“Green” and Green Computing…. Part 1
I have to admit that I am not a “Green” fanatic in the ideological sense of the word. I do not belong to Greenpeace or any “Save the Planet” type organizations. Don’t get me wrong, I love the outdoors. I used to go camping, hiking, climbing, and backpacking all the time before life overtook me. The thing about being “Green” that no one talks about is the law of supply and demand and how that equals money; money in my pocket and money in your pocket. If all the “Green” fanatics would get off the bandwagon of saving the earth and actually show people how it could save them money, their movement would go much farther toward accomplishing their goals.
Let me explain this a little more. About 5 years ago I bought a Ford Escape Hybrid. It was purely an economic decision, not a “Green” decision. Sure it cost more than a non-hybrid version. But I needed a vehicle that got good gas mileage and would allow me to carry a few things, as I drive a lot. It does not get the best gas mileage compared to many other hybrid vehicles, but in Southern California traffic, it definitely has saved me a LOT of money. When it comes to supply and demand, if everyone or even a large majority of people drove hybrid or electric vehicles, or if legistaltion was passed to make the car makers design vehicles with better gas mileage, then there would be less demand on fuel and “all things considered” gas prices should go down for everyone. Less demand, cheaper prices.
Another example is lighting. I am sure most people use the fluorescent light bulbs around their house. For the most part they are ugly, but who cares. A fluorescent light bulb saves about $30 over its lifetime and has an ROI of about 6 months. I know millions of home users use this, but from my understanding there is still a huge open gap with existing home users and businesses. Of course the savings of fluorescent lighting is absolutely NOTHING compared to LED lighting. My friend Michael Keddington is the CEO of Permlight Products (http://www.permlight.com). Permlight makes LED based lighting systems. Their technology can be used in residential applications, business applications and especially in signs and outdoor lighting. Their lighting technology can last decades and uses up to 80% less electricity then standard bulbs. So the law of supply and demand again comes into effect in this scenario. If everyone, or a large majority of people, converted their lighting to these money saving technologies, especially LED technology, electricity usage would go down, when the demand of electricity goes down, so does the price and we all gain.
I have friends who hate recycling. Recycling saves manufacturers from needing to mine and produce raw materials. If companies have to spend their money mining and producing raw materials then they will have to CHARGE MORE. If the supply of raw material goes up then the cost for companies to purchase it will go down and companies will not have to charge the end users more. Whether they will or not is another question, but the fact remains that the manufacturer will not be forced to raise the price because their costs are so high from needing to puchase raw materials.
I know the law of economics could break this down into a million pieces and convolute it with crazy derivatives and interest and what not, but in my simple mind, this makes sense and I know I am, at least partially, right about this. I could go on and on about the benefits of alternate energy and whatnot but this all leads me to my main topic of green computing.
The reason I am touting “Green” in my company blog is that Frontec is launching a new cloud computing service that promises to increase reliability and security while at the same time decreasing costs. The model that we have developed is as green as green computing gets and promises savings in every aspect of business IT and communications.
Green computing in my cynical mind is the process of making computing cheaper. How is that for a definition? Seriously though, a company’s technology is one area that is often overlooked in reducing a business’ expenses. The “Green” fanatics out there will tout the idea is to reduce a carbon footprint. That is not foremost in my mind because if you can make computing cheaper from a: technology perspective, a support perspective, an electricity usage perspective, and a delivery perspective, then one of the many byproducts will be a reduced carbon footprint. So everyone is happy.
Think about the technology in your company, school or organization. Most companies have at least 1 server. These servers are usually in a “server room” or should be, with dedicated cooling. They are on 24 hours day, 7 days a week. Do you know that with cloud computing technology, like what Frontec is offering, you can actually get rid of all your servers, turn off your dedicated cooling and operate even more efficiently? That is a 100% reduction in electricity and cooling costs related to your servers. Do you know that with cloud computing, done right, you could reduce your electricity costs by 80% to 90% on all your desktops? We take it even farther, much farther. Green computing is not just about electricity usage, it is about reduction of costs at every level of am organization’s IT an communication costs. It is easy to see the supply and demand of electricity can reduce company’s expenses with cloud computing, but what about the effeciency cost reductions that can be seen in all your hardware and communication like an organization’s desktops and phone system. How efficient, green and cheap is a desktop computer that lasts 10 years and uses 80% to 90% less electricity? How efficient and green is a phone system that you never have to replace and uses less electricity?
Think about these questions. There are so many areas in an organization that can be improved with cloud computing. In part 2, I will get down to more detail of green computing and cost savings.
Stay tuned……..
Kindest Regards,
Todd Nielsen
Frontec Solutions, Inc.