Greening a Company from the Break Room to the Server Farms
在围绕绿色业务繁荣的世界上，数据存储公司发现自己处于一个有趣的位置。他们提供的服务具有巨大的环境影响 - 技术研究小组Gartner最近估计占2％在世界上的二氧化碳排放量中，这种影响与航空一样高。但是，技术也被誉为各种环境危机的潜在解决方案。
As a result, IT companies find themselves needing to address not only their own operations -- a considerable challenge faced by companies in all sectors -- but also playing a significant role in helping their customers get green as well.
I recently sat down with约翰工程, the CTO of web hosting company Rackspace, to talk about how his company is addressing not only its own impact and those of its clients, but a third group: its employees.
马修·惠德:今年夏天，Rackspace揭开了他们的Greenspace倡议在美国，您能告诉我一些有关的内容吗？
John Engates：Sure. GreenSpace is an umbrella for all the initiatives that we are working on to help with you know, sort of the advancement of energy efficiency at Rackspace.
A year ago or so, our U.K. office launched a program where they planted a tree for every server that went online in our U.K. data center. And we had an overwhelming response to that from our customer base. They really thought that was cool; they thought it was a good way for them to make a difference with their business and how they were consuming IT services.
这最终在美国激发了很多活动，我们的美国办公室决定，我们已经在做一些事情，还有一些我们需要做的事情。他们想在一项倡议中团结起来，我们将其称为greenspace。
Greenspace确实是一种三管齐下的方法，或者我们以这种方式考虑。这实际上是关于Rackspace在公司层面，Rackspace员工，然后是Rackspace的客户，以及我们如何真正地在这三个类别中开展绿色计划。
因此，从公司的角度来看，Rackspace正在花时间思考我们如何在数据中心效率方面做得更好。我们在全球范围内运行八个数据中心，这些数据中心大约有35,000台服务器。因此，这些服务器中的每个服务器都像一点烤面包机。它只是散发出热量，还需要大量的力量。因此，其中每个人都可以减少所用的能量或为冷却它所需的能量量；或以某种方式改变能源，我们可以对环境产生积极影响。
So the things we're doing there are looking at more environmentally friendly servers and better ways of designing the data center to be more efficient from a cooling perspective and then also looking for alternative sources of fuel and power. So that would be -- for example, in our U.K. data center, one of the new ones is actually using a biofuel as the power source from the utility company in our Slough data center in the U.K.
So that's part of it. Obviously what we're doing at a corporate level. And also from an employee perspective, we had a big full day of activities and events centered around awareness of green programs and green living activities that could be done in the San Antonio area where our headquarters is located.
We brought out a bunch of vendors who have green products like a dry cleaner who offers green dry cleaning services. We had a company that provides electric powered cars; hybrid vehicles here that people could try out. We had the local utility company spend some time with us explaining how we could have an impact on the energy efficiency of our own homes.
因此，这确实是对Rackspace的2,000多名员工的意识，这对我们很重要 - 我们可以在这里有所作为。
我们的Greenspace倡议中三个插脚中的另一个插脚是我们如何帮助客户与他们的业务更加绿色。同样，我们提供的主要服务是为客户托管服务器，我们想在那里进行一些工作，以了解如何抵消这些服务器发出的碳排放。
And similarly to the U.K. office, which did the tree planting, we decided to do a carbon offset program. We partnered with a company called the Native Energy Group. They are a group that allows companies like Rackspace to buy carbon offsets or contribute to programs that would provide green energy. Things like wind farms or methane programs, where we could really recapture some of the methane from a farm that's actually in Pennsylvania.
So the idea there is just whatever we're doing, whatever we're putting into the data center, if we can't make it 100 percent green, then we should at least look for ways to contribute back to other more green sources of energy.
