Some industries are criticized for producing thermal (heat) pollution.  The cooling water from power plants--especially nuclear--is often cited as an example.  And while it's usually portrayed differently, urban heat islands gain part of their warmth from man's activities rather than land-use changes.  Yet, the following way of dealing with heat pollution is considered green.

Enormous sheds filled with racks of computers pop up every day and everywhere, the silent power strengthening the ever-more-connected and ever-more-digital world.

But in Ark Continuity's new SQ17 server farm buried deep in the former stone mines of Corsham, is something worth noting. The facility, unveiled today, is probably the most sustainable and environmentally friendly of its kind in the world: a combination of location and design means that it uses more than a third less energy than a typical data centre.

"Between 25-40% of the cost of running a data centre would be in the electricity," says Jeffrey Thomas, chief executive of Ark Continuity. "So if we can cut that in half, we're making a significant economic saving for our occupiers, even before their CO2 reduction obligations."

IT accounts for around 2% of the UK's carbon emissions and the sector is aware of increasing impact it will have on energy and environment as it grows. "Being more efficient in the data centre is synonymous not only with saving carbon but also saving money," says Kate Craig-Wood, co-founder of the carbon-neutral ISP Memset. "So it's pretty common sense really."

I've blogged previously about companies building data centers in northerly locations here in the U.S. to save energy on cooling.  From the standpoint of cost and energy utilization, taking advantage of colder climates makes great sense.  Meanwhile as incandescent bulbs periodically remind us, heat pollution can be rather useful when one's cold.  It's only pollution when we don't like the effects.

He acquired what is now known as Spring Park ten years ago. A hundred miles from London and with a million-square-feet hole underground, it was not immediately obvious to Thomas that the site should be used as a data centre. The facility had been an underground munitions dump and factory site during the Second World War. "In the Cold War, latterly under Macmillan and Thatcher, it became the seat of government in a time of crisis. Part of it became a nuclear bunker."

This meant the underground buildings were some of the most secure facilities in the UK, reinforced and strengthened so that they could withstand three 10-megaton nuclear strikes at the same time. And it also had interesting environmental characteristics -– being a damp mine, it was ideal at staying cool. "The sun never shines down there so there's no solar gain," says Thomas. "With the size of it and the evaporative qualities of the mine, we can dissipate 20MW of energy with adiabatic cooling with 10 litres of water a second, which is just cycled around in a fog underground."

"At our latitude and altitude, we'll get around 60-65% of the year we should achieve free air cooling -– that means the temperature of the outside of the building is cool enough to use to cool the inside of the building."

The Cold War in a cold place...  But eventually--as the subway system in London has shown (previous blog here), that ground will slowly warm up.

Nowadays, most conservation organizations that are comprised--at least in part--of hunters trying to help their favored prey are fighting an uphill battle.  Quail Unlimited has certainly been struggling with that.  The bobwhite quail thrives in areas--primarily in the Midwest and Southeast-- that have been disturbed and are recovering.  Meanwhile, hunting is on the wane, and many environmentalists and their supporters idealistically prefer to keep ecosystems from being disturbed by man.  From this link...   

Favorable quail habitats were well represented on family farms throughout the country in the 1930s through 50s. Sharecropping and the early century farming practices created a patchwork effect across the countryside that was beneficial to quail and other small game species. The annual disturbances of fields by farming, the frequent use of fire, the somewhat inefficient methods that left weeds and fencerows along the edges and waste grain in the fields created ideal habitat conditions, and quail flourished in those communities. During the Great Depression, many family farms were abandoned as families moved to town or sold their property. The farms left unattended quickly left the early successional stage and rapidly progressed to mid-to late successional plant communities. Many farms were also planted into trees or quickly developed into young forests, eliminating the most conducive stages for quail. Some family farms were combined with other farms to develop larger or, in some instances, corporate farms. In these cases, smaller fields were combined and their fencerow borders eliminated to make room for larger and more efficient equipment. The loss of the family farms and fencerows with their benefits was probably one of the most detrimental losses for quail.

All too often, those strips of land between fields have been viewed as unproductive spots that harbor various plant, insect, and animal pests.  The use/loss of that land is adversely impacting populations of butterflies, prairie plants, etc.  In the UK, preserving and reestablishing hedgerows beside roads and fields is a major environmental issue.  Those tangles of shrubs are critical habitat for a number of species.  Meanwhile, a declining number of Americans views the bobwhite quail as an indicator species any more.

Quail Unlimited is in trouble.

