Stanford Report, October 15, 2008

Effort under way to make computing on campus 'green'

BY KAYVON SHARGHI

These days, the sustainability movement seems to have seeped into every facet of the university. The cause is championed in classes and dorms, kitchens and lecture halls, and now, your desk.

Slashing energy use is central to becoming more sustainable, which is why those leading the campus-wide effort have recently taken aim at low-hanging fruit such as cathode-ray-tube computer monitors and "vampire" power strips that suck up electricity even when equipment isn't in use. Replacing them with more energy efficient flat-screen monitors and "smart" strips has been the foray into the "greening" of computing at Stanford.

Now, the movement is spreading into the dozens of back rooms across campus that quietly drain even more energy to keep servers cool. At Stanford, even something as inherently interconnected as information technology can be decentralized.

All this is in keeping with the theme of next Thursday's IT Open House, "Getting to Green: IT Paths to Sustainability at Stanford." The annual event showcases technology services from all over campus and vendors from throughout the Bay Area. This year's open house will be held Oct. 23 at the Arrillaga Alumni Center from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. Joyce Dickerson, the newly appointed director of Sustainable IT at Stanford, will speak from 11:30 a.m. to noon.

"IT infrastructure and computing is a big user of energy on campus, and there are things that everyone can do to help reduce that," Dickerson said. Currently, 10 percent of the total energy output from the Cardinal Cogen power plant goes toward powering the wide array of IT components—from computer monitors and servers to copy machines and printers, according to Dickerson.

Forsythe Hall is Stanford's primary data center, where the vast majority of servers for administrative, research computing and the Highwire Press are stored. But servers are also stored all over campus in 46 different rooms, and one of the ideas Dickerson will share with the campus community at the open house is a proposal for a new "green data center."

Currently in its initial stages, the center is expected to utilize "ultra-advanced green designs" such as allowing for natural air flow and having servers are on the second floor to maximize natural cooling. The facility has been proposed for construction near the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and is expected to come before the Board of Trustees in the winter.

Dickerson said the new facility will house servers for high-density research computing and will use 80 percent less energy than a standard data center would to run and cool the same numbers of servers.

"Rather than creating these pockets of computing centers around the university," Dickerson said, "let's centralize it all in a single center and build it to be a sustainable entity."

And with the university adding servers at an annual rate of 15 percent because of the increasing number of tasks being done digitally—such as student registration, course enrollment and departmental communications via the web—a new data center will be critical in the years ahead.

"Information technology is one of the faster growing sources of energy use, and it represents a great sustainability challenge," President John Hennessy said in an e-mail invitation sent across campus on Oct. 10. "Stanford is a leader in information technology and sustainability. It is fitting that we combine these capabilities and become a leader in the field of sustainable information technology as well."

The website for this year's open house is at http://itopenhouse.stanford.edu, which lists the full schedule and speakers for the event. Joseph Stagner, executive director of sustainability and energy management, will deliver the first talk at 10:30 a.m.

The website also allows members of the campus community to enter a contest asking for suggestions for how to make Stanford a more sustainable place. The contest closes on Friday, Oct. 17, and a winner will be announced at the open house.

Kayvon Sharghi is a science-writing intern at the Stanford News Service.