A Cooler Sun

09:30 AM Dec 20, 2005

Welcome news from Sun Microsystems -- they are the first (as far as I know) major computer vendor to ship a server whose prime selling point is low power consumption.

Computers today suck down an ungodly amount of power.  Servers are especially bad, as they tend to stack up as businesses scale -- Google's recent purchase of 30 acres near the Bonneville Power Administration's generator plants in Oregon led to speculation that they needed that kind of power to keep their operations going.  And that's a LOT of power.

(Desktop PCs aren't much better, either, especially when you trick them out with nifty add-ons.  I once had a new video card in my PC at home die from overheating within 24 hours after I got it -- the only way I could keep it from happening again was to install 3 new fans in the case to disperse all the heat.  Most modern PCs come with several fans preinstalled; if you don't believe me, crack open your case and take a look.)

That's bad business -- someone's gotta pay for all that juice, remember -- and bad for the environment too, since the juice has to be generated somewhere.  In America, at least, that usually means burning more coal; and we all know how problematic that is.

Which is why when I see a big vendor like Sun saying things like "faster can be cooler, better can be cleaner, cheaper can be greener",  I hope it's the start of a trend.  Mama Earth would be pleased if we stopped sucking down so much power just to play Half-Life 2 and stream Ashlee Simpson videos.

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