Quail Unlimited, the nation's largest conservation group devoted to bobwhite quail, has shut its doors, furloughed its 24 remaining employees and put its national headquarters in Edgefield, S.C., [near Augusta GA] up for sale to resolve what board members say are catastrophic financial problems.

"It is bleak," said Bill Bowles, a member of the organization's national board of directors and an officer on the board's executive committee for financial matters." On Oct. 27th we realized we couldn't make payroll for the 31st. How do you ask someone to stay when you can't pay them?"

The organization, founded in 1981, has about 30,000 members and an annual budget just shy of $6 million that is generated from sponsors, banquets and fundraising programs nationwide.

Fundraising has been more difficult for most non-profits the last couple of years. However, internal problems have contributed to the disarray.

Leadership within the group has shifted in recent months. In late March, longtime president Rocky Evans stepped down for health reasons and Craig A. Alderman--the organization's marketing director since 2006--was appointed by the board to replace Evans on an interim basis. After seven months, Alderman was dismissed in a split board vote, Bowles said, and at least six board members have subsequently resigned.

"When the board called for a meeting to discuss placing Alderman back in his marketing position and bringing in another interim president--and at same time hiring an outside financial consultant to tell us where we were--there was dissension among the ranks. Some wanted Alderman to remain."

Currently, efforts are under way to save Quail Unlimited and put its employees back to work. The current furlough will last two weeks but could be extended.

...

According to a listing with Mathis Realty, of Edgefield, the group's national headquarters, warehouses and 75 acres are being offered for $650,000.

The bobwhite quail is an exotic species in Oregon...the native species here are the California and mountain quail.  Nonetheless, Oregon does have a chapter of Quail Unlimited--Central Oregon Upland Bird in Redmond.  The nearest one in California is the North State Chapter in Red Bluff.

More Control Through Meters:  Smart meters can be designed to do all sorts of things.  For instance, here's what over 27 million Enel customers already have in Italy...

These meters are fully electronic and smart, with integrated bi-directional communications, advanced power measurement and management capabilities, an integrated, software-controllable disconnect switch, and an all solid-state design. They communicate over low voltage power line using standards-based power line technology from Echelon Corporation to Echelon data concentrators at which point they communicate via IP to Enel's enterprise servers.

The system provides a wide range of advanced features, including the ability to remotely turn power on or off to a customer, read usage information from a meter, detect a service outage, detect the unauthorized use of electricity, change the maximum amount of electricity that a customer can demand at any time; and remotely change the meter's billing plan from credit to prepay as well as from flat-rate to multi-tariff.

That sure makes shutting off power for lack of payment more efficient. 

The average person doesn't mind helping other power customers who are genuinely in need.  The same isn't necessarily true for those who try to take advantage of such generosity to live beyond their means.  The prepaying option--if executed well--can motivate some of those folks to manage their money better.  Or maybe for instance the kids will suffer for the sins of their parent(s)/guardian.  

Notice the reference to multi-tariff.  One of the most touted features of smart meters here in the U.S. is dynamic pricing.

Flattening Peaks:  One of the key things power companies want to motivate via price is a reduction in demand during peak periods. That brings up the concept of the "elasticity of substitution." 

...the percentage change in daily peak electricity usage (relative to off-peak usage) in response to a one percent change in relative peak prices.

It's easier to understand that definition via example.  The Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation (NPMC) in upstate New York has had dynamic pricing for non-residential customers since 1998.  In the following, that pricing is referred to as the SC-3A rate class.  Bear in mind that these non-residential customers had other rate choices--like traditional flat pricing. 

NMPC’s is the first and longest-running default-service [real-time price] tariff implemented in the context of retail competition. The mix of NMPC’s large customers exposed to day-ahead hourly prices is roughly 30% industrial, 25% commercial and 45% institutional. They have faced periods of high prices during the study period (2000-2004), thereby providing an opportunity to assess their response to volatile hourly prices.

...

As a group, SC-3A customers' price response is modest -– the load-weighted average substitution elasticity of 119 customers included in the model is 0.11, which means that their combined ratio of peak to off-peak electricity usage declines by 11% in response to a doubling of peak prices (relative to off-peak prices). This result is consistent with other studies of large customers facing similar pricing circumstances.

Business Category             Number       Average substitution elasticity

Government/education         34                              0.10
Public Works                        17                              0.02
Commercial/retail                16                              0.06
Healthcare                             8                              0.04
Manufacturing                      44                              0.16

Total                                  119                              0.11

Doubling the price only drove an 11 percent reduction in demand?  Of course, when a utility is facing a peak load that could cause brown outs and/or the purchase of high-priced power on the open market, an 11 percent reduction in demand would be quite valuable.  It would also likely reduce the use of fossil fuels and push back the need for additional generating capacity.  And don't forget that we expect utilities to satisfy peak demand 24/7, which wind and solar can't guarantee.

