But Apple has embarked on an ambitious, and far from easy, task of building a new data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, that will be powered by 100% green energy, and not by any of the aforementioned methods. Instead, Apple has laid out a blueprint that combines a number of initiatives, including on-site generation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sourcing, to achieve its 100% green goal.

The plans are significant, because it effectively represents the first 100% green data centre in more or less real world, albeit perhaps financially distorted, conditions – since Apple has the money to build a facility from scratch and to acquire enough land to build its own solar farm.

In terms of onsite generation, Apple says it will be able to generate about 60% of the projected 20MW needed to power the data centre from its own solar farm.

“We’re currently building two solar array installations in and around Maiden. These sites use high-efficiency solar cells and an advanced solar tracking system,” the company said on a dedicated page on the project. “A 100-acre, 20-megawatt installation on the same site as our data center will produce 42 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy annually. A 100-acre site located a few miles away will produce another 42 million kWh. Together that’s 84 million kWh of clean, renewable energy supplied annually. When our bio-gas-powered 5-megawatt fuel cell installation comes online later this year, it will provide more than 40 million kWh of renewable energy annually. This means Apple will be producing enough onsite renewable energy — 124 million kWh — to power the equivalent of 10,874 homes.”

Obviously, not many companies out there can easily justify the purchase of 200 acres of land and the solar panels to fit them out, but what Apple’s project represents is a proof of concept that such an endeavour is possible.

Direct access green power

But Apple doesn’t stop there. To power the remaining 40% of the Maiden facility, Apple will seek renewable energy from third party supplier. But instead of simply going out and buying RECs, which does not necessarily mean the power it is buying is from green sources, simply that an equivalent amount of green power is being generated somewhere, Apple is very specific about how it is going about buying green power.

According to Apple, it will be “directly purchasing clean, renewable energy generated by local and regional sources.” This is a paramount phase because it means that Apple will be buying energy that is in fact generated by renewable sources such as wind, solar, and bio-gas. Also, the fact it specifies ‘local and regional sources,’ means that it is supporting local green power initiatives, and consuming what is generated. This also minimises any losses to the power during long distance transmission.

“Directly purchasing clean local energy gives us the flexibility to meet our needs over time, helps us to ensure that our sources are reputable and responsible, and encourages local investment in renewable projects such as wind, solar, and bio-gas power in locations best suited for these resources,” the company said. “Adding renewable energy sources like these displaces dirtier energy sources from the grid. We’re also partnering with NC GreenPower — an independent, nonprofit organization created by the North Carolina Utilities Commission — to increase local renewable energy production throughout North Carolina. Today Apple’s largest project with NC GreenPower is helping the local landfill in Catawba County (located just three miles from the Maiden data center) to generate electricity using their waste methane gas.”

Energy efficiency

In addition to relying entirely on renewable energy, Apple will also minimise the energy requirements of the Maiden facility through a number of energy efficient measures. These include the use of a chilled water storage system to improve chiller efficiency by transferring 10,400 kWh of electricity consumption from peak to off-peak hours each day, the use of ‘free’ outside air cooling through a waterside economiser, a precision cool air distribution system, and cold air containment pods, a higher voltage power distribution to lessen losses, efficient LED lighting with motion sensors, and real time power monitoring for maximum efficiency. Apple has even gone as far as to put in a white roof to maximum solar reflectivity.

What’s important to remember is that each of these things are necessary parts to achieving Apple’s goal and each will take a lot of work, in terms of man hours, investment, logistics, operational complexity, and no doubt many other elements. Those are the challenges. That’s what it will take to get to zero carbon emissions for the data centre industry.

For Apple’s part, the Maiden site is not its first 100% green site. According to the company, its operations centres in Austin, Texas, Sacramento, California, and Cork, Ireland, as well as its Munich, Germany facility are also zero emission sites.

Apple is also planning to green two more data centres, a new one in Prineville, Oregon, and an existing site in Newark, California. For these sites, Apple will rely primarily on local direct access renewable energy.

The $60 million investment by Fujitsu focused on security, connectivity and availability enhancements to provide its 2,000 Australian enterprise and government customers with increased access to secure hosting services, the company said. Fujitsu also weighs the environmental sustainability of its data centres and Noble Park is now operating as one of the most energy efficient facilities of its size in the country.

According to Fujitsu, its data centres have a target PUE of 1.7 and that the company reports all GHG emission by the Noble Park facility, as well as all others in its Australian data centre network, to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System (NGERS).

