here comes the Sun

Analyst In-Stat says smartphone sales will reach nearly 850 million by 2015, but where will all these devices get their power from, as our traditional power sources run dry? This booming business in devices may be transforming the mobile and personal computing space, but also generates new problems. The servers which drive the information society consume 1.5% of all global electricity production - up from 0.5% in just five years. How will we power up tomorrow's devices and the services they use?

Analyst In-Stat says smartphone sales will reach nearly 850 million by 2015, but where will all these devices get their power from, as our traditional power sources run dry? This booming business in devices may be transforming the mobile and personal computing space, but also generates new problems. The servers which drive the information society consume 1.5% of all global electricity production - up from 0.5% in just five years. How will we power up tomorrow's devices and the services they use?

Intel unveiled its experimental low-power processor that's the size of a postage stamp and can run on solar power at its Intel Developer Forum in early September. This can run light tasks using solar power by intelligently reducing its energy consumption to under 10 Watts. In the on-stage demo of this future-focused technology, Intel showed a PC running this new chip operating while drawing power from a tiny solar panel and a single light bulb.

Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel said: "This was obviously just a technology demo since we have no plans to productize solar powered computing...yet, but it's a clear statement of the direction and capability of what we can do with our transistor technology."

low-power chips needed
With global energy costs rising exponentially, finite energy resources and spiraling demand, what Intel is learning will be integrated into future systems - certainly in the booming space for mobile devices, which demand highly-capable, low-power chips.

Recent UK government statistics show that in 2008 ICT appliances in UK homes represented 31% of total electricity consumption from household domestic appliances, compared to just 18% in 1988.
This growing demand in combination with growing public awareness of the danger of global warming and determinations at both a government and NGO level to reduce the energy we use while society itself goes through a disruptive decade of technological, financial and political change seems set to drive innovation in green computing.

Part of this agenda for change is to help developing economies build a tech infrastructure that is "greener" than that which initially drove developed economies. For example, the Green Power for Mobile scheme aims to use solar, wind or biofuels to power 118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012. This should help extend Internet access and computing resources to the world's poorest, but to do so without inflating electricity demand is even better.

Intel's solution hints at other opportunities: one columnist focused on the idea of a solar-powered MacBook Air, and certainly Intel's scheme is aimed at the Ultramobile computing space the company is focused on right now. The idea is tempting: A notebook computer which requires no electricity and is capable of running for up to 24-hours on a single charge. This isn't just a convenience for most of us, but a key that opens the door to a future in which anyone, anywhere will be able to use a computer without also requiring an electricity supply.

reduce energy consumption by 80%
Intel's research aims to reduce chip energy consumption by 80%, while enabling longer standby modes for the kind of always-on experience you can get from an iPad. In the next decade, Intel wants to increase energy efficiency in high-performance computing by a factor of 300. Intel's target? A server which needs 200 watts of power to deliver 100 gigaflops of performance should only need 2 watts of power for the same performance by 2021.

It's clear that solar power will help deploy IT in the developing world. In October last year, Computer Aid launched its first solar powered Internet cafe in Kenya, where up to 11 users can access the Internet using a single solar-powered Pentium PC. Since then the charity has developed the ZubaBox, a converted shipping container fitted with solar panels and computers which has been designed as a first response solution with which to deploy Internet access in disaster relief areas and developing communities.

Intel's initiative plus the drive to deploy technology across developing countries hints that the future of computing in the 21st Century will, at least in part, be powered by the Sun.
Read more about how Orange Business Services is helping its customers transition into sustainable businesses here: http://www.orange-business.com/en/mnc2/themes/green-it/index.html