Changing Bills:  When one digs into the above results, it turns out that the savings were even lumpier than they first appear.  Just 18 percent of the customers produced 75-80 percent of the reduction in demand.  Meanwhile, 35 percent of the customers showed no reductions.  It's not like sewage slows down, hospitals have control over when people need emergency treatment, or successful retailers can provide uncomfortable conditions for shoppers.  In other words, the results would seem to indicate that targeting the dynamic pricing rather than inflicting it upon everyone would produce most of the desired reduction in energy demand.

Most utilities that provide retail service have a natural monopoly.  Thus over the long run, they're essentially guaranteed enough income to cover their expenses--including the cost of smart meters.  Customers who save money by helping the utility save money is a good thing...unless maybe that includes the utility mining and selling the data it gains from its customers' smart meters.  However, dynamic pricing brings into play customers saving money at the expense of others.  Who loses?  Well, just about everyone who can't or won't do much to reduce their energy utilization during peak pricing.  It's the "can't" part that can be problematic.

A Foreign Example:  Energy Australia, the state-run utility in New South Wales, Australia (home to Sydney), is already rolling out smart meters.  At this point, the new meters are just going into new homes and replacing broken meters; however, the government is considering accelerating the process.  In the following, I've converted the currency to U.S. dollars.

A study by the St Vincent De Paul Society ... found that low-income earners could pay as much as 40 per cent of their fortnightly income on electricity.

The report says smart meters will increase the average domestic electricity bill by an average of $74 a year by changing billing from a flat rate to one based on the time of use, if the NSW Government makes their installation mandatory.

It says the biggest impact will be on low-income households including pensioners, young families, people with disabilities and the unemployed because they are at home during energy-use peak periods.

...

"It is reasonable to suggest that if the Government decides to roll out smart meters in NSW, annual electricity bills for households may rise in the order of $296 per annum,'' the report says.

...

A spokesman for Energy Australia disputed claims that time-of-use tariffs would force up costs. He said 74 per cent of the 180,000 NSW customers on time-of-use tariffs were paying less than what they paid when they were on the fixed rate. Of the rest, 60 per cent were paying $19 a year more.

The Vincentian report may exaggerate, but the Energy Australia data is clearly skewed away from low income earners...those folks generally aren't buying or renting new homes.  At $296 per year, that extra $25 a month isn't huge...unless you don't have it.

Closer to Home:  In October of last year, Pennsylvania enacted a law which drives reductions in energy consumption and directed utilities to develop plans (by April 2011) for making smart meters with real-time pricing available to customers upon their request.  Allegheny Power, which serves about 700,000 customers in the western part of the state, has pursued this aggressively.  From late last month...

Allegheny Power Co.'s plan to begin charging customers $5.86 a month in February to pay for sophisticated electric meter technology has been nixed by the state.

...

According to the company, all customers beginning in February would pay a monthly surcharge of $5.86, which would increase to $14.34 a month by June 2011, $15.57 a month by June 2012 and $15.77 each month by June 2013.

"At $15 a month — that's a massive rate increase for consumers," Popowsky said.

Allegheny Power spokesman Doug Colafella referred to the company's PUC filing, which said surcharge changes will be based on forecasted revenue requirements for the next 12 months. He said the total cost to Allegheny Power for its smart meter plan will be $620.4 million, with more than $40 million of the total cost not charged to the utility's in-state customers.

The smart meters--which will include wireless communications--are a few hundred dollars, and there's the cost of installation for both the meters and the supporting infrastructure.  While the article says the plan was nixed, it may have only been delayed for more thorough consideration.  Meanwhile, maybe Allegheny Power will--like some other utilities already have (example here)--get some stimulus money to subsidize the cost of converting to smart meters.

Wonder if the company is overestimating how much demand reduction the smart meters will drive.  What percentage of a drop in peak load will merely be shifted to cheaper hours? 

Night and Day:  One other thought...if a factory converts to night-shift operations to save on its electrical bills, the workers can end up paying more for their own electricity to sleep comfortably during the day.  Hope they get paid more for making that sacrifice.

Aggressive beggars can be rather creepy.  Some don't just ask for money, but demand it as if you're in possession of what should rightfully be theirs.  They try shame, intimidation, etc. to gain a few bucks, which sadly few of them will spend wisely.  Is it still a month until Copenhagen?

