Green IT

[twinscythe12332]

size versus power requirements don't scale the same. as an added extra... 40" CRT 0_0 that's crazy.
information technology is one of the fastest expanding sectors. if you think about it with hunters logic (if it cools your chinas down, and your china's chinas...), it will add up.
The whole eco movement is, for the most part, a stamp that everyone wants to have.
The conditions for this "green" stamp are contorted. look at those energy saving bulbs. it takes 8w instead of 40w, sure, but it uses mercury( a heavy metal) to get that.
I'm all for something taking less power. it puts cash back in your pocket, and that is an investment by any standards.

martinco, when did you buy your 40"? age of devices also factors into power consumption (the first few are generally little power suckers until they can get everything right, and newer technologies exist).

[tec0]

The thing is, computers and servers need power, and power comes from PowerStations and not a hamster named Timmy running inside the computer box. Thus regardless of what we use, the mining industry will still destroy vegetation use harmful chemicals and use lots of oil to make the power-station run thus allowing your computer to work.

Fact is sun energy combined with wind energy and other such technologies will reduce the need for tapping in to the grid. So only when your company truly goes green as in trying to produce its own power via a renewable source will it be worth it.

If your systems are powered by the sun most of the time and by the PowerStation some of the time its better then tapping into the PowerStation’s power all the time. Thus you are doing something positive or are you?

Remember now everything you use from your mouse to keyboard to USB flash drive had a messy beginning and will have a messy ending so you can be sure that it doesn’t matter “yet� But it soon will.

See the fact is people think that technology holds the key and has all the answers, this is untrue for only when we understand the true cost of technology will we be able create a green environment.

So by education alone can we become green in IT, by understanding that installing a million applications and running thousands of updates means more CPU power, more RAM and upgrading all the time thus more waste and old computers not being recycled properly.

If one thinks about IT one will understand that YES by doing proper backups and running the minimum software needed to perform a function will I be able to extend the life of my computer systems and networks. Thus I upgrade only when something goes bust.

See software forces hardware upgrades and yes hardware forces software upgrades SO we cannot really win but I know for a fact that you can work around problems rather than buying new computers spend more money create more waste...

Thus plan your system, what do my people need to work and ONLY provide that function, cut out any ability for the user to add anything or do anything but the task and your systems and network will probably run a lot better thus eliminating the need for constant upgrading. Smart phones can use the net so let your employees use that to go on Youbook and Facetube, Why must your network be burdened with that crap?

[twinscythe12332]

The thing is, computers and servers need power, and power comes from PowerStations and not a hamster named Timmy running inside the computer box. Thus regardless of what we use, the mining industry will still destroy vegetation use harmful chemicals and use lots of oil to make the power-station run thus allowing your computer to work.

that's a bit of a chicken egg thing going there. the power stations need the mines who provide coal and the mines need the power stations who provide electricity who need the mines...
bottom line is, mines are bad. heavy metals, greed and holes in the earth are all by-products of mining. And yet our economy can't seem to live without them. It is ironic that while we hold a lot of the minerals everyone else wants, we haven't woken up and started using them ourselves. we're so busy selling our unrefined materials to first world countries that we can't seem to see why they're so important.

Fact is sun energy combined with wind energy and other such technologies will reduce the need for tapping in to the grid. So only when your company truly goes green as in trying to produce its own power via a renewable source will it be worth it.

sun and wind provide power, certainly. But they also need batteries. batteries are banks of chemicals. it's kind of weird how that works =/, it's like we need something harmful to make something okay. eco batteries have been created to some extent, but still don't have anything near to proper production. I think if one of the big battery makers changed to a 100% eco-friendly battery, it would put out a strong message.

also, cost is a big factor. wind power often turns into a novelty instead of a way to cut costs. solar appears to be a bery good way of getting energy. but the cost of solar panels is terrifying. I was looking into making my own solar panels to cut costs. It is entirely possible to cut the price of solar panels by 50% by making your own. however, you're only going to do that if you go large-scale or live in america (ebay has a few well priced solar cells, but the crud thing is that they slap on a shipping fee that is higher than the cost of the cells -_-_

See the fact is people think that technology holds the key and has all the answers, this is untrue for only when we understand the true cost of technology will we be able create a green environment.