MW:我绝对想回到数据中心本身的绿化。但是，我很有趣的是，听到绿色的日子，以及您不仅仅是在谈论员工在办公室里做什么。但是他们一生都能做什么。您的员工的回应是什么？
JE：好吧，反应非常积极。可以这么说，我想证据在布丁中。但是，自从我们完成绿色的日子以来，我在这里看到的一件事是，我看到的迹象在办公室周围升起，说明您的灯光。我猜我已经看到回收计划在基层水平的小组中浮出水面。再次，我们有2000名员工，我认为当这些类型的事情发生在团队内部时，比他们觉得自己是公司倡议被人推迟了。当人们自己做时，它确实具有更积极的反应。
显然，我们赞助了绿日活动，但是随后，许多员工承担了自己在自己地区或公司中感到有意义的事情。
因此，我认为这是一个非常积极的回应。他们不仅可以通过回收和节能来做些什么，而且还可以在公司内部节省和保存的地方。它不仅在家，而且还在这里。我们有很多包装包裹在服务器上。很多盒子，很多纸板和泡沫聚苯乙烯。在绿日活动之后不久，我在会议上听到的一件事是我们的服务器工程师之一，我们的一家硬件制造商与我们的代表交谈，他们实际上是在谈论如何将更多的服务器包装到一个物理上盒子，从而保存一些包装材料和一些纸板，并削减许多废物。
而且，我只是认为，当您在绿色倡议上引起人们的关注并使员工意识到公司重视这种思维时，这些事情是不可避免的。
MW:伟大的。对我来说，这听起来像是英国办公室的某种刺激了这一计划。在那里 - 在美国是如何产生的？Greenspace是否完全集中在美国的运营上，还是将传播到英国？从英国开始，它是从英国开始的吗？
JE：好吧，它来自英国，我会告诉你为什么这是 - 老实说，这是因为欧洲和英国从绿色的角度领先于美国。我的意思是，我认为任何人都没有任何论点。但是，它们当然更适合环境及其周围的问题以及正在发生的全球气候变化问题。
因此，确实毫无疑问，他们比我们领先了一点。他们首先从客户那里听到它，他们觉得是时候该做些事情了。这里发生的事情是，我们发现这确实是一个全球问题。这不是您可以在一个区域或一个地方解决的问题。因此，我们想将这些举措带到美国
At the time when the U.K. did it, it wasn't a company-wide initiative. It was sort of a local initiative and now we've figured out that we need to do it everywhere. We want to do it. We've shined a spotlight on it and it makes sense.
And so, the GreenSpace initiative is really now the global umbrella for all of the initiatives that we're working on; whether they're in the U.K., the U.S. or beyond. I mean, we have plans for data centers beyond just the two continents that we're on now. And so as we move ahead and into the regions of the world, we will certainly pay a lot more attention to it than we probably did five or seven years ago when we first started all this.
MW:听起来像我经常听到的故事：IT经理如何试图说服C-Suite，例如安装节能服务器并尽一切努力减少能源使用，减少环境影响。在某些方面，我认为这与您和某些方面更相关，就像其他公司一样。
您在这个项目中必须克服哪些障碍？
JE：Well, some of the obstacles -- I mean, immediately, you have to jump to the obstacle of money. Whenever you think about programs like this, you have to ask the question is it worth it? Does it make sense from a business perspective? I mean, we still are in business and so anything that we do like this has to make some sense from a business perspective.
And because the customers were asking for it, there were certainly some signs that it would be a good thing to do just surely from a pure business perspective. But it also has the possibility to significantly reduce the amount of power that we put into the data centers and therefore lower the costs of running those data centers. It also has the potential to allow us to put off building new data centers down the road. If we can put more energy efficient servers in that produce less heat, we can probably pack more of them into the same existing data centers and therefore, put off by either months or years the opportunity or the requirement to have to build the next data center.
而且我认为障碍只是问题是我们可以从财务角度使它起作用吗？我的意思是，最终就是这样。而且我认为我们可以做的一些事情必须一次迈出一步。我们必须拿走 - 一次咬一件东西。到目前为止，我们所做的事情的规模或范围可能很小。他们并不像他们对我们今天的业务方式进行巨大改变。但是我认为，随着时间的流逝，对这些类型的事物的关注并关注它确实使我们能够进行转变。
MW:And tell me a little bit about how this initiative is changing your data centers? Are you installing more efficient machines? Are you reorganizing the way they are set up or how they're heated and cooled?
