by David J. Brown, Charles Reams
What will it take to make server-side computing more energy efficient?
By now, most everyone is aware of the energy problem at its highest level: our primary sources of energy are running out, while the demand for energy in both commercial and domestic environments is increasing, and the side effects of energy use have important global environmental considerations. The emission of greenhouse gases such as CO2, now seen by most climatologists to be linked to global warming, is only one issue.

The world’s preeminent scientists and thought leaders are perhaps most focused on a strategic solution: the need to develop new sources of clean and renewable energy if we are ultimately to overcome the energy problem. Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society, emphasized its urgency in an annual address delivered in 2008.

The practical expectation of new sources of sustainable energy is at least three decades away, however. Steve Chu, who was the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory prior to his recent appointment as U.S. Secretary of Energy, placed this in context:

“A dual strategy is needed to solve the energy problem: (1) maximize energy efficiency and decrease energy use; (2) develop new sources of clean energy. No. 1 will remain the lowest-hanging fruit for the next few decades.”

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