Virtual truths

Is your computer a blessing or a curse? Views will differ, for sure. And differ vastly. But let’s get some facts right.

According to a report from the Cleantech Group, called The Environmental Impact of Amazon’s Kindle, one e-Book device on average can displace the buying of about 22.5 physical books per year, and thus deliver an estimated savings of 168 kg of CO2 per year.

The report takes a look at the effect of the book and magazine publishing industries on both trees and carbon emissions: the U.S. book and magazine sectors accounted for the harvesting of 125 million trees in 2008, and an average book has a carbon footprint of 7.46 kilograms of CO2 over its lifetime.

If a Kindle-user uses the device for the full storage capacity, it can “prevent the emission of nearly 11,185 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent,” and for the Kindle DX, that can jump to a savings of 26,098 kg of carbon emissions. Considering all of the projected e-Book devices sold between 2009 and 2012 in the U.S. the report says that e-Books could save 9.9 billion kg of CO2 from being emitted.

But wait! Shifting our entire lives online is not really easy on power and emissions, right?

The US Environmental Protection Agency released a new report on energy efficiency in data centers—and the results show that energy usage at data centers has doubled between 2000 and 2006, and it's poised to double again by 2011.

While servers certainly require plenty of power, the data center infrastructure uses the same amount of electricity as the servers. Cooling and power conversion systems soak up half the total power of a data center and are therefore one of the best places to start when making the data center more efficient.

Almost 80 percent efficiency is possible with some changes: improving transformers and uninterruptible power supplies, installing higher-efficiency chillers, fans, and pumps, and installing direct liquid cooling systems. On the server side, the report recommends enabling power management on all servers, aggressively consolidating servers and storage, and eliminating unused servers.

Of course, online has its uses. Shopping at Amazon, for instance, saves gas and reduces gridlock. So does online banking and shopping.

Talking of efficiency, as says the Moore’s Law, computer processors roughly double in efficiency every two years due to advances in technology along with affordability. But how much smaller, faster and cheaper can computers go depends on getting the right materials. Like graphene.

How to manipulate “raw” graphene on an atomic level has been the issue. Now researchers at the University of South Florida have accomplished a breakthrough of sorts by developing a way to form precise graphene “nanowires” that are just a few atoms across. Carbon nanotubes are also taking research to exciting frontiers.

Life seems headed for the virtual fast lane!