevaPlug.
Silverstat7 Zigbee-packin' thermostat to debut this fall for $600?
Every day it seems that companies are finding better ways to keep an eye on the non-renewable resources we're sucking down to enable our voracious appetite for Xbox gaming and Hulu viewing. Not that we're complaining! And now, thanks to a gracious tipster, we've received some deets on that Silverstat7 home energy management solution (er, touchscreen thermostat) we first hepped you to a couple days ago. Along with 802.11g WiFi, this guy supports the Zigbee and Zwave protocols (as you probably guessed), so it should be able to play nicely with your existing smart meter, switches and outlets. Earlier reports of a June 2010 release date may have been premature -- look for it this fall for about $600 MSRP. [Thanks, Tony L.]
Silverpac Silverstat 7 provides energy usage data, responds to touch
Boy, if it's not car dashboards, it's thermostats -- you just can't get away from touchscreens these days. The latest 7-inch temperature regulator from Silverpac comes with a bunch of extra goodies to entice the touch control-loving generation into the energy conservation game. With WiFi built in, the Silverstat 7 can pump data out to the internet or your home network, and is equally adept at streaming photos, music and other content back from those connections. A full week's worth of water temperature instructions can be programmed into the device, which can also inform you of weather conditions and your home's energy consumption. The latter part is most intriguing, as you'll be informed of power usage on a per-appliance basis, which can be mighty beneficial when a certain bit of home hardware gorges on electricity without you knowing. June 2010 is set as the release date, but the wallet damage remains unrevealed.
