Something Green Stirs up North (and Japan too)
Scottish data hosting company Alchemy Plus have developed an excellent idea to use the excess heat generated by their new Inverness based data centre to keep shops, offices and a even a hotel warm.
The idea is part of the regeneration of Inverness Harbour, and is to include an “iconic landmark building” that is to “act like a beacon for others”. The construction and development of the project is set to cost £20 million but over 400 jobs will be created when its complete.
Alchemy is located in Dingwall, a classically rough Scottish town in the highlands that’s a short distance from Inverness, and plays host to multiple datacentres. The company have been running cloud-computing services for the last 18 months, and reckons customers have saved 28 percent of their overall costs.
Alchemy has a grand plan to power all of this by using “established hydro-electric and wind power schemes”. And as a person who worked in Inverness for a year believe me its windy enough and cold enough for any datacentre to exist.
In other green news, technology manufacturer Fuitsu have launched its own Green IT label, along side a bunch of other organisations including EPEAT, Energy Star, Blue Angel and Nordic Swan.
The company made its announcement yesterday, claiming that current labelling programs are not broad enough, and that computer and electronic gadget buyers should be made better aware of how green their chosen product is.
The label from Futjitsu has already be plastered on to its November production line, and ranks hardware in three categories: Materials used in construction, ease of recycling, and energy efficiency.
In the first category, the company checks to see if products are halogen-free, don’t have brominated flame retardants (BFR’s) and polyvinyl chloride PVC.
To gain a gold star for recycling, products must be able to be taken to pieces by just one person, using commonly available tools. Spare parts for aid products must be easy to install and be easily available.
With regard to power consumption, each product carrying the seal of approval must be at least 80 percent power efficient in their internal power supplies and at least 84 percent efficient externally. Products that crack the 90 percent barrier will gain a three-star seal of approval.
The company is also whacking labels on the side of packaging. The manuals and external wrappers must be made from the greenest materials possible, to gain a higher overall score. Expect to see more of these labels in the coming year.
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