Perspective: Scott McNealy's eco-friendly challenge

I have good news and bad news.

First, the good news: The number of people online is expected to grow by 500 million in just two years.

Now the bad: See above.

Why is that bad? Only because, in most cases, computers on both ends of the network use--and waste--huge amounts of electricity.

It doesn't have to be that way. Not if companies that use computers (and what company doesn't?) adopt sustainable growth strategies.

Using technologies already on the market, companies can dramatically reduce energy consumption while sustaining--and even dramatically increasing--the capabilities of their information systems.

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Perhaps the best place to start is in the company data center--often a not-so-miniature metropolis of server computers that process network transactions.

None of them carry the Energy Star label, by the way, because there's still no such thing for servers. There certainly should be, though. After all, a good server is always on, unlike your washer and dryer. (Note to Bush administration: Let's talk.)

On the other hand, I'm fond of pointing out that the latest servers from Sun Microsystems, where I'm the CEO, use one-third the power of competitors' systems while getting 50 percent more work done. They even cost about half as much. (To put that in perspective, think about a car using 66 percent less gas. Never mind going faster and costing less.)

Thanks to hefty investments in R&D, even bigger gains are right around the corner. In the next batch of servers we introduce, each processor will be able to take on 32 tasks at once--all while using about the same energy (roughly 70 watts) as the average lightbulb.

Consider the typical office PC. It uses about 300 watts of electricity and pumps out about 850 BTUs of heat.

So I'd like to issue an eco-friendly challenge to anyone who thinks they can match that. The big winner will be the planet. But let's not limit the challenge to servers. Significant energy savings can also be had on the other end of the network.

Consider the typical office PC. It uses about 300 watts of electricity and pumps out about 850 British thermal units, or BTUs, of heat. It's not really an efficient space heater, though, and in warm weather it makes your AC work overtime.

The alternative? A simple desktop appliance, also known as a thin client, that doesn't have a microprocessor, disk drive or cooling fan and uses just 15 watts of electricity--24 counting the server it's connected to.

Using a desktop appliance is indistinguishable from using a PC. Thanks to high-speed networks, the server delivers all the same functions, from spreadsheet to Web browser and everything in between, instantly. But when this low-power device isn't being used, the resources on the server go to other tasks instead of going to waste.

At Sun, this computing paradigm has reduced our power consumption by nearly nine times and raw-materials consumption by 150 times while saving us $25 million in energy and systems cost last year alone.

So I'd like to challenge companies everywhere to take a closer look at energy consumption, because the person who buys the computers typically doesn't pay the electric bill.

That's a huge disconnect. Energy prices have been rising steadily over the past 10 years, and the damage Hurricane Katrina did to our infrastructure is pushing them dramatically higher--not just for oil and gas, but for electricity. (Many power plants are fueled by gas, after all.) So if the chief information officer isn't calculating the cost of electricity into his purchasing decisions, the company may as well be burning money.

The answer is innovation. We can do more with less, and, over the next two years, welcome 500 million new network users into a new age in which everyone can participate.

Biography
Scott McNealy is chief executive of Sun Microsystems.

More Perspectives

[revbingo25]

Yippie for Scott McNealy

Scott McNealy's eco-friendly challenge saves money and helps the
environment, it's a great idea. I hope Apple and the other 'big
players' realise this too.

[spoonfish]

Scott's server-friendly challenge

I applaude Sun's energy conservation efforts on the server front, but I can't help but notice how the thin client/server model resembles the dumb terminal/microprocessor model that Sun's workstations help make obsolete back in the '80s. Is Sun now saying a modern day version of a DEC MicroVax with a network of dumb terminals is a better solution than a network of high powered workstations ? Sounds to my that Scott trying to use the eco-friendly bandwagon to promote the sales of Sun servers.

[sanenazok]

Sun friendly

Thin clients should be buried along with ISDN. They're great for running "spreadsheets to Web browsers and everything in between." What's "in between" a spreadsheet and web browser? A game? Sun Java? Nothing?

If you want power saving, get a small factor PC. Power Supply at 150 Watts running a Semptron is very doable - you won't have to pay Sun to run programs on it.

[mahurshi]

it is true... but...

yes, he's definitely trying to sell his computers. but if you think about it, in most establishments where they have a lot of computers (e.g. in schools, libraries), a lot of people who use them don't need high end machines. all they do is sit and browse, email, chat, use ms office applications. for this type of usage, one doesn't need really powerful computers. this dumb terminal, smart server thing might actually work in this case.

even though we can save a couple of bucks in this way, we can not, however, apply this everywhere (e.g. places where people do video editing, etc)

coming to offices where they run unix/linux, i think we're better off shutting down the computers or putting them in standby when they're idle. (which most of us are hopefully doing)

[jchaclan]

Great Idea!!!!

I'm very glad to know about all that new people that is going to be connected in the next two years.
I do really want to congratuled Scott McNealy for this excellent Idea.

[Captain_Spock]

"the server delivers....

... all the same functions, from spreadsheet to Web browser and everything in between, instantly". This sounds exactly like the original IBM's WorkSpace On Demand (WSOD) concept and if this is the case then this eco-friendly computing paradigm that Scott McNealy appears to be talking about is nothing new. See where it states "What WSOD Can Do for You" here; also, gives the example where "In business, a local financial consultant is giving serious consideration to WSOD. He currently uses OS/2 and NetWare. In his office they run different tax programs for each year. OS/2 does the best job of running some of those old DOS programs. The planners and assistants only use a spreadsheet, word processor, and their planning/tax programs. So the constrained interface of WSOD is a perfect fit": http://www.sundialsystems.com/articles/workspaceondemand.html

[kgofsb]

If McNealy cares so much about reducing energy consumption

Then why did he support the current president when he ran in 2004? Bush obviously doesn't believe in the concept of reducing oil consumption, his strategy for energy independence focuses on increasing oil production.

It's great, Scott, that you want to reduce energy consumption, just try to be a little more consistent. If I was selling servers, I would push the energy angle also. Could you go a little easier on the rhetoric, though? Even a thin client needs a microprocessor. It may not be a Pentium, but it's still a microprocessor.

[alek_nedic]

we gotta save our forests!

http://www.analogstereo.com/cassette_deck_pioneer_deh1700.htm

[TimGriffin]

Turn 1 client into 10 (another way to save power)

Scott is bang on on this important issue. The client side however is much more critical as there is a far larger number of machines therefore much more wasted energy on the client side.
Here's a company that could help:
http://userful.com/
Apparently they turn an extra video card into a independent "PC" using software, and saving 11 tonnes of CO/2 per year:
http://userful.com/news/news/item?item_id=16724