Mike Foster, Chief Executive Officer of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand said, “In the last few years Fujitsu has made significant local investments in new technology areas including data centres, cloud services, application development and managed services. We will continue to invest in ensuring that our customers have access to the best possible infrastructure in the region. The Noble Park upgrade is consistent with this strategy. The facility makes a key contribution to Fujitsu’s global data centre capability, which includes over 100 data centres worldwide.”

Below is Fujitsu’s sustainability targets for 2012 and 2020 from a 2008 baseline, including electricity usage in its offices, data centres, travel, and use of renewable energy.

The 48V Flatpack S is designed for applications like wireless base station, broadband, fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC), fiber-to-the building (FTTB) and wireless remote radio head (RRH) cabinets. It provides 95.5% power conversion efficiency and is housed in a standard-width telecom power shelf that is shallow (210 mm or 8.3”) and only 41.5 mm (1.6”) high.

The new Flatpack S rectifiers deliver 1000W of power and can be used in both the two-slot and three-slot Flatpack S power shelves. Additional systems with higher power ratings are planned for future release.

The Flatpack S shelves also can be equipped with 1000W, 24V rectifiers for industrial applications.

“As growing data traffic drives the rollout of high speed mobile and fixed data services, the load is pushed towards the edge of the network and space becomes an increasingly important issue,” said Morten Schoyen, chief marketing officer at Eltek. “The Flatpack S 48V delivers industry-leading high efficiency and power density, as well as advanced reliability and safety features in a small package that meets this demand.”

The Flatpack S systems are managed by the Smartpack S controller, which monitors all active components and batteries, and offers extra warning and alarm relay outputs for attaching other alarm sensors.  The controller has a large display for onsite setup, status and log access.  These functions can also be set and monitored remotely.

The Smartpack S also features an extensive list of battery health and monitoring algorithms to extend the life of battery backup systems and ensure backup power when it is needed.

The Flatpack S DC power system can be configured for a variety of output power levels to meet individual application requirements. It can be flush-mounted or mid-mounted, has two plug-in battery breaker positions, low voltage battery disconnect (LBVD) and several load options. In addition, there is a pull-out drawer for easy access to the connection points and cable strain relief.

The Flatpack S 48V rectifiers are available now from Eltek’s sales force and resellers worldwide.

Meanwhile, Eltek announced that it has entered into an alliance with Stored Energy Systems to provide ruggedized DC power systems based on Eltek’s high efficiency and scalable switchmode power conversion technology to demanding industrial customers.

Under the new alliance, SENS will integrate Eltek’s core Flatpack 2 rectifier and Smartpack controller products into DC systems hardened for the rigors of industrial environments, focusing primarily on the power generation, power transmission & distribution and industrial controls markets.

According to Pike, the widespread adoption of energy efficient data center technologies and best practices could significantly limit the growth of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from data centers over the next several years. If current trends continue, GHG emissions from data centers are expected to total 1326 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent; green data center best practices could reduce that total to 1156 tons, a difference of 13% compared to the business-as-usual trend, said Pike.

“The drive toward green data centers is a response to business requirements to reduce costs across the company as well as a response to environmental concerns,” says research director Eric Woods.  “Within the data center environment, that translates to a mandate to reduce energy consumption, which in turn is driving innovation.  Data center operators are exploring new ideas related to business models, facility construction, layout and design, air flow dynamics, new technology, and monitoring and management tools.”

The deployment of green practices will result in an annual market opportunity that exceeds US$45 billion worldwide by 2016, with the Asia Pacific region coming in with the highest revenue growth at a CAGR of just under 30% during between 2011 and 2016. Both Europe and North America are projected to grwo at a CAGR of almost 27% in the same period, the researchers said.

The same process works with food. We consume energy store in whatever that we eat. We do use some of that energy to stay alive, like breathing or walking, but for most of us living in developed markets, there is a surplus. A lot of that energy gets store as fat in our bodies – for a raining day, which usually doesn’t come for most us since we get regular meals – so we go to the gym to use up that energy to stay fit.

Now a gym in the UK is looking to harness all that excess human energy, by hooking up generators to its gym equipment. According to this report, the Green Heart Gym in Hull, England now has equipment that will generate electricity as users work out.

The report says that the power will go to feed the facility’s LED lighting, which should work, but its assertion that such power can go to power other application in the community is a bit far fetched. Unless the gym is equipped with some sophisticated power storage and transmission equipment, it is highly unlikely that power from gym goers will be sufficient to support applications outside the immediate vicinity of the facility.

