Data Centers: Hidden Behemoths of the Internet

When you type a search into google, it scans billions of pages, delivering your results totalling possibly in the millions, or in the dozens, in a fraction of a second. How does it do that? Data centers. Information hosted on the internet has to have a place to stay both when being used and for simple storage. The more information a website hosts and indexes, the more data is produced in these centers, and are archived in massive arrays of servers. When you host a website, often your information gets stored on a server somewhere in your webhost's data center. With the huge influx of information into the internet rising exponentially, how we are storing this data is becoming a huge problem, both online and offline. Data centers for huge websites are massive energy sinks, using up large amounts of electricity to cool the servers as they heat up from running through so much information on a second-by-second basis. It's quickly becoming one of the major sources of energy use in our country. There is a huge need for sustainability in data centers. Many web hosts these days are offering green solutions: a small surcharge to ensure that the carbon emitted into the environment for your website's information storage in their data center is offset. Its different though for huge web corporations that use up so much energy they can't just offset their carbon.

This is what a typical server array in a Data Center looks like.

Take Facebook, a website with over 500 million users, who upload millions of images a day, posting almost 20,000 comments every second. Each bit of info uploaded to facebook goes into their data center's dedicated servers, and they are running out of space. Now, facebook is planning on building a new data center, one that uses passive heating and cooling to lower energy use, as well as relying on fewer batteries for backup power in case of a blackout. Not only that, but theyre planning everything in an open environment, posting images of the blueprints, details, as well as providing information on their new data center. This will hopefully raise awareness of the hidden energy being wasted by our fiddling on the internet.

Source

Gas Prices are on the Rise

Heres an article for my buddies in the US. Some of you reading this may call it Petrol, but here we call it Gasoline, and in the U.S., we're starting to understand what it feels like to pay out the nose for the most precious fuel that we use every day. Recently, the price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil (The main oil used for automotive gasoline), has started to rise after spending a couple months between $80 and $100 per barrel with the price of a gallon rising to over 3.70 (close to $1 US per liter). Heres the past 3 months gasoline price chart, along with the price of a barrel of crude oil, courtesy of http://www.gasbuddy.com

Many people are up in arms over the gas prices, blaming everything from the President to greedy businessmen. However, the truth makes a lot more sense. Theres three main factors at play here

1: The Middle East: Uprisings and revolutions over the last 4 months have put pressure on many governments in northern Africa and Arabia that regulate the drilling and shipping of oil around Europe, Africa, and Asia, as well as much of the oil exported to the US. This tension has caused insecurity in the prospect of receiving oil, forcing a higher demand to claim oil contracts at lower prices, which in turn drives up the price. When a commodity is threatened, it costs more to secure the shipment of it.

2: Inflation: The value of the U.S. dollar is slowly falling in global markets. Seeing as much of the oil shipped around the world is traded on the U.S. dollar, when its value falls, it costs more for each barrel of oil, pushing prices up. With wages being outpaced by inflationary growth, people aren't going to be making enough money to catch up to price increases, placing pressure on our wallets every time we pull into the gas station.

3: Supply and Demand: more and more economists are becoming smart to the idea of Peak Oil: The idea, nay the fact, that world oil production is or will be peaking soon, and that after this peak, we will no longer be producing enough oil to keep up with its rise in demand. As oil becomes more and more scarce over the coming decades, it will be valued higher and higher, until its either unaffordable, or completely gone. While this  factor is the least considered in day to day trading of oil, its certainly the most certain.

What can we do? Conserve. Drive less often when you don't need to. Walk to the store or to pick your kids up from school. If you have a car that gets less than 20mpg and is over 5 years old, consider upgrading to a newer, more fuel efficient car. The money you spend on increased efficiency can be saved over the long term when you will be thanking yourself for not having to stop so often for gas when the price reaches $4-5 per gallon. Also, try driving 55. Unless you are in a hurry to work and willing to burn the gas, you don't need to rush everywhere. Every increase of 5mph above 55 you drive can chop a mile or two per gallon off your fuel mileage. After all, the EPA mileage estimate for your car is measured at 55mph, so if you drive 65 in a car that is rated for 30mpg you can really only be getting 26mpg, and that can make quite a difference. If we work collectively to lower the demand for gasoline, we can bring the demand down in the markets and hopefully slow the rise of oil prices and not break the bank.

