Journal 7, October 11th

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/business/energy-environment/12iht-green.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Technology based companies like Google and Twitter have made life much more manageable but at the same time consumed vast amounts of energy to do so. To keep up with the scores of digital information necessary for the upkeep of the internet and countless office computers technology companies have erected data centers all over the world. These data centers in the United States alone use 1.5% of the entire countries power usage in 2006 and according to government these figures are set to double in just five years. Experts say there are plenty of ways to improve efficiency of power use by these data centers. Costs are obviously causing a loss to companies for example the power for a server over its useful life exceeds the initial cost of the hardware itself. Part of the problem lies in keeping these data centers cool. To allow chips work at maximum efficiency data centers must be kept below 80 degrees Fahrenheit which means money and power must be spent on expensive cooling equipment. To accommodate this potential expense businesses are taking advantage of alternate cooling methods, like the weather. Recently Microsoft built a data center in Ireland to take advantage of the sites cooler temperatures. In addition to considering innovative ways to design and implement data centers companies are also trying to gauge the exact amount of energy they are using so that they be aware of their impact. This way companies will be more easily able to manage their power usage so they can operate as efficiently as possible.

If technology is to be properly integrated into society companies must be sure that energy efficiency is one of their top concerns. As the rest of the world attempts to become "greener" so must the field of technology. It is essential that companies plan for the future by implementing the most cost affective and energy efficient methods today so that society will pay less in the future.

Reference:
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/08/reducing_data_c.html;jsessionid=TNBTMEOUUSXCZQE1GHPSKH4ATMY32JVN