Keeping up pressure in Barcelona, the final preparatory session for the December meeting, the poor said that even the most ambitious offers by the European Union, tougher than most nations, were far too weak for a new U.N. climate pact.

"The result of that is to condemn developing countries to a total destruction of their livelihoods, their economies. Their land, their forests will all be destroyed. And for what purpose?" said Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping of Sudan, chair of the Group of 77 and China, representing poor nations.

"Anything south of 40 (percent) means that Africa's population, Africa's land mass is offered destruction," he told a news conference.

Developing countries at the Barcelona talks insisted that rich nations should cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 -- far more than on offer.

The Sudan?  Let's think...multiple conflicts, human rights abuses, disease, drought, malnutrition, on and on, in a nation in the tropical latitudes where--despite the hyperbole--climate change will be at its mildest.  Heavy sigh. 

Many a Third World leader nowadays focuses upon climate change to distract folks from the magnitude of their day-to-day failures.  Blame the industrialized nations for causing the problem and not sharing more of their wealth to help its victims.  And bear in mind that the Sudan is now reaping billions from oil. China gets 10 percent of its oil from the Sudan, which spends a lot of that money buying arms from China.

In Washington, the top U.S. diplomat on climate change, Todd Stern, criticised entrenched positions in talks since the world agreed the U.N. climate convention in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.

"The divide between developed and developing countries that has run down the center of climate change discussions for the past 17 years is still alive and well," he told a panel in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bigger the CO2 cuts imposed on industrialized nations, the bigger the market for emissions credits, many of which will come from developing nations.  We'll pay them not to cut their forests, allow their farms to turn to desert, etc.  Never mind the fact that the powerful will pocket the lion's share of that money because the poor in most of those nations don't have land rights.  And, let's ignore the fact that the certification process has suffered from rampant incompetence and corruption.

About 100 activists blocked the exit of the U.N. climate summit building in Barcelona for an hour to demand urgent, ambitious carbon reductions by 2020, chanting "no way out".

Wow, about 100.  As the tea parties are teaching us, it's not the size of the protest but whether the media wants to cover it. 

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is non-profit created by the British government to promote resource efficiency.  It promotes people buying less, wasting less, owning less, etc.

No doubt there's plenty of unnecessary consumption in the UK...we certainly don't have a monopoly on that vice.  But some of the goals that WRAP is suggesting...

[WRAP] claims that overcoming our obsession with owning goods could be a "secret weapon" in meeting climate change targets. It has called for a fifth of all household spending, £148 billion out of an annual total of £732 billion, to be converted to renting by 2020.

In a report published today the watchdog calls for the transformation of a large part of the retail sector into a service industry specialising in renting goods, with each item used by many different people during its lifetime.

WRAP identifies five categories of goods suitable for renting: high-end clothing; glassware and tableware; tools and equipment for house and garden; vehicles; and telephone, audio and recreational equipment. On clothing, the report proposes that hiring should replace 10 per cent of the retail market within ten years. 

10 percent?  Beyond weddings, the occasional tux and high-end dress, what types of clothing are people supposed to rent?  WRAP's CEO suggests evening dresses, bags, and shoes.  But heck, a lot of that type of clothing goes out of style before it's worn out, whether purchased or rented.

The report, based on research by York University, calculates that better use of resources could deliver 10 per cent of the carbon dioxide savings that Britain has legally committed to making by 2020.

Shifting a fifth of household spending from purchasing to renting would cut emissions by about 2 per cent, or 13 million tonnes of CO2 a year, through a fall in manufacturing and lower consumption of raw materials.

A WRAP official said that there would be no net loss of jobs in Britain because most goods were manufactured overseas. He said that positions lost in retailing would be balanced by jobs gained in a greatly expanded rental industry. He also said that there would be additional greenhouse gas savings — not calculated in the report — from reducing the size of homes because people would not need as much storage space.

The report says that 20 per cent of the market for tools could shift from purchasing to hiring by 2020 and up to 90 per cent by 2050. On vehicles, it says renting could account for 20 per cent of the market by 2020 and 50 to 90 per cent by 2050.

Up to 90 percent, but as low as what?  I'm sick of advocates--and reporters--who give partial information.

Okay...most of the goods in question are manufactured overseas, from raw materials mined and grown overseas.  Thus, that's where most of the emission reductions take place...which is fine, but it doesn't help with the EU's emission reduction goals.  Neither does reducing shipping...yet. 

If only the rich and the rest of the politicians would lead the way on unnecessary consumption...  Same goes for climate change.

