Tag: Global warming

Read the Case Study information and Watch the 3 videos below. As you watch the
videos, consider the impact of “big data” on the environment and the responsibility of
large online businesses to be socially responsible in terms of controlling both pollution
and global warming. Using what you’ve learned, do the following:

1. Craft an argument identifying the 2 best techniques employed (by any of the 3
   companies) to enhance environmental responsibility. The 2 best techniques do not have
   to be from the same company.
2. Additionally, identify the technique from the case study narrative or videos that
   you believe to be the LEAST effective in having a positive impact on the environment
   and explain why.
3. Identify the company (of the 3 in this case study) that you believe to be most
   environmentally responsible and briefly explain why.
   Be sure to support your positions (in parts 1 & 2) with at least 2 external sources – these
   sources can be used to support either your “best techniques” argument or your “least
   effective” argument, but the textbook is not considered an external source.
   Videos:
   Facebook (Note that this video starts at a specific time where the data center is
   discussed. You’re welcome to watch the entire video if you’d like.):
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r97qdyQtIk&t=332sLinks to an external site.
   Google:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voOK-1DLr00Links to an external site.
   eBay:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcD47Y-TQQw&t=9sLinks to an external site.
   Case:
   Consumers of technology constantly demand devices that are smaller, more efficient,
   and more powerful than the ones they have. But most consumers don’t understand the
   massive back-end infrastructure that powers their “front end” devices, like mobile
   phones, smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.
   Take, for example, smartphones and tablet computers. iPhones, Androids, iPads, and
   other tablets represent a trend in all forms of mobile technology towards smaller devices
   that perform an increasingly large number of functions. But every time a smartphone or
   tablet user connects to the Internet, places a call, or sends an instant message, it uses
   power not only on their phone, but at every step of the infrastructure used to perform
   that function. More often than not, data centers are intimately involved in any Internetbased communication.
   In 2022, there were over 7 million data centers of all sizes worldwide. IDC estimates that
   the number of data centers will eventually decline due to the growth of very large cloud
   mega-data centers. Because most data centers use air conditioning of one sort or
   another to keep operating temperatures of microprocessor chips within a safe range,
   they are significant contributors to pollution and global warming. Many data centers do
   not practice effective energy management and waste billions of kilowatt hours annually.
   The growth of cloud computing, in particular streaming of music, television, and movies,
   is expected to accelerate data center power consumption in the next ten years even as
   the number of data centers declines.
   Data centers are growing not only in number, but also in sheer size. For instance,
   Facebook has a data center which covers approximately 1.1 million square feet and
   contains thousands of servers. The cost of running large data centers is a significant
   component of the overall IT budget of firms. There are two components to the energy
   cost of data centers: the cost of running the computers, and the cost of cooling them.
   For this reason, large-scale data center operators are seeking a variety of new ways to
   cool their servers.
   Of all the websites in the world, Google and YouTube may get the most hits per day, but
   no site can top Facebook as far as raw traffic. Facebook is by far the “stickiest” of the
   top sites, meaning its users spend more time per visit there, so it’s reasonable to argue
   that no site has a greater need for a robust infrastructure than the social networking
   giant. With a mind-boggling 2.9 billion monthly active users as of 2022, Facebook faces
   computing demands that no other company has ever faced. Not only is their site traffic
   unparalleled, but users are contributing 100s of petabytes of photos and videos on
   Facebook each day, and that data requires storage.
   To manage this demand, Facebook has 18 data centers around the world. They also
   lease server space across the United States and worldwide. Facebook has chosen
   locations that allow them to use environmental factors (such as cooling water from
   rivers, and cooler northern climates) to reduce the costs of cooling computers, and to
   minimize their carbon footprint. Each location consumes roughly 30 megawatts of
   electricity. To ensure 100 percent uptime of the flagship Facebook site, each site has
   backup power. For example, the Oregon location has 14 diesel generators capable of 3
   megawatts apiece in case of a power generation failure.
   A widely used method for assessing data center efficiency is Power Usage Effectiveness
   (PUE). PUE measures the ratio of total facility energy divided by IT equipment energy in
   watts. IT equipment refers to the computers and hard drives used in the facility. Total
   facility power would include lighting, and cooling the computer equipment, a major cost.
   PUE measures the energy used to power and cool a data center. In 2012, a typical data
   center consumed 2 watts of total facility power to support 1 watt of IT equipment.
   Today the number is much closer to 1.5 because of changes in IT equipment, and