JE：Yeah, so both of those things. Not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago, it's probably longer than that. My timeline is off. But I think we had a full day off-site session with a bunch of the Rackspace engineers and many of our vendors and we spent some time talking through exactly what you're talking about; what's the next generation data center going to look like from an equipment perspective and from a design perspective.
而且，我们在设计和架构方面正在为这些新设施的建设进行大量工作。他们如何成为更多绿色设施？它们如何成为更有效的设施？关于对数据中心进行改进和重新设计数据中心的重新设计和重新设计数据中心的指标有很多研究。
我们加入的一个小组称为绿色网格，绿色网格是一组供应商，像Rackspace这样的人是IT技术的重要用户。而且他们花时间来弄清我们应该根据数据中心来弄清楚指标。绿色有多绿？我们取得了多少进展？这些现在很难回答，我认为在那里正在完成工作。因此，我们真正需要做的就是找出正确的指标，然后随着时间的推移来追踪自己以使用更好的技术。
最近发生了变化的其他技术之一是从单一核心到多核处理器的移动。我们刚刚启动了一些比其前任更绿色的AMD处理器。从成本的角度和从环境的角度来看，使用新技术保持较少的动力和更少的资源可能是正确的事情。因此，确实没有理由不做一些事情。
MW:您正在用这些较新的尖端技术代替的较旧，节能较低的机器做什么？
JE：Some of them are recycled here at Rackspace and reused. So we can't necessarily get rid of them immediately. If they still have useful life, we continue to use them. And again, that probably makes good sense. Even if they do use a little bit more energy, it's better to use more energy than to manufacture a new server. There's probably more energy used in the manufacturing process and the shipping and all that. If we can reuse it, we should.
但是，在这些服务器上确实完成了使用寿命之后，它们就被废弃了。在有用的生活之后，我们并没有真正将它们用于任何事情。我想，我们可以通过各种废料恢复类型操作来处理这些操作，这些操作基本上是为我们购买设备，然后它们将回收许多董事会和类似的组件。
So there is sort of a life cycle to all of the technology. We use it as long as we can and then once it's done, we dispose of it through the proper channels.
MW:How do you define success? Have you set any concrete goals? What does a successful green initiative look like to you?
JE：I think for us, I think the success in the long run would be to maintain or reduce the amount of energy that goes into our product. Our product is IT service and if we could maintain the same levels while continuing to add customers or at least reduce the amount on a per customer/per server basis, that would be success. That's never been the case as long as I've been in IT. It's always gotten more power hungry or more energy consuming; the chips run hotter, the memory takes more energy to run.
因此，我认为，如果它开始朝另一个方向发展，那将是成功。总体而言，这意味着Rackspace随着时间的推移会支付较低的能源费用，或者至少要维持这一点。我认为那将是成功。
MW:Okay.
JE：I would like to know, on a more granular level using some of the new metrics and measurement tactics that I guess the Green Grid's coming up with, how we're doing in the industry as a whole. That's very hard to determine today. There's so many different companies doing IT services and there's companies doing it in-house and there are data centers that are co-location facilities.
每个不同的设施的设计确实不同，并且是为了不同的目的而设计的，它不是苹果比较的苹果。我希望看到一些更好的方法来确定我们是否真的在做正确的事情以及是否绿色。在这一点上，我们确实会随着时间的流逝而对自己进行基准测试。这不是最终目标。我们的目标是了解我们对整个行业的整体情况。
MW:在考虑英国可再生能源数据中心时，这在美国如何发挥作用？您将来会看到什么？这五年后会是什么样？显然，我们对可再生能源的基础设施比欧洲和英国的基础设施更具限制。
JE：好吧，我认为，随着这个问题确实成为越来越多的人的领域和中心，他们会给供应商及其合作伙伴施加压力，以寻求更绿色的替代方案。
So for example, in our industry, we did a survey to our customer base and we tried to figure out how many of them really were thinking about this? How many would pay either more money for greener technology or how many would be willing to sacrifice some performance for a lower carbon emission solution or really, what was on their minds?
