Government Technology - March 2008 - (Page 41)

ditional photovoltaic cells,” he continued. “We’re seeing a lot of great innovation in solar thermal technology, where they concentrate the power of the sun to generate electricity. We’re also seeing an amazing innovation with thin film. Instead of the bulkier voltaic cells, it’s a more malleable purchase, so you can put it on curved areas.” The city plans to be a big part of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s initiative encouraging citizens to install 1 million solar roofs by 2018. The initiative aims to allow homeowners who install solar panels to sell back the excess energy they produce to their local public utilities. Customers using Pacific Gas and Electric, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power can participate in the program. “Our overall goal is to have 100,000 of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s 1 million solar roofs installed here in San Jose,” McGurk said. However, an obstacle is blocking the city from that goal. California Public Utilities Commission regulations block San Jose citizens from selling power to their local public utilities. Policy analysts in Mayor Reed’s office are exploring ways to change those regulations, said McGurk. More than 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in San Jose come from lighting, according to O’Mara. Many local governments are switching traffic lights to light-emitting diode (LED) technology, which use between 82 percent and 93 percent The facility also uses a cooling system that sucks in the cold air from outdoors at night to naturally cool the equipment. “By mixing [cooler] outside air with the chilled water, we’re Thanks to high levels able to reduce the amount of sunlight, California can of water we need to chill,” beneﬁt greatly from solar said Vijay Sammeta, division power. Reducing depenmanager for IT in San Jose. dence on fossil fuels and The city which also is working nuclear power, and opting for clean renewable energy to further reduce data center power consumption with server such as solar power, can virtualization technology. This protect the environment allows the work of up to 10 while also diversifying San Jose already has one of energy resources and low- normal servers to be done on the highest recycling rates in the ering energy prices. Solar one by transforming hardware into software. country: Sixty-two percent of power can also reduce The city recently switched its garbage is recycled. The city strain on the electric grid to more energy-efficient deskplans to ramp up those efforts by generating electricity. tops and laptops, and it also with a campaign encouraging — Environmentalcalifor nia.org mandated that all the city’s residents to purchase easily electronic IT hardware must recyclable products. San Jose plans to convert to energy, anything that is be approved by the Electronic Product Enviremaining in the city landfills, helping it reach ronmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). The another green goal — converting 100 percent EPEAT is a set of energy-efficiency criteria created by the nonprofit Zero Waste Alliance of San Jose landfill waste to energy. “The idea is to make it a continuous string through a grant from the U.S. Environmenwhere we’re diverting and recycling as much tal Protection Agency. Many vendors view as possible. The little bit that’s left on the it as the strictest standard to meet for green biosolid side, we’re converting to energy. products. “We’ve seen about 40 percent to 50 That’s what we’re talking about when we say ‘waste-to-energy.’ We’re not talking about percent less energy use coming out of those incinerators. The problem with those is they [new computers] than the ones we were create power, but they pollute,” O’Mara said. buying five to six months ago” Sammeta said. “We are now redoing our desktop contract to incorporate green requirements and calculating energy savings as part of the total cost of ownership.” He said he hoped the city would impleMichelle McGurk, public information officer, San Jose Mayor’s Office ment a five-year replacement cycle for that equipment as part of its green agenda. That would enable the city’s IT to keep up-to-date less energy than traditional incandescent lights, according to the Lighting Design Lab, Most government data centers consume with energy-efficient hardware, making the a project of the nonprofit Northwest Energy huge amounts of power. Many local govern- city greener. But Sammeta said persuading Efficiency Alliance. LED lights, depending ments pursuing green initiatives include data city leaders to fund that replacement cycle on the model, can last for years, while incan- center overhauls, which consolidate servers has been difficult because San Jose is struggling with a tight budget right now. descent lights last for months. San Jose and deploy more efficient cooling systems. “The opportunity is right because manualready has LED traffic lights, but wants to San Jose was ahead of the game on green go a step further, powering each with a solar IT. In 2005, San Jose built a new city hall facturing from different vendors, especially harvesting device. building and relocated several departments the big players, has really gotten on board,” Overall, the city expects to invest in a to it. Before the move, those departments he said. “It means investing in those techdiverse combination of emerging renew- occupied several buildings, each with its own nologies, getting on a PC replacement cycle able technologies to make the 100-percent data center. Sharing one data center enabled on a four- or five-year cycle, as opposed to goal possible. those agencies to slash power consumption. 10 years.” “We’ll do some things with fuel cell technology and the electric chemical technology that’s coming out,” O’Mara said. “There are a lot of opportunities with water throughout the coastal area. We’re not saying that 100 percent of it has to be derived onsite in the city, but the power that we’re buying will come from renewable sources.” Tapping Landfills “Our overall goal is to have 100,000 of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s 1 million solar Green IT roofs installed here in San Jose.” 41 http://environmentalcalifornia.org http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - March 2008

Government Technology - March 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene Four Questions for... Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers Let's [Not] Get Physical No Data Left Behind Conservation King Community Drug Test Reinventing the System Better Late Than Never Closing the Deal Spectrum Products Personal Computing signal:noise Digital Communities The Expanding Focus of Digital Communities The Digital Imperative Hot Fusion Redefining Municipal Wireless Made in the USA Bridge Detectives The 2008 Agenda

Government Technology - March 2008

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