One of the biggest problems our generation needs to solve is
the finding is sustainable approach to power our way of life. I will like to
think that with behind the advent of the information era and tools like the
internet we will find the solution to this problem. Thanks to the internet we
can expose the consequences of pollution to a mass audience and create awareness
of how serous this can be. For instance I wouldn't be aware of the existence of
Garbage Island (See video) and how something that is so far away is affecting my life. Also I believe new
ways of interpreting different behaviours through Big Data will enlighten us to
find new answers to save our planet.
Garbage Island
But something we don’t think too much about is the carbon footprint
of this wonderful IT tools and all the energy is wasted by the inefficient use
of energy in the IT industry.
"A yearlong examination by The New York Times has revealed that the foundation of the information industry is sharply at odds with its image of sleek efficiency and environmental friendliness.
Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found."1
Data Centers waste vast amounts of energy
The interesting thing is that the solution for this problem
is coming from the IT industry itself:
"A software that can drastically reduce CO2 emissions (and energetic costs) on computers all over the world has been developed by Portuguese scientists and is freely available to anyone interested.
The program is called SPIRIT and is the first automated system capable of turning the computers of a server on and off according to need to prevent the energetic waste of idle units. In the last year, just in the 200 computers of the Interdisciplinary Complex of Lisbon University, the software saved energy equivalent to 5 tons of CO2 emissions. And its potential is huge like Carlos Reis and Jorge Pacheco, the two scientists behind the project, explain: “used worldwide SPIRIT could result in yearly savings equivalent to the energy produced by a 1000 MW Nuclear Power Station, or, in other words, a reduction of about 5 million tons of CO2 emissions every year” (the emissions of 6.5 millions London-NY flights). The software was developed at the University of Minho and the University of Lisbon in Portugal and first presented at the Fifth International Conference on Software Engineering Advances ICSEA 2010 where it won a best paper award."2
Department of Informatics at the University of Lisbon
This is evidence that one of
the marvels of the IT industry is not only that has the potential to make efficient
other industries but also has the capability to change and improve itself form
within. I'm curious to know what new software
will appear and make more energy efficient other industries, what software will be
there in the front line of energy efficiency?, who will be the coder who'll save our planet?
OUR HERO!!!!
Sources:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/technology/data-centers-waste-vast-amounts-of-energy-belying-industry-image.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
2. http://www.science20.com/catarina_amorim/how_new_software_can_help_save_planet-75634
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