我们发现，我们从中得到的回复的人中有52％实际上将为与绿色供应商合作而付出更多。那真是令人鼓舞。它告诉我他们希望我们做更多。那些说是的人，他们会付出更多，显然他们希望我们注意它，他们希望我们对此做更多的事情。实际上，有59％的人说，绿色供应商对他们很重要，但不一定是其业务战略的一部分，这对我来说意味着随着时间的流逝，这可能会改变。
It sounds like it's on the personal level, it's important to people. It hasn't made the jump yet to the business level and I think that will gradually change over time. And as it does, I think that will push vendors like Rackspace and others to being more and more green.
我们在一定程度上看到了服务器处理器的制造商。因此，英特尔和AMD已被压制并推动，以使其处理器更高效，因为他们使用越来越多的能量，并且正在加热数据中心。它迫使公司和像Rackspace这样的人出去建造新的设施，即新的数据中心。这确实不是正确的方向。如果可以的话，我们想朝另一个方向前进。我们应该从那些处理器中获得更多。这不仅是速度或计算能力问题。从能量的角度来看，这也是一个权力问题。
因此，他们正在做很多工作，我认为现在的压力实际上正在努力。比赛在英特尔和AMD之间，我们开始看到这一点的好处。处理器比很长一段时间以来更节能。他们正在使用较新的技术来制造这些技术。我认为他们有所作为。
因此，由于这开始渗透到整个行业的其余部分，我认为我们会看到积极的变化。
MW:我想问你一点。您到目前为止在Rackspace中看到了哪些好处？
JE：好吧，我认为我们看到的一些好处是当我们建立新的数据中心时，我们正在做的更改，我们希望用最新技术构建它。我们已经研究了更有效的电源。我们研究了更有效的空调单元。如何构建数据中心以提高效率。
And so putting awareness in place puts everybody in a mode of thinking how can we reduce? How can we save? How can we economize on the design and the deployment of these new servers? When something comes out that might have a positive impact on our efficiency, it makes it way into our labs much more quickly if people are paying attention to it. And then we test it, we see if it has the impact that we hope for and like these AMD processors, we actually rolled those out as soon as they were available on the market.
And so I don't think that would have happened had we really not shined a spotlight on the green energy programs that we have in place. If we hadn't been paying attention, I don't' think that stuff would have happened quite as quickly.
And the impact really is to the bottom line. It helps us save energy. Helps our customers with more efficient solutions; more cost-effective solutions. When we don't spend as much on power, that translates into a lower price point for our customers. And then overall, I think it actually does help us even from a PR perspective. There are a lot of people who want to deal with a green vendor. If they know that the vendor is doing some work, that they will actually spend their dollars with that vendor and we've seen that play out even within our sales department where some of the prospects are just asking about the programs and if they're asking about it, that obviously means it's on their mind and they're interested in having us do more and more in that area.
MW:这使我回到了您一分钟前提到的调查，这是人们说他们愿意为绿色服务支付更多费用。他们希望从中受益什么？显然，他们没有为这些更节能的服务器付出钱，所以纯粹是他们要绿化公司，这是一步吗？纯粹是公关吗？
JE：好吧，我认为这种动机有一点点。我的意思是，您提到他们没有赚钱。好吧，在某些方面是因为如果我们能够获得更高效的能力，有时确实会降低力量的量。现在，有时它不会抵消新技术的成本。但这总是有点受欢迎或错过。有时，这项技术会产生飞跃，以至于安装新的，更有效的服务器的成本可能要比支付电费账单支付的费用要少。这些是您必须逐案提出的问题。
But from a PR perspective, I think there are companies that want to demonstrate to their constituents, their customers, whomever, that they are making changes that would lead to a greener environment. They don't want to be the bad guys in the world of IT or whatever business they might be in.
他们实际上说，有些人坚信保护环境。那是我们实际问的问题之一是，为什么您选择去绿色？63％的人坚信保护环境。另一个很大的类别是他们的客户要求它，这很有意义。那是9％的人实际上做出了回应。另一个小组表示，今天或将来的监管原因将推动他们加以驱使。
因此，我认为人们开始考虑这一点有多种原因。他们中的一些人只是在思考如何解决这个问题并现在开始解决问题时积极主动？最终，我们都以某种方式为此付出代价，我认为有些早期采用者只是相信它，并认为这是正确的事情。
马修·惠德is the Managing Editor at绿色世界媒体。这次采访最初出现在格林比斯广播。以太网插头照片复印Mysterybee。
As a result, IT companies find themselves needing to address not only their own operations -- a considerable challenge faced by companies in all sectors -- but also playing a significant role in helping their customers get green as well.
