Ways Cities Can Be Greener

Some cities do a great job of being green.  They have mass transit systems, they have great recycling programs (and people actually participate in them!), and they do everything they can to encourage greener living.  However, some cities could use a bit of boost in the green department.  Here are a few things they could do (and you could suggest) to be greener.

Encourage walking.  Some cities have very nice plaza areas where people can gather to walk to stores, eat at little outdoor cafes, and more.  But some cities just don’t have these locations.  Instead, people have to drive everywhere.  Likewise, many cities don’t feature walking trails or biking trails throughout the city, so fewer people get out and exercise.

Add mass transit systems.  With the cost of fuel continuing to change often, many people have looked to public transportation to save some money.  Light rails, trolleys, and buses have been used more and more, but some cities lack a good public transportation system.  While adding a rail system can be expensive and difficult, adding more bus routes and trackless trolleys is a great way for the city to both make a little extra revenue and cut down on carbon emissions.  Of course, these buses and trolleys need to be green, but hybrid buses do exist.

Encourage farmer’s markets.  One great example of this are the covered indoor markets found in London.  One of the great things about these large markets is that they’re permanent and they are climate controlled, which, while not always green, encourages people to visit them.  In some cities, farmers have to set up their own stalls or even sell their products from the back of their vehicles.  While that’s OK, it doesn’t create the feeling of permanence, nor does it give any indication that the city promotes green living.

IBM Building New Eco-friendly Data Center

Many computer companies are doing what they can to both cut costs and go green.  For some, this means changing the materials they use in their computers.  For others, it means figuring out ways to use less power.  That’s what IBM and Syracuse University are doing.  The two have joined forces to build IBM a new data center that will use 50% less power than similar data centers around the world.

The company and Syracuse have put a lot of research and effort into designing a building that will need only half the energy of current data centers.  This includes looking at everything from insulation techniques to energy generation methods to much more.  They plan to send six months on building this 6,000-square foot facility at a cost of $12.4 million US dollars.  While that may sound like a lot of money to spend on a building, no matter how energy-efficient it is, there’s no question that this new data center will completely change the concept of energy efficiency in the computer industry.

The IBM/Syracuse building will have a number of new systems to help make it so power efficient.  It will actually have a computer infrastructure that will shift applications and workloads to servers that are not being utilized to increase the efficiency of both computing and power.  The cooling system, something that uses a lot of power, will now only target those servers that need to be cooled down.  Sensors built into every room will detect when people are using various parts of the facility and, when they aren’t, will turn off the lights and other items.

These new approaches to improving energy efficiency are quite ambitious, and many of the things IBM and Syracuse have planned have never been done before.  If the new building truly does use 50% less power, it will be a major accomplishment.