Sainsbury’s launches kinetic car park energy generator at new store Sainsbury’s launched a new “people-powered” kinetic energy system on 15 June. The Kinetic Road Plates have been installed at the supermarket’s new store in Gloucester and will harness enough energy from vehicles driving in and out of the site’s car park to power all the store’s check outs. The system, which has been developed by UK startup Highway Energy Systems, works using plates that move when vehicles drive over them, creating enough kinetic energy to drive a generator. The technology is expected to produce 30kW of energy an hour without causing any disturbance to motorists as they drive over the plates. Contact: Sainsbury’s www.j-sainsbury.com
Mayor unveils plans to turn London’s food waste into fuel
The Mayor of London launched an initiative on 10 June to convert London’s food waste into eco-fuel, to cut landfill rates and carbon emissions. Boris Johnson’s ‘Foodwaste to Fuel Alliance’ will bring together developers, food producers, energy companies and other key groups to provide the new infrastructure needed in London to extract fuel from the capital’s leftover food – almost 3 million tonnes a year. This will act as an alternative to fossil fuels to produce greener energy. The Mayor wants the Alliance, supported by London’s Waste and Recycling Board, to deliver five exemplar new ‘bio-fuel’ plants in the capital by 2012. Contact: London Government www.london.gov.uk
Pew Centre launches online Climate TechBook
On 9 June the Pew Centre, a non profit, US advocacy organisation, released an online resource, Climate TechBook, which delivers information on technologies to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across five key sectors: electricity, transportation, industrial, residential and commercial, and agriculture. Each sector provides an overview of GHG emissions, technology overviews and fact sheets which outline background information about specific technologies, the current status of the technology, cost information, policy options to promote the technology and obstacles to further development and deployment. Contact: Pew Centre on Global Climate Change www.pewclimate.org
Grain company Cargill sells emission offsets for first time
Cargill announced on 8 June that it has successfully registered and sold over 400,000 tonnes of Verified Emission Offsets through the Canadian Standards Association, marking the first time the grain company has sold the environmental credits. The emission offsets originate from a methane gas capture project at the wastewater treatment system of its beef processing facility in Alberta. The project enables the facility to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions emitted from wastewater lagoons by utilising the biogas in plant boilers. Approximately 25% of the facility’s natural gas usage has been displaced by the project through the capture of biogas. Contact: Cargill www.cargill.com
Microsoft Holm helps consumers save energy
On 24 June, Microsoft announced the launch of Microsoft Holm, a new online application designed to enable consumers to better understand their energy use. Microsoft Holm uses technology licensed from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy to provide consumers with personalised energy-saving recommendations which will lower their energy bill and reduce their impact on the environment. The free online application will take data from consumers where available, or, where unavailable, it will use local and national averages. The system is designed to integrate with energy meters so that it can gather data from customers transparently. Contact: Microsoft www.microsoft.com
Controversial FutureGen gets second chance
FutureGen, a carbon capture and sequestration project that was abandoned by the Bush Administration, is getting a second chance to prove its technology. The US Department of Energy (DOE) will commit $1 billion to the project, which plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Illinois that stores its carbon emissions underground. Under the new agreement, DOE and FutureGen will work together to refine the facility’s design and, contingent upon its total cost and funding, the Alliance expects to begin construction in 2010. Contact: FutureGen Alliance www.futuregenalliance.org
New Asda store emits half the carbon of typical stores
A new Asda supermarket will emit 50% less carbon than other stores and divert 95% of operational waste away from landfill, the supermarket announced on 17 June. The £27 million development in Merseyside was built to standards from the British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) and has achieved an ‘Excellent’ rating. Key features of its design which helped achieve its high BREEAM rating are grouped under waste, energy, daylighting, water economy and ecology. Energy saving aspects include compressor controls fitted to refrigerant equipment; low-energy lighting in cold storage rooms; optimisation of available daylight; dual flush toilets and aerated taps. Contact: BREEAM www.breeam.org
Hilton Hotel and GSK install energy-saving window foil
On 29 June, Luxasolar announced that the Hilton Hotel in Vienna recently installed 1,000 metre squared of Luxasolar Clear View’s window film, projecting an annual savings of 230,000 kWh and an annual reduction of 72,000 in CO2 emissions. After the installation the hotel reported temperature drops of 9.6o C. A larger Luxasolar project includes the installation of 6,000 metre squared of window foil at the French headquarters of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Marly-le-Roi. In winter, the average temperature rose by 3.5o C after installation and saved the company ?45,000 in gas and electricity annually. Luxasolar Clear View energy-saving window foil keeps the heat out during summer and keeps the heat in during winter, minimizing the need for air conditioning and cooling systems. The company has outfitted approximately 500 buildings in Europe. Contact: Luxasolar www.luxasolar.eu
Dell’s renewable power sourcing over 26%
Dell announced on 2 June that it now obtains 26% of its global electricity needs from renewable energy sources – a 20% increase for the firm compared to 2008. The increase is a result of new renewable energy partnerships in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Norway with utility providers Swalec, Scottish Power Energy Retail, EVH, Mainova, Telge Energi and Hafslund. Nine Dell facilities across the US and Europe are now powered with 100% renewable energy including the company’s Texas headquarters. Dell’s use of renewable energy is part of its plan to reduce its facilities greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2015. Contact: Dell www.dell.com
