“I’m one of those people who believe that green technology now is now in the process of becoming like safety in the automotive industry. In the beginning, when safety was introduced with seat belts and everything, everybody was a little bit like, ‘oh safety, it’s so expensive…’ Today you can sell a car that is not safe. It’s possible and it’s illegal in many cases,” said Kjell Nordstrom, a lecturer at the Stockholm School of Economics and best selling author of a couple of business books – Karaoke Capitalism: Management for Mankind and Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance. “Even the small cars are becoming safe. And some small manufacturers cannot sell cars in some countries as is – they are not safe enough.”

I had the rare opportunity to speak to Nordstron, a keynote speaker at a recent event organised by business intelligence software vendor, SAS, called The Premier Business Leadership Series, on the movement towards green practices in the world of business. In his opinion, what happened to seat belts will soon happen with going green.

“So in the automotive industry, safety, you have to have. Green is the same, the same thing is happening quickly. Most people are becoming aware of it, know it,” he said. “So what is happening, I think that this greening thing is going through the same process as safety. In the beginning, everybody was a little be reluctant, and said ‘maybe, maybe not.’ But what is happening is, the user, the consumer, the market is changing, and now it is taken for granted – it is necessary, to do the homework, and do the best you can, as a company. And those who don’t do that, will be punished by the market.”

More importantly, Nordstrom asserts that the shift towards going green will happen much faster than the adoption of seat belts.

“You can see that happening very, very, rapidly – and I must say remarkably rapidly,” he said. “Safety was a process of 10-15 years, I think this might be faster than that, we are talking about a timeframe of 10 years. And then you have to, as a company, be able to show, and be transparent, ‘we are doing everything we can, we are in every dimension, accountable.’ You need to show that you have done your homework. I think we are rapidly, rapidly, going to see a transformation.

“There will be differences between Asia, Europe, and between countries, in how rapid – the only thing we can be sure of is that it will be faster than what we have seen in, for example, safety in the automotive industry. That also began as a voluntary thing, then it became legislation, and then today, it is difficult sell a car that is not safe.”

The Mirasol display technology works by mimicking the wings of a butterfly, which basically have no colour on their own, but reflect specific wavelengths in the light spectrum that show up as colour to your eye. In that way, it doesn’t require power for illumination, but uses ambient light to form the images.

As such, the technology dramatically reduces power consumption of mobile devices, hence extending the battery life during use, as well as the lifecycle of the physical battery itself.

According to Cheryl Goodman, director of marketing at Qualcomm’s MEMS Technologies, the application of Mirasol technology in a device such as the iPad would extend the battery life from 10 hours to up to 30 hours. Power consumption of a Mirasol displays is as little as 1mW, compared to TFT-LCD, which require 202000mW.

Her assertions are backed by a study by Pike Research cited on Mirasol’s website, which found that reflective display technologies such as interferometric modulator displays (IMOD) provide a significant energy efficiency advantage over incumbent technologies such as LCD or OLED.

“In Pike’s analysis, a mobile device using an IMOD display would consume 33.7% less energy, which extends the battery life by 51%, when compared with a similar mobile device that uses a conventional LCD display. Based on a simple lifecycle analysis, this would result in 94% less carbon dioxide emitted in the use phase for the display. In addition, this efficiency advantage results in about 58 fewer recharge cycles over the course of a year and would extend the life of the battery for an additional 1.25 years,” Mirasol said.

Goodman says that the first colour Mirasol displays will ship later this year to manufacturers, who will then commercialise products using the technology.

But don’t hold your breath for the Mirasol-based iPad or netbook. Instead, Goodman says Qualcomm’s strategy is to focus on displays no more than 5.7-inch in size, to ensure the portability of the devices, such as e-Readers.

Although not exclusive to solar applications, the Trilogy DC power plant does offer convenient solar energy management, allowing service providers to use the sun as a back-up power source without the need for a separate, discrete power plant. This capability is made possible with the Smartpack controller—standard with the Trilogy system—which can manage AC power input from the grid and DC solar energy input from a solar array to optimize power conversion.

The Trilogy system is based on Eltek Valere’s market-leading Flatpack2 HE rectifier that is more than 96 percent efficient. In addition to the 15-inch rectifier depth, the system also has vertical cable landings for the breakers that guide cables out the top or side of the system.

“Space has always been at a premium for telecom applications, but now that limitation is compounded with a desire to reduce power consumption and go green,” said Allen Pitts, Eltek Valere President for the Americas region. “Trilogy is ideal for this next-gen network environment because it’s small and gives carriers the option of integrating alternative power sources to save money and meet their green initiatives.”