I recently sat down with约翰工程, the CTO of web hosting company Rackspace, to talk about how his company is addressing not only its own impact and those of its clients, but a third group: its employees.
马修·惠德:今年夏天，Rackspace揭开了他们的Greenspace倡议在美国，您能告诉我一些有关的内容吗？
John Engates：Sure. GreenSpace is an umbrella for all the initiatives that we are working on to help with you know, sort of the advancement of energy efficiency at Rackspace.
A year ago or so, our U.K. office launched a program where they planted a tree for every server that went online in our U.K. data center. And we had an overwhelming response to that from our customer base. They really thought that was cool; they thought it was a good way for them to make a difference with their business and how they were consuming IT services.
这最终在美国激发了很多活动，我们的美国办公室决定，我们已经在做一些事情，还有一些我们需要做的事情。他们想在一项倡议中团结起来，我们将其称为greenspace。
Greenspace确实是一种三管齐下的方法，或者我们以这种方式考虑。这实际上是关于Rackspace在公司层面，Rackspace员工，然后是Rackspace的客户，以及我们如何真正地在这三个类别中开展绿色计划。
因此，从公司的角度来看，Rackspace正在花时间思考我们如何在数据中心效率方面做得更好。我们在全球范围内运行八个数据中心，这些数据中心大约有35,000台服务器。因此，这些服务器中的每个服务器都像一点烤面包机。它只是散发出热量，还需要大量的力量。因此，其中每个人都可以减少所用的能量或为冷却它所需的能量量；或以某种方式改变能源，我们可以对环境产生积极影响。
So the things we're doing there are looking at more environmentally friendly servers and better ways of designing the data center to be more efficient from a cooling perspective and then also looking for alternative sources of fuel and power. So that would be -- for example, in our U.K. data center, one of the new ones is actually using a biofuel as the power source from the utility company in our Slough data center in the U.K.
So that's part of it. Obviously what we're doing at a corporate level. And also from an employee perspective, we had a big full day of activities and events centered around awareness of green programs and green living activities that could be done in the San Antonio area where our headquarters is located.
We brought out a bunch of vendors who have green products like a dry cleaner who offers green dry cleaning services. We had a company that provides electric powered cars; hybrid vehicles here that people could try out. We had the local utility company spend some time with us explaining how we could have an impact on the energy efficiency of our own homes.
因此，这确实是对Rackspace的2,000多名员工的意识，这对我们很重要 - 我们可以在这里有所作为。
我们的Greenspace倡议中三个插脚中的另一个插脚是我们如何帮助客户与他们的业务更加绿色。同样，我们提供的主要服务是为客户托管服务器，我们想在那里进行一些工作，以了解如何抵消这些服务器发出的碳排放。
And similarly to the U.K. office, which did the tree planting, we decided to do a carbon offset program. We partnered with a company called the Native Energy Group. They are a group that allows companies like Rackspace to buy carbon offsets or contribute to programs that would provide green energy. Things like wind farms or methane programs, where we could really recapture some of the methane from a farm that's actually in Pennsylvania.
So the idea there is just whatever we're doing, whatever we're putting into the data center, if we can't make it 100 percent green, then we should at least look for ways to contribute back to other more green sources of energy.