Yahoo! to drop carbon offsets for greener data centre
Yahoo!’s co-founder David Filo, together with New York Governor David Paterson and Senator Chuck Schumer, announced plans on 30 June to build one of the greenest and most energy-efficient data centres in Lockport, New York. The NY data centre will be powered predominantly by renewable hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls and a record 90% of that energy will power the servers. Yahoo! expects its design to have annual average power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.1 or below, achieved by positioning the building to take advantage of Buffalo’s microclimate, using 100% outside air to cool the servers. Yahoo! is also focusing on reducing its carbon impact instead of purchasing carbon offsets. Contact: Yahoo! www.yahoo.com
Energy-efficient IBM data centre
IBM, Syracuse University and New York State have announced a joint venture to construct a $12.4 million, 6,000-square-foot computer data centre at the University’s campus that will use half as much energy as a typical data centre. It will incorporate advanced infrastructure and smarter computing technologies to make it one of the most energy-efficient data centres in operation. In particular it will feature an on-site electrical tri-generation system that will use natural gas-fueled micro turbine engines to generate all electricity for the centre and will incorporate IBM’s latest energy-efficient computers and computer-cooling technology. Contact: IBM www.ibm.com
National Grid takes on wind energy critics
National Grid released a new report on 19 June, ‘Operating the Electricity Transmission Networks in 2020.’ The assessment is based on a vision of an electricity transmission system which evolves to connect extensive renewable generation to achieve climate change objectives. The report, which will now be subject to a consultation period, states that increased backup generation is not the only means of managing variable levels of wind energy, arguing that the emergence of new energy storage and smart grid systems, coupled with improvements in grid infrastructure, will allow wind energy to play a greater role in the UK’s energy mix. Contact: National Grid www.nationalgrid.com
G8 Climate Scorecard shows gas emission rankings
The G8 Climate Scorecard, released on 1 July by WWF and Allianz SE, rates the climate performance of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and US, with background information for China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Germany, the UK and France ranked the highest, respectively, in the analysis, each of which has cut its greenhouse gas emissions and has already met its targets under the Kyoto Protocol. By comparison, US emissions have risen substantially, increasing about 15% since 1990. The European nations have also made far greater progress than the US in developing their clean energy sectors. Contact: World Wildlife Fund www.worldwildlife.org
Sony europe uses 100% renewable energy
Sony Europe announced on 2 July that it achieved 100% renewable energy usage in 2008 at its 32 sites throughout Europe which fall under Sony’s Global Environmental Management System (GEMS). Sony achieved these reductions by applying “eco-thinking” throughout its business operations. This included programmes such as in Pencoed, Wales, where 40% energy saving was achieved by improving the equipment and lighting system. Product energy and shipping were also looked at closely. The 100% renewable resources achievement is part of Sony’s wider global CO2 reduction measures that have resulted in a reduction of 55,216 tonnes of CO2 in 2008 in Europe and 100,000 tonnes globally. Contact: Sony Europe www.sony.eu
Energy efficient products could save the UK £900 million
Minimum energy efficiency standards for TVs and white goods, combined with better energy labelling, could save the UK £900 million, according to Defra. The department launched a new consultation into how best to implement these measures as part of a Europe-wide plan to reduce the energy consumption of household products. The EU estimates that such measures could cut the continent’s energy consumption by 10%. The consultation discussed how to ensure a fair environment in which manufacturers can compete, whilst guaranteeing consumers that the products they purchase meet the mandatory minimum energy performance standards and their declared energy label. Contact: Defra www.defra.gov.uk
Comment
Environmental performance is fast becoming an area of competitive advantage for big IT firms like Yahoo. This is due to at least two interwoven drivers: a) the growing cost of energy in an energy intensive and historically energy inefficient industry, and b) growing regulatory pressure to reduce commercially-generated carbon emissions, as the shift from paper to pixel continues apace.
The past decade has seen a meteoric rise in the demand for computing resources due to the growing digitization of pretty much everything. This has led to an equally meteoric rise in data centre energy consumption, particularly in the US and Western Europe. According to the US EPA, there was a doubling of US data centre energy consumption between 2000 and 2006, and a projected further doubling of this figure by 2011. Likewise, the EU recently estimated that annual electricity consumption in Western European data centres would double by 2020.
This is not simply an issue of concern for the ICT sector; many companies rely on data centres to provide their data handling infrastructure support. These centres are a significant part of companies’ indirect contribution to climate change.
Authorities on both sides of the pond have taken notice. The EU recently launched a Code of Conduct for Data Centres outlining commitments to encourage operators to measure power consumption more accurately; set energy efficiency targets; and implement efficiency improvements.
Companies like Yahoo, Google and IBM are increasingly seeking out leadership positions in energy efficiency and environmental performance. Yahoo has even announced targets for improving its data centre infrastructure efficiency to in excess of 90%; which means that less than 10% of energy consumed in its data centres will be used for auxiliary services like cooling (typically this runs at 50%). Reductions of this magnitude translate not only to big carbon savings, but also big cash savings and hopefully a good return on investment. A place in the world undoubtedly exists for carbon offsetting, but direct action to improve operational energy efficiency is a much more positive thing and goes some way to suggest a strategic approach to corporate responsibility exists within the business.
COMMENTS