So by education alone can we become green in IT, by understanding that installing a million applications and running thousands of updates means more CPU power, more RAM and upgrading all the time thus more waste and old computers not being recycled properly.

If one thinks about IT one will understand that YES by doing proper backups and running the minimum software needed to perform a function will I be able to extend the life of my computer systems and networks. Thus I upgrade only when something goes bust.

See software forces hardware upgrades and yes hardware forces software upgrades SO we cannot really win but I know for a fact that you can work around problems rather than buying new computers spend more money create more waste...

Current generation software scares me. If you look at the stuff that was created for commodore, it was tiny. if you tried to do the exact same thing with one of the up to date APIs, you'd get your 16kb game.... and 20MB for the api. It is my opinion that we have moved backwards in software as much as we have moved forwards. for each new innovation in software, we have too much bloat that comes with it.

Thus plan your system, what do my people need to work and ONLY provide that function, cut out any ability for the user to add anything or do anything but the task and your systems and network will probably run a lot better thus eliminating the need for constant upgrading. Smart phones can use the net so let your employees use that to go on Youbook and Facetube, Why must your network be burdened with that crap?

ah, but then you fall into the trap of not having the latest software. Big IT companies cannot exist without you buying their crapware version 2.0

just like blackberry and istuff in the phone world, there's plenty of "ooooh shiny" that occurs in the software and hardware world. It's picking through the shiet and making an informed decision that wins at the end of the day.

[adrianh]

The problem with the whole Green movement is exactly the same problem as with the diet industry. People want to change with the least inconveniece to themselves. Think about it - we want to use less energy yet we want the same standard of living. Same with dieting, we want to lose weight by taking pills and buying the latest fad exercise machine.

It's picking through the shiet and making an informed decision that wins at the end of the day.

This is the biggest problem. Our economy is driven by consumption. Consumption is driven by marketing. Marketing is drivin by Bull$... Read a book called Bad Science. The book is written by a medical doctor. He looks at various drugs, suppliments, fads and all sorts of marketing mechanisms that are used to sell stuff to the man in the street. We speak of Antioxidants, Omega-3, etc without having the faintest idea about the science involved. We simply eat up the garbage marketing thrown at us all the time. An interesting thing that he shows is how drug companies fabricate illnesses to sell their drugs. 90% of SSRI's (drugs like Prozac) are prescribed for no reason. Viagra is the cure all for the slightest sexual issue - Did you know that Viagra is marketed to women under a different brand name! Another interesting fact is that drug companies rebrand a product and then sell it as a cure for a different concocted ailment (again antidepressants and SSRI's for things like Social Anxiety Disorder) Strange how the word "Disorder" comes up over and over again.

Anyway, to get back to the Green movement - I think that it is simply a marketing gimmick to drive consumption.

[tec0]

All in all, I cannot imagine a future for South Africa or the world, they are addicted to easy power and easy this and easy that... They cannot stop using antiquated means of Power Generation and there is nothing being done to plan for the future.

So we sell out all our natural resources, we do not develop our land or find new ways to generate proper amounts of electricity what will happen then? Simple nothing the human race will dwindle to little more than farming communities “if they are lucky� Technology and all that will have no use at all.

[adrianh]

I don't see this as a problem at all. Civilizations come and go, it is nature's way. Nature will adapt and life will continue. We have been blocking our own evolution far too long by artificial means because we believe that our current form is the pinnacle of life - in the long run nature will simply wipe the slate, renew, regroup and redesign. At the end of the day we are evolving our world (at the expense of ourselves and many other species) but then, that is the nature of man. I can't see how our current form could be the pinnacle of life, we are the cancer of the earth!

[twinscythe12332]

The problem with becoming the "dominant species" is that once you're at the top of the food chain, there's only one thing that can get to you consistently... your own species.
we're going to end ourselves.