Trilogy can be configured in a two-shelf system for up to 300A of power, a three-shelf system for 400A of power or a four-shelf system for 600A of power. The shelves can fit into a 19- or 23-inch rack. The high efficiency of the system also significantly reduces heat output compared to the industry standard power efficiency, lowering the amount of cooling needed.

For solar applications, the Trilogy utilizes 48V Flatpack2 HE Solar Chargers to convert solar energy to usable DC power. The solar converters provide output power of 1500W with 96 percent power conversion efficiency. Each solar charger module utilizes maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technology to optimize solar output and utilization of the free energy from the sun collected by a solar array.

The Smartpack controller simultaneously manages both the AC mains and the input from the solar converters. The controller has built-in digital alarm inputs and form C output relays for sensors, allowing the controller to monitor both operational and environmental elements of the system. Smartpack also features an Ethernet port for network/Internet remote accessibility.

The Trilogy system provides an AC junction box, eliminating the need to wire each power shelf. The Trilogy distribution also features both breaker-protected and bulk output landings, a low-voltage disconnect option and a two-bus system for discrete output (like batteries and load) within the same panel.

The Trilogy DC power system is now available from Eltek Valere’s worldwide sales team and area resellers.

“By establishing a new and dedicated software business with a clear strategy and focus, we are showing our true commitment to become the global leader in software for data centers,” said Laurent Vernerey, President and CEO of APC. “This evolution within APC is well aligned with the Schneider Electric vision of becoming the world leader in energy management.”

The Data Center Software business will be a key contributor to Schneider Electric’s Ecostruxure™ architecture, and a strong supporter of Schneider Electric’s energy management initiatives. APC’s InfraStruxure® management software portfolio, a critical element of Ecostruxure, will be the focus of this team. Through InfraStruxure, the Data Center Software business will simplify and drive energy and operational efficiency entitlements across all aspects of the data center.

According to The 451 Group report “Datacenter Management & Energy-Efficiency Software” [July 2009], “Schneider Electric has the scale, brand, vision and penetration to take a leadership position in data center energy management software; its size is also helping it make important alli­ances. InfraStruxure is currently just one of several offerings in this market, but it has the potential to be a clear leader.”

The APC InfraStruxure management software portfolio helps companies improve energy and cost efficiencies, and supports short- and long-term planning, forecasting and budgeting. With this portfolio data center managers and IT executives have the ability to take a holistic view of data center physical infrastructure service quality, end-to-end energy use, and the various costs associated with it. The vendor-neutral software provides the industry’s first and broadest integrations with critical IT support systems, including power management, building management and enterprise management, enabling the monitoring, controlling and resolving of issues in a user-friendly environment.

The software portfolio includes InfraStruxure Operations – for daily operations and inventory management; InfraStruxure Central – for data gathering and monitoring, InfraStruxure Capacity, InfraStruxure Change – for planning and optimization; and InfraStruxure Energy Efficiency – for energy analysis and modeling down to the server location in a rack.

This specialized business will be led by Soeren B. Jensen, Vice President, Data Center Software, APC, with direct accountability to Laurent Vernerey, President and CEO, APC, and a dedicated supervisory board.

According to this report from ITNews in Australia, devices called, Voltmetres, can be installed in cable landing stations that can measure the electromagnetic current created by water moving around a subsea cable.

“Only a tiny fraction of the existing undersea cabling is used for scientific purposes … this is a missed opportunity,” You said in the news report. “To monitor climate change, [researchers] need continuity, but there are also funding limitations.”

So far, the telecoms industry has been very generous in allowing the scientific community access to their equipment, as long as they don’t disrupt telecoms services, You said. He added however that there is also a business opportunity for telcos.

“There is actually business [for telcos] to do – they can actually make additional money selling data to scientists,” he said. “My intention is to inform them they can make some money here, and they cannot say that climate change has nothing to do with them.”

You is part of a group of scientist studying the Indonesian Throughflow, a current that flows between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The report further noted that the group received endorsement from SingTel and Telstra to use their cables for the project. The goal of the group is to set up a global monitoring network with the technology.

The group also wants telecoms operators to make retired cables available for scientific research. These can be reengineered for scientific instrumentation, or or moved to strategic locations around the world for such a purpose, You said.

“Spending on video conferencing solutions picked up in the final quarter of 2009 and has shown similar upbeat trends so far in the first half of 2010,” notes Frost & Sullivan industry manager Pranabesh Nath. He expects this optimism to continue assuming the economic recovery proceeds as anticipated in most Asia-Pac markets.

Growth of the video conferencing endpoints market dropped sharply to post a modest 5.4 percent on the back of just over US$335 million revenues in 2009, as the global economic slowdown curtailed the spending ability of many enterprises.