High Electricity Bill? It's Probably due to your Gadgets!

Recently, the United States Energy Information Administration conducted a survey of American homes to find out  how and where Americans use their energy, comparing energy use to data from 1978. Unsurprisingly, the amount of energy used by personal electronics (computers, phones, video games, televisions) has jumped, but what IS surprising is that space heating energy use has dropped by 39%, and that Energy consumption by electronics  DOUBLED!

Article Source: Fast Company

Now, when you read the news, you often hear about high oil prices straining home energy budgets, but the real problem we should be worrying about is how much energy is being converted into electricity for our gadgets, devices, and appliances. Many people still aren't aware that phone chargers, computers, televisions, and appliances suck up power constantly as long as they're plugged in, often drawing more power per day when idling then when being used! Luckily, there are successful awareness campaigns going on educating people on the high cost of appliances in our homes, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in. Not enough people are unplugging their devices at night, powering down their computers, or running their refrigerators at 39 degrees, instead of 33. I think we should all take an hour or two out of our hectic lives to go through our homes, surveying where electricity is being sucked up, especially when our electronics aren't being used. If you are done playing xbox, unplug the power brick, and if you're done checking our e-mail at night, shut down your computer and unplug the cord. Its that simple. Not to mention, it could help pay for higher energy prices, which are certainly in our future.

Landslides in California Should Serve as a Warning

We may be pushing the limits of how we develop the land. It seems to be that land developers may be getting too greedy and neglecting the dangers of shaping the land to meet their desires for building houses and collecting money from homeowners. Recently in Hercules, CA on the east side of the SF Bay, 8 homes have been condemned due to a waterlogged hill sliding down and destroying retaining walls abutting the properties. We see this all too often: Homes in California, built against steep hillsides, taken down and demolished after the rainy season slickens the soil and causes land and mudslides. Who can't recall seeing pictures on the news of multi-million dollar hoems in Malibu falling into the sea, and landslides covering hillside developments?

Link to SFGate Article

I think its time we take a look at how little we care about the land we are building on and using, and be mindful of where we develop. Building homes should be about the environment you are entering, not how much money a young professional couple is willing to plunk down in turn for a cookie cutter box on a steep hillside. Maybe we should look at more responsible, denser development. Clean, green apartment buildings that use less energy per square foot than massive homes that suck up Air Conditioning expenses every single day. Look at the city of Vancouver: often ranked in the top 5 best cities to live in, most of its residents live in high-rise apartment buildings with gleaming blue reflective glass, passive heating systems, and short, simple commutes.

Where would you rather live?

It's become so bad in the states that now China, who is fast on track to overtake the US in economic development, is building massive American-style subdevelopments made of multi-thousand square foot homes that suck up almost as much energy as American homes. We shouldnt be leading by this example. I say we should make an effort to ditch the suburban sprawl and create a more energy-efficient city-based society. That way, we can return the once sprawling farmland back to its original status, and bring people closer together, cut down on driving, increase productivity, and create a better energy society. Thats what i want.

Fake Leaves, Real Energy

This is just exciting: Scientists led by a physicist at MIT have created an artificial leaf that converts sunlight into hydrogen and oxygen to be used for electric power.

http://www.gizmag.com/worlds-first-practical-artificial-leaf/18247/

While it doesn't in any way LOOK like a leaf, it performs the same basic functions, and can be produced cost-effectively to be applied in developing countries to power households. At first i thought it was a way to create photosynthetic cellulose in a laboratory, but this is even better. Thanks to funding from Obama's Recovery Act, they have been able to produce a stable artificial leaf using silicon and cobalt catalysts that can be placed in a jug of water and in direct sunlight to provide electricity. Its a high-tech device with low-tech implementation, making it ideal for aiding those without power. One more reason to love science every day.

Heres a brief video explaining the technology