Green Technology

It might be a marriage made on the farm .. with data centers being located in rural areas that have lots of farms using manure to power data centers is a way to be green

"Data centers need a lot of energy. Dairy farms create a lot of methane. ... HP Labs has done the math to show that one could be used to support the other."

" ... data centers ... increasingly being located near existing power generation or cooling resources. ... untapped source of energy, however, is the methane generated by manure on farms around the world."

" ... HP ... paper shows how a farm of 10,000 dairy cows could ... power a typical modern data center and still support other needs on the farm."

" ... turning data centers from being energy hogs into energy neutral facilities ... goal ... see if we can take the data center completely off the grid."

Via:  Hewlett Packard  LINK

Posted by Green Dude at 05:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Data Centers are moving to rural areas where land and labor are less expensive.  There are often farms and lots of cows ... and therefore lots of cow manure.

A significant cost of operating data centers is the electric bill.

" ... data centers ... building them in rural areas, which happen to have an excess of animal waste. The heat from a data center could be used to improve the process by which the waste turns it into methane, which can be used in place of natural gas or diesel, HP's researchers maintain. "

"... average dairy cow, ... produces approximately 120 pounds of waste a day. It would take 10,000 cows to produce enough energy for a data center big enough to support a bank.  "

Via:  Fierce CIO LINK

Posted by Green Dude at 06:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

General Motors demonstrates sustainability leadership in its manufacturing facilities by recycling and eliminating its waste streams.  …

…   “More than 2 million tons of waste materials will be recycled or reused at GM plants worldwide this year. An additional 45,000 tons will be converted to energy at waste-to-energy facilities.

Although zero landfill sites recycle or reuse their waste in some way, other GM facilities also attain high levels of recycling. Overall, GM’s global facilities currently recycle more than 90 percent of the waste they generate. 

Waste elimination and recycling at GM’s zero landfill plants and other facilities will prevent more than 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emission reductions from entering the atmosphere this year. ”   …

Via GM: Plants eliminate waste to landfills.

Posted by Green Tech at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Green Dude at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a new Green building in NYC - at the southern tip of Manhattan in Battery Park City.  Read about the Visionaire - it is one very green building - though a very expensive place to live with pricing startling at just under $700,000 and going to a little over $6 million.

" ...  the Visionaire ... a testing ground for urban green architecture."

" ... saves an estimated 42 percent in energy costs against a base-line average. This is largely the result of efficient building systems and the building envelope ... goal was achieved through exhaustive attention to detail ... "

Via:  Greensource  LINK

Posted by Green Dude at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

" ... began recycling paper in the 1940s, have used recycled paper in products and packaging since the 1970s ... established a corporate-wide environmental conservation program in the 1990s...."

Other efforts include ... " ... sponsors e-waste events to collect and responsibly dispose of employees' discarded electronics ... actively participate in the Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWi$e and Energy Star Building programs ... Since the early 1990s we have reduced solid waste by 70 percent and hazardous waste by 90 percent ... waste-to-energy program at our distribution center in Enfield, Conn., has resulted in an ongoing zero percent waste program since 1998. Materials not recycled are used as electrical generator fuel."

Via: Hallmark LINK

Posted by Green Dude at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Animal manure is a natural by-product of raising animals ... and needs to be disposed of properly.  Improperly disposed of it can pollute water and make a smelly mess. 

Here is a way to reduce waste and re-use the manure to make enerty.

... world’s largest biomass power plant running exclusively on chicken manure has opened in the Netherlands .... will deliver renewable electricity to 90,000 households ... capacity of 36.5 megawatts, and will generate more than 270 million kWh of electricity per year."

" ... more than merely “carbon neutral” ... If ... spread out over farm land, it would release not only CO2, but also methane, a very potent greenhouse gas. ..."

" ... will utilize approximately 440,000 tons of chicken manure, roughly one third of the total amount produced each year in the Netherlands. ... European countries ... suffer under an excess of different types of animal manure that pollute the environment."

Via:  Meatefficient LINK

Posted by Green Dude at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Imagine a toilet that uses no energy and turns waste into compost.

Virginia Gardiner is doing just that ... check out the VIDEO of this interesting GREEN device.

" ...working on a new waterless toilet system  ... create a toilet for city dwellers that uses no energy, and turns waste "into a commodity.""

" ... portable, low-tech LooWatt effectively captures odor and allows human waste (... to  be turned into a source of energy via anaerobic digestion. With 40 percent of people globally in need of sanitary facilities, it's well worth imagining a solution that doesn't flush drinking water down the toilet."

Via:  SustainLane  LINK

Posted by Green Dude at 03:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John O'Hurley ... of Seinfield fame as J. Peterman ... has co-founded Energy-Inc.   The Las Vegas, Nevada company has a variety of services and technologies for producing power from waste ...

>>> Their tagline is ... a profitable solution to a zero carbon footprint. 

>>> Their message is Waste to Energy rather than waste to landfills.

They design, build and manage waste to power systems. Rather than paying to dispose of waste you can turn it into power ... Listen to the video for more ... and see how they plan to make landfills obsolete. They guarantee performance and up to 100% financing ...

Via:: Energy-Inc. Link

Posted by Green Dude at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)