ECOmputer Services at Brookes
In Computer Services we have implemented numerous initiatives and processes to reduce the environmental impact of the facilities that we provide. Primarily this involves reducing waste, reducing energy consumption and maintaining eco responsible awareness. However, we are aware that there is a lot more that we could do and that we are increasingly needing to use more energy.
In the interests of disclosure and openness we will list some areas in which we are not environmentally friendly, but we will also show why this is, at the moment, necessary and illustrate that we are at least aware of them.
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Current examples:
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Current examples 
We add a vertical banner to the edge of the last page of any B&W printout to indicate the sender student number and details such as how many pages were charged, date, time and location of printing etc. This is information we would be required to provide by producing a separate sheet of paper for each submitted job. By using banner printing we have saved hundreds of thousands of sheets of paper per year, as well as some laser toner.
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The volume of printing being done has increased year on year with black & white prints totalling 2,428,468 pages along with 261,749 A4 and 41,930 A3 colour prints (equivalent to 345,609 A4 pages) for 2007-08.
In the open access printers we use 80gsm (grams per square metre) A4 paper, the A4/A3 colour printers use 120gsm paper, where one square metre is an A0 sheet.
So there are 16 A4 sheets per square metre. A ream of paper is 500 sheets.
So a ream of b&w A4 paper would weigh (500/16)*80 = 2500g and a ream of colour A4 paper would weigh (500/16)*120 = 3750g.
Assuming that our paper is 50% post-consumer recycled which produces 5.83Kg of CO2 per 1Kg of paper1.
4496.9 reams of 80gsm and 691.2 reams of 120gsm paper.
For b&w A4 this gives a CO2 emission total of 2.5*5.83*4469.9 = 111,186.26Kg
For colour this gives a CO2 emission total of 3.75*5.83*691.2 = 15,111.36Kg
So for 2007-08 A4/A3 printing this is a grand total of 126.3 tonnes of CO2
Naturally, if we can encourage people to print only when necessary we can help reduce this figure.
We have made duplex printing the default for B&W open access printing (and made it an option for A4/A3 colour printing) to minimise the amount of paper needed for typical print jobs, e.g. lecture notes. In the last year 690,613 B&W laser prints were submitted consisting of 3,551,377 pages, 63.2% of which were duplex. This is a saving of up to 2,245,818 sheets of paper.
All Brookes open access PCs now have power saving enabled by default. This leaves the machine awake enough to have critical security updates and patches applied. So when rooms are closed, or machines are left unused, a sleep state is induced which uses less electricity, generates less wasteful heat (which our aircon would need to dispel) and reduces wear and tear on the hardware. We currently have just under 1000 open access computers. Usage fluctuates throughout the year across the campuses and so any calculation is very much an estimate. However, to place some value on it: assuming 50% usage of computers (as most rooms are closed at night), and each machine using 150W running, and 25W when asleep, for 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, that would be:
Brookes has moved up to third place in the People & Planet Green League of UK universities.
Without power saving
(1000*(150/2)*24*365)/1000 = 657,000 kWh
With power saving (for 12 hours of the day)
(1000*(((150/2)*12)+((25/2)*12))*365)/1000 = 383,250 kWh
657,000 - 383,250 = 273,750 kWh potentially saved (41.6%) which is a staggering saving up to 147 tonnes of CO2 annually
We are progressively replacing all CRT monitors with flat screens, aiming to eliminate all CRTs by 2010, which will help reduce the energy consumption of open access PCs.
The kit that powers the IT infrastructure (network switches, servers etc) cannot be turned off. It needs to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as it is always in use. Every client computer and device relies on the Brookes network functioning at all times. Things you may not even think about rely on a vast and complex array of equipment to functions - for example a simple swipe entry scanner to allow out-of-hours access to a building requires a server (actually more than one) to be running to authenticate the user which in turn relies on a running network to simply pass the messages back and forth.
Naturally, the amount of equipment that is always on requires a vast amount of electricity just to keep running. The network is no longer a connected array of computers - in the near future it will connect security cameras and telephones - it is critical to the day to day running of the university.
Every little helps: our Network team use a bicycle to travel around saving fuel and reducing pollution.
Colour print queue notifications
Previously if a colour print was submitted to the colour plot printers and the document could not be printed (e.g. not enough money in charge account, wrong page size etc) then an error banner message would be printed. This was not only a waste of paper and ink but also greatly increased the printing times for other document further down the queue as the plotter had to print and then dry the error message. Now all such notification messages are emailed to the student as soon as the document is received - this also has the advantage that the student can then rectify the problem and resend the job without a potentially lengthy wait.
