Updates from Asia-Pacific. Click here for regional Green ICT updates from around the globe. Click on 'Asia-Pac' tag above for all news about the region. (Information about the ICT implications of Japan's earthquake and tsunami have been moved to its own post.)

2012

The deadline for entries in Hong Kong's 2012 Best Green ICT Award. The deadline for entry into the four categories is 6 February 2012. This is the first Green ICT award in China of which I am aware.

We're updating our 2010 look at Green ICT Earth Day activities with 2011 news.

Kansas City (MO, USA) carrier hotel 1102 GRAND announced that it had "recently implemented Kansas City Power & Light’s (KCP&L’s) Custom Rebate Retrofit Program and projects a Wattage reduction of 53 percent just in time for Earth Day 2011." 1102 Grand principal Darren Bonawitz emailed these lessons learned. "In our experience, it is always easier to cost justify implementing large scale infrastructure replacements with more eco-friendly options when expanding or replacing equipment at the end of its life cycle. Those projects do not happen every month or year even. In between, commercial companies can take advantage of programs to complete smaller projects that still provide incremental energy savings. A series of smaller projects are often easier to implement and the sum of their energy reduction can be just as significant as a single large scale retrofit."

This isn't really ICT-related, but we could not resist. The CIA's Earth Day press release leads with, "The Central Intelligence Agency’s practice of shredding and burning classified papers...is one of several ways the CIA conserves energy, reduces its impact on the environment, and lowers costs through its sustainability efforts. Exhaust from the Agency’s on-site incinerator generates steam to heat water at CIA Headquarters. In addition to saving fuel, that process reduces the amount of waste—which would otherwise be destined for landfills—by nearly 1,000 tons per year." Burn before showering.

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French start-up Hedera Technology offers "open source" servers. The company touts the energy, CO2e, and e-waste benefits of its products, but, most intriguing is the claim that "Designed to be produced from basic materials, Microclusters are easily manufactured. All the components can be made by small industrial structures, present everywhere around the world, even in remote areas." We will be following the company to see if they succeed in licensing production in areas of the globe not traditionally associated with server manufacturing.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports "A group of seven graduate students, from Stanford University and Finland’s Aalto University, created a prototype of a recyclable laptop…the Bloom laptop…is made mostly of materials that can be recycled alongside ordinary household items, like metal, plastic, and glass. Materials like LCD screens and circuit boards, which need to be sent to specialized recycling facilities, can be easily separated in a few steps."

As we learn that most ICT impact occurs outside of the data center, understanding the the impact of "CT" becomes as important as that of "IT". GÉANT, the multi-gigabit pan-European research and education (R&E) network, has completed an GHG audit of its network backbone using the ISO 14063 standard. Its report both offers insights and raises questions.

Helsingin Energia (Helsinki Energy) uses the graphic on left to illustrate how it harnesses seasonal climate cycles to provide district cooling. Now, its applying this approach to cool the "world’s most eco-efficient computer hall" (data center), as illustrated on right. Nordic Energy Solutions reports that the data center "has the capacity to heat 500 large single-family houses." Helsingin Energia tells me that its ISP partner in the project, Academica, expects to have the center operational in May 2010.

Municipal heating/cooling districts are most common in northern Europe, but this model could be implemented at universities and government complexes in North America, many of which which have both large ICT infrastructures and campus-wide heating/cooling systems.

More on unique approaches to data center cooling.

The Sierra Club released its third annual Cool Schools ranking of 135 US colleges and universities this fall, based on a self-reporting survey of nine categories: efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, and other. About 20% received a grade of A- or higher; all but one are in Eastern or Western states.

Here's how the 27 'A' schools and all the 135 participants distribute geographically.

Green ICT becoming increasingly important to sustainability initiatives at educational institutions. Here is an update on resources for that sector.

The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment is "a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions, and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate." Over 650 American and international institutions have signed the commitment. Is yours on the list?