MW:我绝对想回到数据中心本身的绿化。但是，我很有趣的是，听到绿色的日子，以及您不仅仅是在谈论员工在办公室里做什么。但是他们一生都能做什么。您的员工的回应是什么？
JE：好吧，反应非常积极。可以这么说，我想证据在布丁中。但是，自从我们完成绿色的日子以来，我在这里看到的一件事是，我看到的迹象在办公室周围升起，说明您的灯光。我猜我已经看到回收计划在基层水平的小组中浮出水面。再次，我们有2000名员工，我认为当这些类型的事情发生在团队内部时，比他们觉得自己是公司倡议被人推迟了。当人们自己做时，它确实具有更积极的反应。
显然，我们赞助了绿日活动，但是随后，许多员工承担了自己在自己地区或公司中感到有意义的事情。
因此，我认为这是一个非常积极的回应。他们不仅可以通过回收和节能来做些什么，而且还可以在公司内部节省和保存的地方。它不仅在家，而且还在这里。我们有很多包装包裹在服务器上。很多盒子，很多纸板和泡沫聚苯乙烯。在绿日活动之后不久，我在会议上听到的一件事是我们的服务器工程师之一，我们的一家硬件制造商与我们的代表交谈，他们实际上是在谈论如何将更多的服务器包装到一个物理上盒子，从而保存一些包装材料和一些纸板，并削减许多废物。
而且，我只是认为，当您在绿色倡议上引起人们的关注并使员工意识到公司重视这种思维时，这些事情是不可避免的。
MW:伟大的。对我来说，这听起来像是英国办公室的某种刺激了这一计划。在那里 - 在美国是如何产生的？Greenspace是否完全集中在美国的运营上，还是将传播到英国？从英国开始，它是从英国开始的吗？
JE：好吧，它来自英国，我会告诉你为什么这是 - 老实说，这是因为欧洲和英国从绿色的角度领先于美国。我的意思是，我认为任何人都没有任何论点。但是，它们当然更适合环境及其周围的问题以及正在发生的全球气候变化问题。
因此，确实毫无疑问，他们比我们领先了一点。他们首先从客户那里听到它，他们觉得是时候该做些事情了。这里发生的事情是，我们发现这确实是一个全球问题。这不是您可以在一个区域或一个地方解决的问题。因此，我们想将这些举措带到美国
At the time when the U.K. did it, it wasn't a company-wide initiative. It was sort of a local initiative and now we've figured out that we need to do it everywhere. We want to do it. We've shined a spotlight on it and it makes sense.
And so, the GreenSpace initiative is really now the global umbrella for all of the initiatives that we're working on; whether they're in the U.K., the U.S. or beyond. I mean, we have plans for data centers beyond just the two continents that we're on now. And so as we move ahead and into the regions of the world, we will certainly pay a lot more attention to it than we probably did five or seven years ago when we first started all this.
MW:听起来像我经常听到的故事：IT经理如何试图说服C-Suite，例如安装节能服务器并尽一切努力减少能源使用，减少环境影响。在某些方面，我认为这与您和某些方面更相关，就像其他公司一样。
您在这个项目中必须克服哪些障碍？
JE：Well, some of the obstacles -- I mean, immediately, you have to jump to the obstacle of money. Whenever you think about programs like this, you have to ask the question is it worth it? Does it make sense from a business perspective? I mean, we still are in business and so anything that we do like this has to make some sense from a business perspective.
And because the customers were asking for it, there were certainly some signs that it would be a good thing to do just surely from a pure business perspective. But it also has the possibility to significantly reduce the amount of power that we put into the data centers and therefore lower the costs of running those data centers. It also has the potential to allow us to put off building new data centers down the road. If we can put more energy efficient servers in that produce less heat, we can probably pack more of them into the same existing data centers and therefore, put off by either months or years the opportunity or the requirement to have to build the next data center.
而且我认为障碍只是问题是我们可以从财务角度使它起作用吗？我的意思是，最终就是这样。而且我认为我们可以做的一些事情必须一次迈出一步。我们必须拿走 - 一次咬一件东西。到目前为止，我们所做的事情的规模或范围可能很小。他们并不像他们对我们今天的业务方式进行巨大改变。但是我认为，随着时间的流逝，对这些类型的事物的关注并关注它确实使我们能够进行转变。
MW:And tell me a little bit about how this initiative is changing your data centers? Are you installing more efficient machines? Are you reorganizing the way they are set up or how they're heated and cooled?
JE：Yeah, so both of those things. Not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago, it's probably longer than that. My timeline is off. But I think we had a full day off-site session with a bunch of the Rackspace engineers and many of our vendors and we spent some time talking through exactly what you're talking about; what's the next generation data center going to look like from an equipment perspective and from a design perspective.
