As we attempt to become more conscious of our energy consumption, we do need to consider the energy demands of our technology. I started thinking about this (again) when I encountered a blog post indicating that Google was using its power as consumer to require chip manufacturers to increase the temperature at which computer chips fail. The server farms Google operates require a hefty investment in energy for cooling and greater tolerance for heat would reduce cooling costs. What I know about the energy demands of server farms I have learned from Tom Friedman (Hot, flat and crowded) and technology does use a lot of energy.
You get a sense of the same issue when you enter a school computer lab. My department’s computer lab is located next to my office and we sometimes run the fan on the air conditioner even in the winter. The windows are sealed so using the air conditioner to pump in some sub zero air is the only way to cool the room.
I operate a high end Macintosh in my office. It turns out the Mac has 4 fans evidently necessary to keep the system functioning. I seldom put much strain on this equipment. The most demanding thing I do (programming) is probably the least demanding of my computer. The power of my old 2e would easily keep up if I know how to work using the command line and could connect to my servers.
I wonder if “thin client” technology would save energy – no hard drive, mostly just the energy to power the monitor on the client side. What about the demands on the server side. Perhaps server farms should be located in North Dakota. At least the cost of cooling in winter should be lower.
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