Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3-4 October 2013

Reducing the energy footprint and cost of computing .. the next steps

Dr Tariq Marikar,Senior General Manager, Internet Data Centers, Dialog Axiata PLC

tariq.marikar@dialog.lk

ITU Workshop on “Greening the Future: Bridging the Standardization

Gap on Environmental Sustainability”

(Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3-4 October 2013)

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The trend so far

2.8 million % is how much more energy efficient computing technology (in terms of watt consumed per calculation/second) is since 1976.  Compared to the 40 % gain in overall miles per gallon (mpg) efficiency for the U.S. automobile fleet over the same period of time – American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy

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ICT - Network, compute and storage

© Open Data Center Alliance

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The next wave of ICT

Consolidate and share network, compute and storage units to reduce utility cost.Combine compute, presence, location and payments to:

Match buyers and sellersProvide real-time distribution and payments for late capacity, excess production, targeted selling via CRMReduce travel.

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Telework and tele-business

Employers' largest concerns about telecommuting are fear of loss of control.Teleworking can negatively affect a person's career. A recent survey of 1,300 executives from 71 countries indicated that respondents believe that people who telework were less likely to get promoted.Security must be addressed for teleworkers and non-teleworkers as well – authentication.Buyers and Sellers – the authentication model, references / blacklistingBusiness Logic still developing ….

Carbon Science for IT

There is, as yet, no one globally accepted and universally applicable methodology. According to the Open Data Center Alliance the amount of carbon produced can be derived from the following formula:

Can the value propositions of telecommuting and telebusiness overcome the integrated carbon cost of IT delivery – no global measures yet …

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Common infra economics – Ohio Univ

Lifetime carbon for laptop

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Lifetime carbon for desktop

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Lifetime carbon for mobile

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Use 1 server instead of 50 desktops = 1000/50 = 20 kg of CO2 + Thin client carbon footprint per user is still much less than 250 kg per user for a laptop, during 4 years of use.Use 1 server instead of 50 desktop = during manufacture 500 / 50 = 10 kg of CO2 + TC carbon footprint still much less than 150 kg CO2 per user for a laptop.Keeping shifting users to thin clients and mobile computation away from desktops/laptops… to keep going green.

Carbon economics of ICT solutions

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Common infra is greener

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PUE = total power / IT power = 1.14 is very low compared to the industry average 1.8 around - Uptime Institute

Google Hamina Datacenter

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Integrated carbon costing ?

Harvard physicist Alex Wissner-Gross, says that undertaking two Google searches produces 14 grams of CO2, about the same amount produced by boiling an electric kettle.However, Google is arguing the point. It claims that the average search brings a result in under 0.2 seconds, with the search itself using its servers for a few thousandths of a second, amounting to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search, or 0.2g of CO2.

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Renewable energy..

Overall, renewable energy sources now supply 16.7% of global energy consumption and 50 countries now have installed wind power capacity.The boom in solar driven by tumbling prices, which have seen the costs of photovoltaic modules fall from $1.50 per watt in 2010 to just $0.60 per watt - well below that crucial $1 per watt - by the end of 2011.Schneider Electric – ROI within 10 years, needs to improve.

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The cost and energy utilization of ICT continues to drop.Gap in translating ICT into real-life work processes for work, business and transactions – carbon cost of ICT still hasn’t brought in the required carbon savings in terms of travel & logistics reductions in manufacturing and service.Sharing the network, the compute and the storage makes sense – the process, the procedure, the security and the operations needs to keep pace….

Conclusions

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Green does not respect legacy – legacy is there in business, so need to drive a balance.

Need to have an integrated carbon measure for ICT solutions, to report the efficiency of a point level ICT improvement with respect cutting traditional carbon (e.g. reduced work & business travel, reduced waste due to e-supply chains) so that the carbon footprint of ICT can always be justified.

Need to have a standard methodology to report the Carbon business case, just like reporting a commercial business case for financial purposes.

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