I am delighted to see this joint program between Sun and PG&E:
Sun Announces First-of-its-Kind Energy Rebate With PG&E
Space, power, cooling and budget are the growing constraints for every datacenter. In August of this year, Sun announced a first-of-its-kind energy rebate for its Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers with California utility PG&E. As part of PG&E’s Non Residential Retrofit program, customers replacing existing equipment with these eco responsible servers can receive a cash savings between $700-$1000 per server or up to 35 percent when combined with the Sun Upgrade Advantage Program(3). This is the first time a public utility company has offered a rebate for server upgrades, helping customers move to more efficient technology and easing their datacenter constraints.
Not only that, the Tx000 series servers consume far less power than competing systems and provide many times the performance on multi-threaded work loads, what’s not to like? Kudos to PG&E and Sun, you’re making a difference.
8 days to OSU/Michigan
Ohio State’s 2006 record: 10-0 Next up: at Northwestern 11/11
Tune: Holy Roller Novocaine by Kings of Leon
Technorati Tags: Energy | Rebate | Server | Mike Harding Blog
Yesterday I had the pleasure to meet with a geologist who possesses vast knowledge of the geothermal landscape (literally.) One item that came up in our conversation was about the blog entry I wrote concerning geothermal power, and in particular “hot dry rock.”
The geologist indicated that HDR has been around for awhile with the initial work being pioneered in 1970 at the Fenton Hill site in Los Alamos, NM. Apparently the folks in Australia are at the same point the New Mexico crowd reached, they found hot dry rock, they were able to fracture it, but then the injection of fluids became something of an adventure. One doesn’t really know what will happen to the fluid injected into the system, sometimes it comes out the production wells and sometimes it doesn’t. No one really knows how to overcome that problem, though as the geologist noted, the Aussies seem very optimistic.
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is the new HDR, at least here in the US. The idea behind EGS is to use similar approaches that the oil & gas folks use to “enhance” production by attempting to stimulate activity on the edges of a known resource with fluid injection. It has been demonstrated that geothermal systems can be stimulated simply by putting geothermal wells into production. There is a site in California where hot springs proximate to a production field were affected, not by drying up or cooling down, but by heating up!
It’s always valuable to chat with the experts, it’s very clear there’s a huge amount to learn in this area as well as huge opportunity.
9 days to OSU/Michigan
Ohio State’s 2006 record: 10-0 Next up: at Northwestern 11/11
Tune: El Payande by Lhasa de Sela
Technorati Tags: Energy | Geothermal | Enhanced Geothermal Systems | Mike Harding Blog
It’s Wednesday again, so it must be time for a game preview. This week, the Buckeyes travel to Evanston, Illinois to battle the Northwestern Wildcats.
Had we not seen the lackluster second half from the Bucks in Champaign last week, I’d think this would have the potential to be a pretty competitive game. But, we did see that performance and I think the ‘Cats will be front and center in the players and coaches minds.
The case for a Wildcat upset of #1 OSU: First, the last couple of weeks, the intensity and quality of play have increased dramatically with a closer than the score would indicate 17-3 loss at Michigan and an upset win 21-7 at Iowa last week. The play of both the offense and defense has elevated in the last few weeks of the season, as a coach would hope. Second, this is a home game for NU with all the weather that the Chicago area can bring to bear, fan support, and recent history, NU upset OSU 33-27 in 2004. Both teams are a little banged up, injuries could play a part in this contest. Finally, there are a number of NU players who wanted to play for the Bucks but weren’t recruited (Tyrell Sutton, star TB comes to mind) who have a little chip on the shoulder about this game.
The case for a Buckeye win: First, focus and desire. This team will be so sick of hearing about the 2004 NU upset, their poor play in the second half of last week, and how NU upset Iowa they won’t mess about, they’ll come out fired up and firing. Second, depth. The main thing that distinguishes an OSU from an NU is depth. 1st team to 1st team, there is some difference, but not as much as you might think. But being able to rotate in the 2nd and 3rd team players situationally allows a team like the Bucks to wear out the opposition. This late in the season, it does make a difference. Third, team speed. This team is flat out fast and I expect that to be on full display this weekend. Finally, history. The Bucks have lost only 3 times in the last 50 years to the Wildcats, 2004, 1971, and 1958. The Buckeyes lead the series 56-14-1.
The verdict: Expect a strong showing by a team with wounded pride, a business like 38-7 OSU victory. Vegas has OSU as 24 point favorites.
10 days to OSU/Michigan
Ohio State’s 2006 record: 10-0 Next up: at Northwestern 11/11
Tune: Roll on by The Little Willies
Technorati Tags: Ohio State | Northwestern | Football | Mike Harding Blog
It looks as though people voted, votes were actually counted, and we’ve only got two potential problem spots, Montana and Virginia. My faith in the system and in my fellow citizens is somewhat restored. While there was a change, it wasn’t quite the wholesale change I was hoping to see. But some change is better than no change. This isn’t the end, this is a chance for a beginning. Now, what will the “new” leaders do with their new found power? Let’s hope they use it for good…
10 days to OSU/Michigan
Ohio State’s 2006 record: 10-0 Next up: at Northwestern 11/11
Tune: Why can’t I? (acoustic version) by Liz Phair
Technorati Tags: Election | Results | Change | Mike Harding Blog
Just an unsubtle reminder…..if you don’t vote, you can’t complain. There it is, at a minimum, reserve your right to complain! I can’t wait to see how accurate the polls are and what types of voting irregularity we see this time around. Not to mention the results. If people are paying attention, lots of incumbents are going to get fired today.
11 days to OSU/Michigan
Ohio State’s 2006 record: 10-0 Next up: at Northwestern 11/11
Tune: Vote by Spook Handy
Technorati Tags: Vote | Election | Incumbent | Mike Harding Blog
