Green Grid Computing - Essay Example

Green Grid Computing - Efficient Cost Effective Information TechnologyThe Green Grid is a global, non-profit consortium of information technology professionals dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and computing eco-systems. (The Green Grid: FAQ Feb 2007). The association’s mission is to define meaningful, user-centric models and metrics, develop standards, measurement methods, processes, and new technologies to improve performance against the defined metrics; and promote the adoption of energy efficient standards, processes, measurements and technologies.

The Green Grid’s founding members are AMD, APC, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Rackable Systems, SprayCool, Sun Microsystems and VMware. The Green Grid’s technical charter is currently focused on specific energy efficiency issues directly related to the data center; however any increases in data center efficiency are likely to result in a mitigation of potential CO2 emissions. Initially, The Green Grid has formed four initial technical working groups – Data Collection and Analysis, Data Center Technology and Strategy, Data Center Operations, and Data Center Metrics and Measurements – comprised of experts from the founding companies and open to others interested in participating.

Other work groups may be developed as needs are identified. In addition, the group will engage with end-users in meaningful two-way dialog and work with other organizations, governmental bodies, and NGOs to provide a comprehensive and holistic view of data center energy efficiency (See: . The collective viewpoint of Green Grid members is that energy efficiency in the data center is the most significant issue facing technology providers and their customers today. This situation is not only due to exponential increases in power and cooling costs over the past few years, but also because customer demand for concentrated computing is outpacing the availability of clean reliable power in many places around the world.

The Green Grid is the first industry initiative chartered to take a holistic view of the computing ecosystem, with a focus on addressing the pressing issues facing data center users (Green Consortium, Feb 2007). On the other hand The Green Grid is an ambitious project to create a shared high performance computing infrastructure for science and engineering at Dartmouth College. The Green Grid was created with the support of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences to promote collaborative computing for the entire Dartmouth community.

We will share our design for building campus grids and experiences in Grid-enabling applications from several academic departments (The Dartmouth Green Grid). What Every Tech Pro Should Know About 'Green Computing' (Information week Mar 10 2007). Data centers are the SUVs of Green Computing: impressively powerful, inexpensive to operate, usually woefully energy inefficient--and a big, fat potential target for environmental critics.Energy consumed by data centers in the United States and worldwide doubled from 2000 to 2005, according to Jonathan Koomey, a consulting professor at Stanford University and staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Data center servers, air conditioning, and networking equipment sucked up 1.2% of U.S. power in 2005. The biggest reason for the power surge: double the number of low-end servers, Koomey says.As a result, some companies are chasing cheaper data center power. Google is building a data center on Oregon's Columbia River to tap hydroelectric power, while Microsoft builds nearby in Washington for the same reason. Financial services company HSBC is building a data center near Niagara Falls. Some such efforts are hardly green, however.

Wyoming's trying to lure data centers with the promise of cheap power from coal-fired plants.But chasing cheap power isn't practical for most companies. For Lehman Brothers, proximity to New York City is crucial because automated trading programs can't spare the milliseconds it takes for data to travel to upstate New York and back, though a remote data center could work for certain batch jobs. At lighting products company Osram Sylvania, the data center isn't so time sensitive, but the company wouldn't consider the hassle of building a remote center to lower power costs.

"Finding the talent pool and network services you need aren't easy if you move too far away," says operations manager Dan Wilson.For these companies, Green Computing means staying put and cutting costs. Fortunately, environmentally friendly options are rising as fast as energy prices.Works CitedInformation Week. See http://www.informationweek.com/news /showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197801530&pgno=2 The Dartmouth Green Grid.The Green Grid: See http://www.thegreengrid.org/pages/content.html & FAQ.