When I originally set out to spend the summer as an EDF Climate Corps fellow at eBay Inc., I anticipated spending my 10-week fellowship focused on making the business case for energy efficiency in the company’s data centers. On my first day at eBay headquarters, I realized I had been mistaken. The greatest energy efficiency gains would actually not be in the data centers, but found elsewhere.
Near the start of my fellowship, eBay Inc. unveiled a new data center named Project Topaz that was 30 percent more efficient than any other data center in the company’s portfolio. In “geek speak,” it has a power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.4 thanks to water-side economization, in-row cooling and 400V power distribution.
As a Climate Corps fellow who has been trained on data center efficiency measures aimed at enabling companies to pick low-hanging fruit and cut costs on wasted energy, it has been nearly impossible to make any recommendations for a facility that is already so advanced in its green initiatives.
Obviously I needed to refocus the scope of my project.
Thankfully, my supervisor introduced me to colleagues throughout the organization in workplace resources, procurement, IT and corporate communications. Considering over 2,400 of eBay Inc.’s employees are members of the Green Team, I was not surprised by the contagious enthusiasm for sustainability.
Academic studies on energy efficiency in California show that while commercial consumption has grown, efficiency has remained the same. Despite this marketplace reality, I was not surprised to hear that as of May 2010, the number of watts per listing on eBay had declined 55 percent since the second quarter of 2008. Members of the Green Team are efficiency experts in a company that has championed sustainability in both its e-commerce business as well as its own operational footprint. Atop the building I’ve been sitting in this summer, stands the largest commercial solar installation in San Jose. Next to it is a 500kW installation of Bloom Energy boxes that together account for more than 30 percent of the campus’s energy needs.
All of these factors do, however, make my 10-week treasure hunt for energy efficiency that much more difficult.
Kind of cute that Megan's
Kind of cute that Megan's 'cut and paste' EDF training was of no use.
Any company where you can find the 'low hanging fruit' must be managed by some real dunces.
I actually feel pity for the companies that can benefit from having an intern around to tell them what to do - they would be very poorly managed - the dunces mentioned in the previous para.
The Correct Direction
Ms. Megtan Rast has skillfully illustrated the next step for us here with many corporations. Businesses like eBay are pointing the way and reaping the benefits. Likewise, solar initiatives by UCLA and by the California municipalities of Lancaster and Nipton are demonstrating what can be achieved with a reasonable investment and a shrewdly green strategy.
Here's a little more discussion on the potential in this arena:
http://2greenenergy.com/tag/green-energy/
We must accelerate this progress, however, if we're going to avoid the highly adverse impacts of petroleum scarcity (at the very least manifested as a function of plateaus in production versus soaring demand), and the consequences of severe climate disruption.
Let's hope we see a groundswell in the corporate world that allows public sector investment to stabilize and private investment to reach a comfort level as a result that will take renewables and sustainability to a position of dominance.
Craig Shields, Editor, 2GreenEnergy.com, and author, Renewable Energy - Facts and Fantasies (2010)