On the other hand, it is a pretty cool concept. Imagine a system at remote cell sites relying on wind and sun. When those resources are not available for any reason, why not have a crank, or treadmill for local users to power up the equipment. With some of the ultra low powered site equipment being development, it just might work.

Cotecna is the foremost supplier of transit monitoring services with its Cotrack® solution, helping governments to fight fraud and secure the transport of sensitive merchandise such as petroleum products, according to the companies. Cotecna first installed Cotrack in Senegal in 2009 and is backed by more than 38 years of experience in customs and border control solutions and in the implementation and operation, in challenging environments, of complex solutions involving very specialized and advanced technologies.

For its part, Orange Business has over 200 dedicated experts working on M2M solutions, providing services that include consulting, design, innovation, integration, project management and service management.

M2M solutions from Orange allow machines, devices and objects to communicate in real time without human intervention and can be integrated with communication tools, such as the Internet, networks, and telephone systems, necessary for an optimal track and trace solution, Orange said, adding that it now offers a long-lasting, adapted SIM that can cope with extreme conditions and can be used anywhere in the world.

Through this Cotecna-Orange Business Services partnership, Cotecna will be able to propose specific Orange M2M solutions in many market segments. Already, the added value of this partnership has been clearly proven in the development of an exclusive turn-key transit monitoring solution, which has been successfully operating in the West African country of Togo since December 2011.

Pierre-Olivier Pellegrin, senior vice president Security & Inspection Technology, Cotecna, said:  “As a company that prides itself on its flexibility and ability to provide specific tailor-made solutions for our clients, the capability of Orange to supply such a comprehensive package of technologies across a global landscape is of utmost importance to Cotecna’s expansion.”

Helmut Reisinger, senior vice president, Orange Business Services Europe. “Orange has created M2M solutions in a wide spectrum of industry sectors. Our M2M and industry expertise provides a solid foundation for Cotecna’s plans to implement M2M solutions tailored to the secure transit monitoring industry. Business M2M is a perfect example of how Orange is helping customers like Cotecna use innovative technology to evolve their business models, even into fast growing emerging markets.

Francis Maude, UK Cabinet Office Minister, was quoted as saying on the BusinessGreen news site that G-Cloud will allow the public sector to reduce its procurement costs.

Maude told the report that later this month, the Cabinet Office will report on the progress of its Green ICT strategy, originally launched last year. As part of the report, the UK government is expected to reveal its progress consolidating its data centres, and auditing the ICT requirements and efficient of various departments.

According to the report, the government has already started to compile the energy and cost data from each department and is in the process of consolidate its facilities and rationalise its applications and services.

“These will be reported in the Green ICT strategy first annual report and assessment due to be published shortly,” Maude said. “The Cabinet Office has collected the baseline information from Departments around the cost and energy consumed by Government data centres and their servers and is actively working to consolidate and rationalise Government data centres which will save energy and costs.”

You can read up on the UK government’s Green ICT Strategy, first published March 2011, here.

The new sites will handle a host of applications and services, including Medicare, Centrelink and Child Support, as well as the Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

According to Minister for Human Services, Senator Kim Car, the project will merge 500 servers into just eight, thus improving utilisation rates, and lowering power and space requirements.

Fuelling that growth will be greater adoption, and availability, of cloud-based ERP and CRM  solutions, the report, published by Market Publishers, summarised.

“Among the key factors driving the expansion of the market one can name cost reduction, speed, flexibility and responsiveness, widespread adoption of internet, rising smartphone usage, indigenous innovation, and scope in (medium and small-sized enterprises) MSMEs,” the researchers noted.

The report finds that significant cost reduction motivates Chinese customers towards adopting cloud computing services. Also, nearly half of the survey respondents believe that cloud computing reduces upfront IT costs. In addition, faster computer processing speed and greater internet bandwidth drives the cloud computing in China. As china’s internet population estimated to rise by 17% during 2007–2015 propels the growing cloud computing market, mobile cloud computing market is also showing huge potential to grow owing to rising smartphone use and development of 3G/4G networks in China. Chinese indigenous companies have contributed to the growth of innovation in cloud computing. Many Chinese colleges and institutions have made indigenous technological innovation in cloud computing. China’s cloud computing market stands to capitalize upon the untapped potential in 47 mn domestic MSMEs.

“However, the growth of cloud computing in China could be challenged by the lack of expertise and knowledge among IT executives, lesser use of virtualization and data security concerns,” the report added. “Barely 14% of Chinese companies have adopted virtualization as compared to that of 74% in the U.S. Over 80% of Chinese executives consider data security threat as one of the major concerns in cloud computing.”