而且，我们在设计和架构方面正在为这些新设施的建设进行大量工作。他们如何成为更多绿色设施？它们如何成为更有效的设施？关于对数据中心进行改进和重新设计数据中心的重新设计和重新设计数据中心的指标有很多研究。
我们加入的一个小组称为绿色网格，绿色网格是一组供应商，像Rackspace这样的人是IT技术的重要用户。而且他们花时间来弄清我们应该根据数据中心来弄清楚指标。绿色有多绿？我们取得了多少进展？这些现在很难回答，我认为在那里正在完成工作。因此，我们真正需要做的就是找出正确的指标，然后随着时间的推移来追踪自己以使用更好的技术。
最近发生了变化的其他技术之一是从单一核心到多核处理器的移动。我们刚刚启动了一些比其前任更绿色的AMD处理器。从成本的角度和从环境的角度来看，使用新技术保持较少的动力和更少的资源可能是正确的事情。因此，确实没有理由不做一些事情。
MW:您正在用这些较新的尖端技术代替的较旧，节能较低的机器做什么？
JE：Some of them are recycled here at Rackspace and reused. So we can't necessarily get rid of them immediately. If they still have useful life, we continue to use them. And again, that probably makes good sense. Even if they do use a little bit more energy, it's better to use more energy than to manufacture a new server. There's probably more energy used in the manufacturing process and the shipping and all that. If we can reuse it, we should.
但是，在这些服务器上确实完成了使用寿命之后，它们就被废弃了。在有用的生活之后，我们并没有真正将它们用于任何事情。我想，我们可以通过各种废料恢复类型操作来处理这些操作，这些操作基本上是为我们购买设备，然后它们将回收许多董事会和类似的组件。
So there is sort of a life cycle to all of the technology. We use it as long as we can and then once it's done, we dispose of it through the proper channels.
MW:How do you define success? Have you set any concrete goals? What does a successful green initiative look like to you?
JE：I think for us, I think the success in the long run would be to maintain or reduce the amount of energy that goes into our product. Our product is IT service and if we could maintain the same levels while continuing to add customers or at least reduce the amount on a per customer/per server basis, that would be success. That's never been the case as long as I've been in IT. It's always gotten more power hungry or more energy consuming; the chips run hotter, the memory takes more energy to run.
因此，我认为，如果它开始朝另一个方向发展，那将是成功。总体而言，这意味着Rackspace随着时间的推移会支付较低的能源费用，或者至少要维持这一点。我认为那将是成功。
MW:Okay.
JE：I would like to know, on a more granular level using some of the new metrics and measurement tactics that I guess the Green Grid's coming up with, how we're doing in the industry as a whole. That's very hard to determine today. There's so many different companies doing IT services and there's companies doing it in-house and there are data centers that are co-location facilities.
每个不同的设施的设计确实不同，并且是为了不同的目的而设计的，它不是苹果比较的苹果。我希望看到一些更好的方法来确定我们是否真的在做正确的事情以及是否绿色。在这一点上，我们确实会随着时间的流逝而对自己进行基准测试。这不是最终目标。我们的目标是了解我们对整个行业的整体情况。
MW:在考虑英国可再生能源数据中心时，这在美国如何发挥作用？您将来会看到什么？这五年后会是什么样？显然，我们对可再生能源的基础设施比欧洲和英国的基础设施更具限制。
JE：好吧，我认为，随着这个问题确实成为越来越多的人的领域和中心，他们会给供应商及其合作伙伴施加压力，以寻求更绿色的替代方案。
So for example, in our industry, we did a survey to our customer base and we tried to figure out how many of them really were thinking about this? How many would pay either more money for greener technology or how many would be willing to sacrifice some performance for a lower carbon emission solution or really, what was on their minds?
我们发现，我们从中得到的回复的人中有52％实际上将为与绿色供应商合作而付出更多。那真是令人鼓舞。它告诉我他们希望我们做更多。那些说是的人，他们会付出更多，显然他们希望我们注意它，他们希望我们对此做更多的事情。实际上，有59％的人说，绿色供应商对他们很重要，但不一定是其业务战略的一部分，这对我来说意味着随着时间的流逝，这可能会改变。
It sounds like it's on the personal level, it's important to people. It hasn't made the jump yet to the business level and I think that will gradually change over time. And as it does, I think that will push vendors like Rackspace and others to being more and more green.
