The Enormous Amount Of Energy Used By Computer Servers
In all the hot air talked about fracking, wind power and nuclear power, very rarely does the argument stray into energy usage. The only thing people seem to worry about is the cost of their household energy bills and filling up their car.
But accpording to this academic report from Stanford University in 2010, over ten percent of all US electricity was used to power computer and IT equipment. Here’s the relevant part.
In 2010, over 10% of electricity in the U.S. was due to computer and IT equipment usage. At the current rate we’re going, analysts and experts figure that 10% of the world’s power bill will be spent on running computers. To give a more concrete example of how much energy this is, Dixon shows that one 50,000 square feet data center uses about 5 megawatts, but continuously. This energy output would satisfy the needs of 5000 homes. In another staggering example, assorted US data centers use a collective 7000 megawatt data centers from seven different plants; this is more power than is used by the State of Mississippi. Even more surprising is that this astronomical power consumption is just by the plants themselves – cooling systems use as much energy as the plants.
Also in this article in the FT. it says that in 2010, Goggle used about 258 Megawatts continuously.
Since this refers to 2010, I wonder how much of the UK’s energy usage goes in that area now.
According to this article, in 2012 average demand for electricity was 35.8 Gigawatt. Just imagine having to pay that bill!
So let’s assume that only five percent of that energy is used for computer servers, so that is 1790 megawatt. Bear in mind that the UK’s largest power station, Drax, has a capability of generating 3960 megawatts or seven percent of the UK’s electricity. So nearly half of its output and the enormous amount of CO2, Drax emits could be used to power computer equipment.
I need better figures here, but it would seem that a substantial part of UK electricity is used in computing.
But help is at hand in this area. To make computers use less power, you can do many things; like write better software and install more efficient cooling systems.
The biggest fight though is in the area of making chips that consume less electricity and there’s a war going on there, between the dominant Intel and the upstart from Cambridge called ARM. Whether Intel can hold off ARM is a subject for debate, but in a year or so, the average server will consume a lot less power than it does now. Unfortunately, the search, social networking, data storing and other IT companies will be a lot bigger, so all we will be doing with better technology is eating into the growth in energy usage.
I think though, this will mean that many large server farms will relocate to countries, where energy costs are lowest.
Beware Of Angry Tweets
According to this article in the Daily Mail, an analysis of Twitter messages from rail passengers has shown that South West Trains are the least popular train company.
I took the company yesterday to Portsmouth Harbour in order to go to the Isle of Wight and I have no complaint about them, except that for First Clash passengers, they are the meanest. On a similar length journey to Ipswich, I may not get many perks, but at least I can get a free bottle of water or a coffee.
I know it’s not much, but it’s the thought that counts.
I wouldn’t choose the company, if there was an alternative, except that Waterloo is a better station for me than say Victoria.
Perhaps though companies should take more notice of what is said on sites like Twitter!
An Unseen Advantage Of Peer-To-Peer Lenders
There are three main peer-to-peer lenders in the UK; Funding Circle, Ratesetter and Zopa and I have extensive filters and Google alerts that look for any fraudulent activity concerning these companies.
Have I just not found them, but I haven’t seen or heard of anybody trying to get access to any of their web-sites for illegal purposes. I’ve not even heard of anybody trying to hack Wonga either.
On the other hand I’ve had over thirty phishing attempts in the last few weeks to try to get into my non-existent Barclays account.
So are you at an advantage if you keep your savings with a peer-to-peer lender?
Certainly at present you are! But phishing attempts will come, even though I think they would be a very difficult scam to setup and target successfully.
Why Would You Bank At Barclays?
Over my life, I’ve banked at Barclays at some times and I’ve never really had any complaints, although at times, I’ve had a bit of aggravation.
But looking at the spam, I’m getting, I wouldn’t be banking there now, as they seem to be the target of most of the phishing attempts, I’m getting in my Inbox. In fact, I had six this morning and I think I’ve had about twenty in the last week.
One of the reasons I bank at Nationwide, is that they only send me two e-mails a month, to tell me my statements are ready. I even send those to an e-mail address, that I don’t use for anything else.
I do wonder if phishing Barclays accounts is more successful for criminals, as why would they target Barclays customers, rather than those say of First Direct, about whom I can’t ever remember receiving a phishing message.
