Move to a Mainframe, Earn Carbon Credits

BBCWatcher writes "As Slashdot reported previously, Congress is pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop energy efficiency measures for data centers, especially servers. But IBM is impatient: Computerworld notes IBM has signed up Neuwing Energy Ventures, a company trading in energy efficiency certificates, in a first for "green" computing. Now if your company consolidates, say, X86 servers onto an IBM mainframe on top of slashing about 85% off your electric bill each megawatt-hour saved earns one certificate. Then you can sell the certificates in emerging carbon trading markets. IBM's own consolidation project (collapsing 3,900 distributed servers onto 30 mainframes) will net certificates worth between $300K and $1M, depending on carbon's market price. Will ubiquitous carbon trading discourage energy-inefficient, distributed-style infrastructure in favor of highly virtualized and I/O-savvy environments, particularly mainframes?"

Re:Full Circle?

[feepness]

I do find it ironic that computing started out with large mainframes, and now it seems more and more likely that the majority of computing needs in the future will be met by terminals connected to mainframes via virtualization.

Keep in mind that your cellphone will has more power than most of the mainframes used to and the terminals will have far more power beyond that.

It's a change in terminology, not in behavior. It's not that terminals are connected to mainframes, it's that everyone has their own mainframe and the personal mainframes are connected to mega-super-duper mainframes.

Which, in twenty years, will fit on your watch.

Re:Oh yeah!

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

0.10 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
0.20 PROGRAM-ID. JL01A.
0.30 *
0.40 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
0.50 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
0.60 SPECIAL-NAMES.
0.70 TERMINAL IS TERM.
0.80 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
0.90 *
1.00 DATA DIVISION.
1.10 FILE SECTION.
1.20 *
1.30 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
1.40 77 WS-TEKST PIC A(13) VALUE "WELCOME BACK.".
1.50 *
1.60 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
1.70 JL01A.
1.80 *
1.90 DISPLAY "HELLO WORLD, " WS-TEKST UPON TERM.
2.00 *
2.10 FIN.
2.20 STOP RUN.

Oh yeah, I've played this game. Just buy a potion from Gandolf!

Re:Carbon credits = lame

[cheater512]

So...I should buy a lot of carbon credits and make a killing in 20 years time? :)

Re:Full Circle?

[asliarun]

and now it seems more and more likely that the majority of computing needs in the future will be met by terminals connected to mainframes via virtualization.

That is indeed Big Irony.

In the end

[ms1234]

In the end we'll end up with just 5 huge mainframes in the world as foretold by the IBM executive in the 50's? (can't remember where he was quoted).

Re:Mod Parent Up

[dammy]

Sitting in Southern Florida for a second hurricane season that hasn't been seen in 30 years, of inactivity, one has to wonder about the CO2 hype. I know, I'm a nasty old troll that will be mod way down because I dare to think differently then the Gorebull Warming crowd here on /. Be as that may for those reading the negative karma replies, Cap and Trade is a return of the central planning http://youtube.com/watch?v=k4oBjbe8BIA/ [youtube.com] days of an era we all would like never to come back. For those of you who really do think I'm a troll, here is an easy $125K right in your pocket, just take this test: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-25-2007/0004669458&EDATE=/ [prnewswire.com].

If we do look at Gorebull Warming, let us remember that since the dire predictions of massive warming if the CO2 ppm is doubled, yet where is this because we are what, ~75% to that ppm already? Shouldn't my house been blown away already from none stop hurricanes? Or could it be Solar Activity: http://sidc.oma.be/products/quieta/ [sidc.oma.be] has quiet down causing more clouds (cosmic rays increase production of clouds) which keeps a bit cooler.