“The corporate sector saw the sharpest decline in video conferencing investments last year, most notably the banking and finance sector,” Nath says, adding that corporate cutbacks however were allayed by a rise in government sector adoption.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Asia-Pacific Video Conferencing Endpoints Market, finds that the market – covering 14 Asia-Pac countries, including Japan – will earn estimated revenues of US$367.5 million by the close of 2010, growing 9.5 percent year-on-year; while shipments will grow by 14.1 percent to 108,434 units.

If you are interested in more information about this study, then send an e-mail to Sarah Lourdes at sarah.lourdes@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website and country.

“Spending in the first three quarters of 2009 showed a decline in almost all Asia-Pacific countries, but by end-2009 enough deals were closed to bring the market back from the red,” observes Nath.

“Throughout 2009, however, the video conferencing endpoints market remained active despite the global recession with new product launches from both emerging and established vendors,” he adds. “High definition (HD) systems in particular witnessed a flurry of activity, with the continued penetration of popular and affordable solutions from leading vendors. As a result, almost all of the units sold in 2009 in the mid- to high-range market were high definition solutions.”

Nath expects HD adoption to continue rising through to 2016, even in countries like China and India — where standard definition (SD) systems currently dominate — as unit pricing declines further and customers realise the improved usability experience with HD.

He cautions however that the issue of expensive bandwidth remains, especially for smaller enterprises in emerging countries. As video collaboration for business-to-business communication catches on, he believes that enterprises that have or are in the process of rolling out transnational private Internet protocol (IP) networks should keep future applications, such as video, in mind for their network upgrades.

“Pure IP systems are already widely deployed in urban cities of the region. As bandwidth costs continue to decline and become more available beyond these urban areas, we expect pure IP systems to see huge uptake in the mid- to long-term,” says Nath.

The Asia-Pacific Video Conferencing Endpoints Market study is part of the Conferencing & Collaboration Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: telepresence, web conferencing software and services, video conferencing infrastructure, audio and video conferencing services, and online enterprise collaboration and shared workspaces. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

The Cool Door is an energy efficient cooling solution for data centres invented by Brisbane bayside residents Bernie Gee and Shaun Vosper.

The mens’ invention took out the Tools and Infrastructure iAward for Queensland at the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) event held in Brisbane in July and on 5 August the Cool Door was named national winner in the same field at a prestigious event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.

The Cool Door is now headed for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to compete in the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) awards.

The win is a dream come true for the Brisbane men, who combined their backgrounds in refrigeration and data centre operations to invent the refrigerated door.

The Cool Door fits to the front of a server rack and reuses energy from the fans of the servers operating in the rack to draw cool air from the door across the servers, cooling them at a fraction of the cost of some other data centre cooling methods. The cool environment allows up to four times more servers – 20kW or more when 5kW is more the norm – to be housed in the rack.

Judges were impressed by the simple and effective solution, which runs on single phase power and has the potential to significantly increase the capacity and prolong the life of a data centre.

The men are now consolidating plans to market the Cool Door beyond Queensland and have several expressions of interest from around Australia and the USA.

“Winning at the iAwards gives us industry recognition, which is so important when you’re a young company, and helps to give us a fantastic platform to get out and spread the word about the Cool Door,” Wynnum’s Bernie Gee said.

Shaun Vosper, from bayside Lota, where the early work on Cool Door was carried out said he was ‘over the moon.’

“A little idea from two family men has been recognised as important and worthy of the attention of some of the country’s finest IT minds, so to say we’re excited right now is an understatement,” Mr Vosper said.

IdaTech’s partner Cascadiant has been awarded the Phase III expansion contract to install and support the ElectraGen™ fuel cell systems. Cascadiant has successfully installed over 100 fuel cell systems across Indonesia with several of the wireless operators.

The initial ElectraGen™ fuel cell installations have already demonstrated a significant increase in network availability and performance. These latest deployments are a continuation of Cascadiant’s objective to install fuel cells on wireless networks, increasing availability in poor grid regions while reducing the industry’s carbon footprint.

Harol Koyama, CEO of IdaTech, commented, “We are excited that Asia continues to lead the world in the adoption of our fuel cell technology, and pleased to be working with our partner Cascadiant to supply fuel cell systems specifically for the Indonesian market.”

Telecommunications networks require reliable backup power solutions that can operate several hours or several days when electricity is unavailable due to factors such as severe weather, natural disasters, or poor grid quality. IdaTech’s ElectraGen™ fuel cell systems were developed specifically to provide critical backup power to the telecom market when loss of grid occurs.

“Fuel cells are becoming increasingly popular among network operators because they are significantly cleaner and quieter than diesel generators, reduce the number of batteries required at telecom sites, and are less likely to be involved in theft. We are very proud to work with IdaTech, with its position as a leading developer of the technology, to deliver effective solutions to our customers,” commented Marshall Towe, president and CEO of Cascadiant.

The Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010-2015 outlines strategies and actions for its agencies to lower their emissions and is consistent with the current administration’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the country by 60% of 2000 levels by 2050.

“Australian Government agencies currently manage significant quantities of ICT equipment, estimated at 350 000 PCs and laptops, 14 000 servers, and 37 500 imaging devices, as well as the consumables used in this equipment such as toner cartridges and copy paper,” the plan’s summary said. “This volume of activity raises significant environmental management concerns over the life cycle of products, mainly relating to energy use, carbon emissions, e-waste and hazardous materials, packaging and the sustainable use of precious and scarce metals.”

Under the new plan, agencies are mandated to adopt:

compliance with ISO 14024 or ISO 14021 at the level of EPEAT Silver or equivalent as a minimum standard for relevant ICT equipment;

compliance with the current ENERGY STAR version for relevant ICT equipment;

product take-back and appropriate resource recovery, reuse or recycling for (a) mobile devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs and Blackberry devices; (b) toner cartridges; and (c) ICT equipment covered by the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme under the National Waste Policy;6

general use office copy paper to have a minimum post-consumer recycled content of 50 per cent by July 2011, with progression to 100 per cent post-consumer recycled content;

participation by ICT suppliers in the National Packaging Covenant by July 2011 or compliance with the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Material) Measure (UPM NEPM); and

adoption by suppliers of an environmental management system aligned to ISO 14001.

Furthermore, the plan states some concrete goals for all government agencies by 2015. These include:

to recycle 50% of all general use paper by 2012 and 100% by 2015.

to reduce the internal copy paper per end-user (reams per end annum) from 18.6 in 2010, to 13 in 2012 and 9 reams by 2015.

to reduce the desktop computer and printer ratio from 8:1 in 2010, to 14:1 in 2012 and 20:1 by 2015.

to reduce the number of desktop devices per end-user from 1.6:1 in 2010, to 1.4:1 in 2012 and 1.2:1 per user by 2015.

At the same time, the plan also calls for a drastic reduction in energy consumption.

desktop energy per end-user (kWh per annum, averaged across agency) is mandated to go from 630 kWh in 2010, to 400 kWh in 2012, and 250 kWh in 2015 – a more than 50% reduction in energy consumption per end-user desktop per annum.

reduction of the PUE (power usage effectiveness (PUE) in data centres and server rooms from 2.5 in 2010, to 1.9 in 2015.

In addition to these, large agencies will have to implement an ICT energy management plan, which can be part of a wider agency EMP that includes implementation of improvements from ‘Green ICT Quick Wins’ initiatives, ‘Data Centre Strategy 2010-2015′, internal energy intensity measures and targets, and periodic independent ICT energy assessments for data centres and server rooms.

There are numerous other initiatives that would govern the ongoing management and reporting of ICT and emissions in each agency, including the implementation of strategies to raise awareness, provide training programs, and monitors and reports performance through a ‘GreenICT Scorecard.’

As one of the biggest purchasers of ICT products and services in the country, the plan will require all vendors to be fully aware of their emissions levels since each agency will have to rely on such data to report their progress in the plan.

Does this mean a competitive advantage for some vendors? Will agencies choose one vendor over another because of environmental attributes? How will they balance performance, price and environmental performance in their decision making? Those are all questions that will surely be ringing in vendor’s executive briefings in the coming months.

At a minimum, what the plan does is set a minimum yardstick for vendors if they want to bid for any government contract, which is not a bad start at all.

“Cost of energy has seldom been a concern for IT departments in the past,” says industry analyst Eric Woods, “and there was little incentive to invest in energy efficiency improvements. But as data centre energy costs become more visible, the financial benefits of moving to a greener mode of operation are being recognized by CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs.”

Woods adds that the green data centre has evolved in response to concern over energy use, but it is also connected to the broader transformation that data centers are undergoing. This transformation encompasses technical innovation, operational improvement, new design principles, and changes to the relationship between IT and business.

Energy efficiency, virtualisation, more dynamic operations and increased flexibility will be some of the characteristics of the ‘green data centres’ of the future, the report said.

Pike Research’s analysis indicates that power and cooling infrastructure solutions will be the largest portion of the green data center market opportunity, representing 46% of revenue over the next five years. Energy efficient IT equipment will be the second largest category with 41% of the market, and monitoring and management will follow with 14% of total revenue.

The report analyzes new developments in power and cooling infrastructure, server, storage and network technology, and software management systems that are underpinning green data centres. The study also profiles the strategies of key players in terms of their market approach, technical innovations, and internal efforts to create energy efficient data centres.

Download an executive summary here.