Some of the servers that form a major part of the Brookes infrastructure are based on technologies from Sun Microsystems that are designed for energy efficiency and eco responsibility. The aim is to produce server systems that have up to thirty times the performance and one tenth of the energy consumption of those available five years ago.
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When computers are replaced or upgraded the older components are redeployed and reused where possible - typically in low performance roles such as displaying network usage visualisations and other diagnostic activities. Computers that are considered too old, or failed components, are disposed of in accordance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive as part of the Brookes-wide recycling initiatives. All open access computer rooms, as well as some corridors and study areas, have recycling bins for unwanted printouts.
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An often overlooked aspect of wireless usage is that laptop batteries are very inefficient (although typically a third of the power consumption of a typical desktop). The more people that use wireless means more people plugging in laptops to charge further burdening the electricity consumption of the university. So while we, of course, encourage people to use these services they will, as they grow more popular, have knock-on consequences for our environmental concerns.
Future changes
Potential future changes that could make a difference to our energy consumption are listed below. This list is not exhaustive and many of the items may not introduce significant gains.
The university is planning exciting changes to its estate. Proposals include a new student centre building which will house a range of facilities including a Library & IT facility. Throughout the planning and design aspects of eco responsibility are at the forefront of considerations, ranging from passive cooling and heating, natural ventilation and minimised solar gain through to the materials used in construction. The building is being developed in-line with the Building Research Establishment Assessment Method (BREEAM) which helps mitigate the environmental impacts of developments. Energy management systems should reduce CO2 emissions by 20%.
To make significant gains in energy efficiency for the central servers would require a vast project of redesign and rebuilding to allow for passive cooling etc. Small gains can be made by small improvements but to really make a difference would require a large expenditure of resources (building materials etc) that may mitigate any actual environmental gains in the near future. At present we use a number of blanking plates and hot/cool aisles to help maintain the optimum working temperature but at present this probably does not equate to significant energy efficiency gains. Further reorganisation of aisles and/or using enclosed air conditioning in racks may provide reductions in power usage but these may not outweigh the work and costs necessary to accomplish this.
Other areas for consideration include:
- Air flow could be reduced when no staff are physically present in the server room.
- Virtualisation to reduce the number of physical servers that are running; particularly those that are performing intermittent tasks such as backups.
- Automate the turning off and on of lights.
- Possible closer integration of the fresh air heating system with the air conditioning units.
- Using physical timer devices to control usage of intermittent use devices such as tape drives.
For our infrastructure this means that more than one server can be deployed, as a virtual host, on the same physical hardware. This means that less energy is required to power the same range of services, reducing the number of physical machines needed and therefore reducing the requirements of air-conditioned cooling. Advanced features enable virtual servers to power themselves off under low loads (e.g. at night) and to be moved between physical machines minimising disruption to services.
Virtualisation is an exciting development concerning the way the IT provision is distributed to students, and staff where appropriate, and the way in which infrastructure scalability can be managed. While the ideas behind the technology are not new it is only in recent years that it is becoming feasible.
For users this may mean that applications required for academic courses, or day to day working, can be run on their own energy efficient computers (by providing them with access to a virtual client) meaning that, in effect, the 'computer' is not a 24 hour a day physical computer located in an air-conditioned room. A virtual host on a thin client typically uses 40% less electricity than a standard computer. Of course, this does not mean that we will remove open access computers any time soon. There will always be a need for some class room conditions, particular applications that need direct access to hardware (e.g. CAD and Graphics packages) for performance reasons and open access printing etc. However, it does mean that we may be able to provide more services and a greater range of access without needing to scale the amount of pooled rooms and open access computers linearly, leading to a potential saving in energy and material usage.
| Annual Power Consumption (MWh) | Annual CO2 emissions (metric tons) | |
| Standard Desktop Infrastructure | 279.48 | 150.919 |
| Virtual Desktop Infrastructure | 168.45 | 90.96 |
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) allows the routing of voice data over network infrastructures rather than traditional telephone exchanges. This has advantages for scalability, internal call control, and consolidation of wiring and administration. It may also allow associated services such as video conferencing to be more easily introduced. However, this will require Power over Ethernet (PoE) to use connected devices and so places a further energy use burden on the infrastructure (up to five times more than conventional telephony), as well as needing a lot of work to lay out the wired topology.
Security cameras will be networked to allow for greater control and more features to be utilised. However, as with VoIP this places an extra burden on the network infrastructure to power the devices and also increase the reach of the physical wiring.
More information
Brookes environment and ethics
Brookes environment and sustainability
1 People & Planet Green League 2007
2 Going Carbon Neutral [www.newsociety.com] 
