Greenpeace issues warning about data centre power (BBC website)

Vent-Tech can dramatically reduce your carbon foot pring with your datacentre/server room by installing Evaporative Cooling instead of typical air conditioning.  Please read the BBC news story about this below

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8594431.stm
Greenpeace is calling on technology giants like Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook to power their data centres with renewable energy sources.


Their electricity often comes from utility companies which generate power from burning coal, says the group.
Greenpeace estimates that data centres will use 1,963 billion kilowatt hours of electricity by 2020.
That is more than the power currently consumed by France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined, says the campaigner.
"Growth in the IT industry is leading to a fast growing carbon footprint," Tom Dowdall, greener electronics campaign coordinator at Greenpeace, told BBC News.
With the launch of portable online devices such as smartphones, netbooks and the imminent release of Apple's iPad, cloud computing is becoming mainstream, said Mr Dowdall.
It means more data is being stored remotely on servers owned by the technology companies, so that it can be accessed from wherever the user has an internet connection.
So firms are investing in building massive data centres to cope with the demand, and focusing on energy efficiency rather than tackling the original source of power, claims Greenpeace.



Facebook under fire

In January 2010 Facebook announced the development of its first custom-built data centre in Prineville, Oregon.
The building will contain various energy-efficient technologies, but Facebook admits that Pacific Power, the utility company that will provide it with electricity, uses more coal than the US average as a source.
To keep energy consumption to a minimum, Facebook's servers will be kept cool using fresh air rather than traditional air conditioning, with an evaporative cooling system kicking in when the climate is too warm.
It is a similar system to the "free air" cooling system installed by Microsoft in its Dublin-based data centre which opened in 2009.
The centre earned praise from the European Commission's Sustainablity Energy Europe Campaign for its environmental practices.
Facebook also says it is using a new system that will cut its electricity consumption by up to 12%.
However, 365,000 people have joined a group set up by Greenpeace on the Facebook website calling on the social networking giant to drop energy suppliers who use coal.
Facebook denied that it was "choosing" to use coal, and argued that all data centres must rely on power supplied by the local grid.

However Microsoft has a data centre in Quincy, Washington which it claims operates on "100% hydropower" from the Columbia River Basin.
Mr Dowdall also praised Yahoo for using hydro power in its new data centre in Buffalo, New York.
"We would like to see more examples of companies using purchasing power to drive an increase in renewable capacity," he said.
"Our ultimate goal is for them to advocate for better renewable energy policy locally."
Greenpeace plans to issue a full report later in the year.
Both Apple and Yahoo did not respond to request for comment.

Vent-Tech and the Carbon Footprint

Here at Vent-Tech we are working towards our ISO 14001 and ISO 9001.  We have been changing the way we work to be more environmentally friendly.  One of the things we have come acrross is lower energy filters that are manufacturd using fine fibres that consistently deliver effective filtration and low energy consumption througout their installed lifetime.  The conbination of the fine fibre technology and high quality engineering and contruction enables the filter to deliver both indoor air quality and optimised energy performance. 

At Vent-Tech we strive to use more environmentally friendly products.  For more information please contact us.

HSE fine stonemansons after workers suffer long-term lung damage

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning employers who work with silica-based materials to take correct safety precautions after two employees were left with potentially life-shortening lung diseases.
York-based stonemasons William Anelay Limited, of Murton Way, Osbaldwick, York, today (5 February) pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 by York Crown Court.
The court heard that two employees, who had been working at William Anelay Limited as stonemasons for many years, fell ill after being exposed to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica, which is caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment. The exposure occurred between May 1994 and July 2008.
High levels of airborne silica had been identified 14 years earlier during a monitoring survey, but subsequent measures taken to protect employees were not adequate.
As a result of the exposure both men have been left with long-term lung damage. So severe are their disabilities that one of the men has since been forced to take early retirement and the other man has been unable to return to work as a stonemason.

for more information go to:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2010/coi-yh-04209.htm?ebul=lev/feb-10&cr=01

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