The report identifies £143 billion of annual expenditure on goods that could have been used for longer. It says that clothing is only being used, on average, for 66 per cent of its potential lifespan. Using items for their full lifespan would save consumers £47 billion a year, it claims.

Too bad the authors of this bold report lost their nerve when it comes to the unnecessary consumption driven by obesity.  For instance, how much more clothing would be worn out if adults didn't outgrow it?

After what Thomas Swingler of CableHack.net was charged with earlier this year, Ryan Harris surely knew that he had a target on his back.

An Oregon hardware hacker and author has been hit with federal criminal charges arising from his longstanding business of selling unlocked cable modems that can be used to steal extra speed from a broadband provider, or obtain free service.

Ryan Harris, known by his pen name DerEngel, was charged in Boston with a conspiracy count, and charges of aiding and abetting computer intrusion and wire fraud.

"I read the indictment — it's complete bullshit," says 26-year-old Harris, author of the 2006 book Hacking the Cable Modem. "They're filling in their own blanks. From my website I never would never sell to anyone who had the intent to break the law."

The FBI press release lists Harris as being from both San Diego CA and Redmond OR.  The indictment notes that his "primary place of business" is in the San Diego area, and that he also lived in Hong Kong.

Harris has been charged with six total counts of computer and wire fraud, aiding and abetting computer fraud, and aiding and abetting wire fraud.  If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine per count, and the requirement to pay restitution.  Harris, who's free on his own recognizance, intends to fight the charges.

Harris is the project organizer of TCNiSO, a band of tinkerers specializing in cable modem hacking. For five years the group has been producing tutorials on how to bypass the firmware locks on Motorola Surfboard modems — a process that sometimes involves soldering a special cable to a hidden terminal inside the device, or exploiting a buffer overflow in the modem’s web interface.

TCNiSO also openly sells pre-modded modems for $100 which are already loaded with the group's custom firmware, which lets the user control the modem's functionality.  Harris sold two unlocked Motorola Surfboard modems to an FBI agent through TCNiSO.net.

The group's work has been a boon to cable modem "uncappers," who use the customized modems to crank up the speed of their internet access by downloading special configuration files from an ISP's server. Users have also wielded the hacked modems to get free service by spoofing another customer's MAC address — an attack that only works from a home that's wired to the cable network but hasn’t had service officially activated.

A key issue is intent...the FBI thinks it's got evidence of Harris seeking information that would help him uncap modems. 

Harris--same as Swingler--notes that there are legal uses for the uncapped modems.  For instance, he claims that cable companies have purchased them for use as diagnostic gear.  TCNiSO has supposedly brought in over $1 million since 2003. 

Harris also notes that it's not gun dealers who kill people...

From today's Portland Business Journal...

Demand is up and donations are down for Oregon charitable organizations.

Demand for services increased 12 percent from 2008, according to a survey released Monday by the Oregon Community Foundation. The survey conducted in August and September canvassed 1,234 Oregon nonprofits about the impact the recession is having on their operations.

Actually, the OCF only surveyed 208 nonprofits.  And when it comes to calling them charitable organizations (which the OCF never did), consider that the first group on the report's list of survey participants is 1000 Friends of Oregon, a PAC.  So rather than continuing with the article, let's quote from the report's executive summary.

Half of survey respondents said that private contributions are down so far in 2009 compared with 2008. 39% said that contributions are up, and 11% said that contributions stayed about the same. 61% of arts & culture organizations and 54% of social services organizations saw contributions decline in 2009, while only 41% of education and environment & civic engagement organizations saw contributions decline.

76% of Portland Metro and 60% of statewide organizations saw contributions decrease in 2009 compared with 23% of Central Oregon and 33% of Southern Oregon respondents.

...

78% of survey respondents have implemented cost-saving measures. Specifically, 30% have eliminated programs or services and 31% have laid off staff. ...

On average, demand for respondents' services has increased by 12% since July, 2008. Education and social services organizations reported the largest increases in demand, averaging 17%.

Services can be a squishy measure, as some of these nonprofits lobby politicians, display art, manage property, etc.

Anyway, here are some of the conclusions...

Oregonians who are able to give are doing so. Comments from survey participants suggest that more donors are giving smaller amounts.

Some donors have shifted support to different organizations in these hard economic times.

...

Most nonprofit organizations are under some degree of fiscal stress, likely due in part to decreases in fee income and government payments as well as declines in private contributions. In response, nonprofits are cutting back, implementing cost-saving measures to continue to meet needs in their communities during the recession.

Cutting fat isn't a bad thing, but the muscle...