我们在一定程度上看到了服务器处理器的制造商。因此，英特尔和AMD已被压制并推动，以使其处理器更高效，因为他们使用越来越多的能量，并且正在加热数据中心。它迫使公司和像Rackspace这样的人出去建造新的设施，即新的数据中心。这确实不是正确的方向。如果可以的话，我们想朝另一个方向前进。我们应该从那些处理器中获得更多。这不仅是速度或计算能力问题。从能量的角度来看，这也是一个权力问题。
因此，他们正在做很多工作，我认为现在的压力实际上正在努力。比赛在英特尔和AMD之间，我们开始看到这一点的好处。处理器比很长一段时间以来更节能。他们正在使用较新的技术来制造这些技术。我认为他们有所作为。
因此，由于这开始渗透到整个行业的其余部分，我认为我们会看到积极的变化。
MW:我想问你一点。您到目前为止在Rackspace中看到了哪些好处？
JE：好吧，我认为我们看到的一些好处是当我们建立新的数据中心时，我们正在做的更改，我们希望用最新技术构建它。我们已经研究了更有效的电源。我们研究了更有效的空调单元。如何构建数据中心以提高效率。
And so putting awareness in place puts everybody in a mode of thinking how can we reduce? How can we save? How can we economize on the design and the deployment of these new servers? When something comes out that might have a positive impact on our efficiency, it makes it way into our labs much more quickly if people are paying attention to it. And then we test it, we see if it has the impact that we hope for and like these AMD processors, we actually rolled those out as soon as they were available on the market.
And so I don't think that would have happened had we really not shined a spotlight on the green energy programs that we have in place. If we hadn't been paying attention, I don't' think that stuff would have happened quite as quickly.
And the impact really is to the bottom line. It helps us save energy. Helps our customers with more efficient solutions; more cost-effective solutions. When we don't spend as much on power, that translates into a lower price point for our customers. And then overall, I think it actually does help us even from a PR perspective. There are a lot of people who want to deal with a green vendor. If they know that the vendor is doing some work, that they will actually spend their dollars with that vendor and we've seen that play out even within our sales department where some of the prospects are just asking about the programs and if they're asking about it, that obviously means it's on their mind and they're interested in having us do more and more in that area.
MW:这使我回到了您一分钟前提到的调查，这是人们说他们愿意为绿色服务支付更多费用。他们希望从中受益什么？显然，他们没有为这些更节能的服务器付出钱，所以纯粹是他们要绿化公司，这是一步吗？纯粹是公关吗？
JE：好吧，我认为这种动机有一点点。我的意思是，您提到他们没有赚钱。好吧，在某些方面是因为如果我们能够获得更高效的能力，有时确实会降低力量的量。现在，有时它不会抵消新技术的成本。但这总是有点受欢迎或错过。有时，这项技术会产生飞跃，以至于安装新的，更有效的服务器的成本可能要比支付电费账单支付的费用要少。这些是您必须逐案提出的问题。
But from a PR perspective, I think there are companies that want to demonstrate to their constituents, their customers, whomever, that they are making changes that would lead to a greener environment. They don't want to be the bad guys in the world of IT or whatever business they might be in.
他们实际上说，有些人坚信保护环境。那是我们实际问的问题之一是，为什么您选择去绿色？63％的人坚信保护环境。另一个很大的类别是他们的客户要求它，这很有意义。那是9％的人实际上做出了回应。另一个小组表示，今天或将来的监管原因将推动他们加以驱使。
因此，我认为人们开始考虑这一点有多种原因。他们中的一些人只是在思考如何解决这个问题并现在开始解决问题时积极主动？最终，我们都以某种方式为此付出代价，我认为有些早期采用者只是相信它，并认为这是正确的事情。
马修·惠德is the Managing Editor at绿色世界媒体。这次采访最初出现在格林比斯广播。以太网插头照片复印Mysterybee。