I think I’ll keep all the bank phishing messages I get over the next week or so.
Twitter Abuse Is Part Of A Larger Problem
I don’t actively use Twitter, although I do post things occasionally, but I never look at what people say and don’t follow anyone.
I whole-heartedly condemn those who abuse others on the site or in fact any other site. As Mary Beard, someone who has suffered lots of abuse and threats, has just said on television, I think that abusers should face the full force of the law.
In some ways, Twitter abuse, is part of a larger problem in Internet usage. It seems that immediately some people pick up a phone or get to a keyboard, they feel they must send something inappropriate. But these people wouldn’t generally walk into their neighbour’s house and call them something unpleasant or say show a beautiful picture to someone who was obviously blind!
And it’s not just in personal life, that this happens. I get plagued by unwanted e-mails, trying to sell me a car leasing deal, from companies all over the country. I don’t particularly care and always unsubscribe, but the same companies keep sending them. If I was a driver, I certainly wouldn’t buy anything from any of them.
There is an old maxim about treating people, how you would like to be treated yourself. It would appear that this goes out the window, where the Internet is concerned.
If you abuse a dog, you can be banned by the Courts, from keeping one. Perhaps, people who don’t use the Internet courteously should be banned from having a mobile phone and denied a broadband connection.
Sexist Tweets
There have been two big stories lately about two women ; Caroline Criado-Perez and Stella Creasey being abused on Twitter
I have never abused anybody knowingly on Twitter and I condemn the abusers unconditionally. Although on the other hand some of the things I’ve said, might have provoked a rabid response from certain classes of bigots. I have removed the odd message saying what I said was rubbish, but there has been nothing I have not found honest comment.
I will defend some men in particular, by saying that there are quite a few good men out there, who know how to treat a woman properly. I hope I do, as I did manage to keep my half of a relationship going for over forty years.
It’s not difficult! You just need a bit of give and take!
The First Royal Baby E-Mail
I’ve just had an e-mail from the Zoological Society of London, entitled Royal Zoo babies. This is the first paragraph.
The Royal Baby has finally been born, but Will and Kate aren’t the only ones with a new arrival this summer! From a tiny tapir calf to miniature monkeys, celebrate the newest addition to the Royal family with a tour of ZSL London Zoo’s very own Royal Zoo Babies.
I’m a member, so I’ll probably go in a few days anyway.
But it is good marketing, nevertheless!
Who Needs Outside Investors?
The Sunday Times has two articles today about very successful companies that have become that way and financially secure, without any external finance.
I’ve known about the first, Martin Baker for many years and in some ways it’s surprising that they haven’t sold out, as anno domini catch up with us all.
The other is a Cambridge company called Real VNC, who provide software for virtual network connections. They have just won the MacRobert Award as is reported here.
I like the quote from Andy Harter, one of the founders of the company.
We need to persuade young people that engineering means the people who built the Olympic Park and the internet, and that it is a great choice of career.
I’ve spend a life in engineering and would thoroughly agree. I’ve even applied engineering principles to banking and finance. Bankers have needed me more, than I’ve needed them!
On the other hand when I needed a good banker, I found an excellent one in my friend David, who came to me because of the quality of my work on an internal project he started in the bank. How many bankers these days would recognise a good engineer or scientist? Only after he’s sold his or her company, I suspect!
And Now I Get Golf Spam!
With nothing to watch or listen to for most of tomorrow, as the sodding golf will be hogging the airwaves, what have I just received?
Several spam messages trying to sell me golf clubs!
To add to the many things that annoy me about golf, another thing has just suggested itself. I don’t think I know of a golf course, that I could get to easily by public transport.
Have Google Lost The Plot?
This morning, the BBC is running a story about revamping the West Hackney Burial Ground.
I’m not sure whether you would describe Dalston as West Hackney, but it struck me that it could be near where I live. If it is, then it would be worth a visit for before and after photos.
So I typed West Hackney Burial Ground into Google Maps and got a load of useless information and adverts for places around Hackney including Jury’s Inn Hotel halfway between the Angel and King’s Cross. If I were to score the information I got, to give it zero out of ten would be generous.
Google seems to be getting less useful as the years go by, as it concentrates too much on making money and inventions such as driverless cars. Incidentally, I could probably drive the latter, but here in London, I prefer the big red taxis.
The Anonymous Widower 