Why Green Tech is Good

Two years ago, I spoke with a friend who was the IT head of a BPO with 600

seats and counting. They were facing a problem. With power cuts of up to four

hours, there was heavy backup in place: a giant UPS, battery banks, and

generators. But as they added seats, they found they were approaching the limits

of the backup capacity: they would have to upgrade everything-UPS, battery

banks, generators, if more than 100 seats were added.

A little green



Here's what I suggested-instead of investing more in backup power capacity,

they could spend half the money in buying new lower power PCs, along with LCDs

instead of the CRT displays they currently used. And that meant they could go up

to 200 new seats within the same backup capacity.

They followed the advice and lived happily ever after, at least for 11

months. By then, they had added 170 seats and found that now the airconditioning

was inadequate. The place was simply too warm with all the extra people.

Solution: more split ACs. But the generators would not take the extra load. And

in a three-hour cust, the place was too warm to run without ACs.

We spoke again, and he asked: how could they cut down power draw further? We

did some back-of-the-envelope calculations, and figured that if they replaced

about 50 of the existing 15” CRTs with LCDs, that would allow at least a two-tonne

split AC, and so on. It didn't sound like much. But many displays were anyway

due for upgrade, and a plan was put in place to gradually replace 200 CRTs with

LCDs. Three 2-tonne ACs were installed in 'hot spots.'

And last summer, he reported a miracle: the whole place had cooled down to 26

celsius on an average. That couldn't be just three ACs at work. What was going

on? Here's what we then realized. Those 200 LCDs not only saved power, but

generated less heat, almost 10 kilowatts less than the CRTs they replaced! And

that needed less cooling. So the three ACs were enough; the backup generators

and UPSs could handle the setup without a problem. Since then, the company has

replaced another 200 displays with LCDs, and plans to replace all of them by

March.

Yes, the LCDs cost money-but this CIO figured the savings in backup power,

both capex and op-ex (including gen-set diesel), and the convenience of not

having to disrupt and upgrade everything was worth it. Needless to say, as with

most BPOs and IT services companies, all future PC purchases are with LCDs.

SMBs need power too



Earlier this year, an old friend and classmate called me. She was setting up

a small company and wanted tips on the tech infrastructure. She needed seven

networked desktops but zero laptops-they did not need the mobility. We discussed

options: desktops, network, UPSs. We spoke about their needs. They'd rented two

rooms in a South Delhi house, and were likely to move out in a year if they

expanded.

But the clincher was that the area had up to five hours of power cuts daily.

That meant heavy UPSs, inverters, batteries. They couldn't put up a generator.

To cut a long story short, she went in for seven laptops, each priced Rs 9,000

on average higher than a comparable desktop. So why did she spend Rs 63,000

extra for mobility that she didn't need? Largely because of power. Not the cost

of the utility-supplied 'mains' power, but the cost of backup. The laptops would

run three to four hours on their own, and after that, well, a single 1 kVA UPS

was enough to power the entire network, a small server (with an LCD screen), and

router. The bonus: they simply put in a wireless router, instead of wiring.

Was it worth it? Well, as it happens, they had to move to Noida because of a

likely municipal-corporation crackdown on 'home offices.' The shift was done in

a day, with the entire hardware packed into a car, and set up again in the new

office. This time, the savings on backup power-including the 'convenience

savings'-made for the extra spend on the laptops.

The value of power



These two companies are opposites: a now-established, nearly 1,000-employee

midsize company, and a startup with less than ten people. But they both

discovered the value of going green. Not as a CSR initiative, or out of concern

for the environment-to put it bluntly, they probably couldn't care less. But

they discovered green economics: green business is good business.

That fact is actually easier to discover in much of India because of the cost

of backup power. Long backup is a necessity because of long power cuts of five

hours or more in a day. The more power-guzzling your equipment, the more you

have to spend on running and buying the equipment. And that highlights the value

of power. The value of power is not so easy to recognize when power is in

abundance, on tap, from the utility. Then it's just the cost of power: Rs 2 or 5

or whatever a unit costs you (and hey that ain't cheap in India).

But oh, when the power is a limited, finite store, such as in a UPS that's

running out. That's when you learn its value. The value of power becomes even

more obvious when it is even more limited. As it is with mobile electronics,

such as laptops. How often have you been on edge because your mobile phone

battery is down to its last notch, and you're hours away from a recharge? And

then that important call comes and you're really tense, glancing at the screen

every minute, waiting for the warning beeps?

Fortunately for us, mobile electronics are focused strongly on power

conservation, out of necessity. Mobile processors, displays, hard disks: they

all have to save power. Mobile phones are extraordinary examples of power

saving, and yet their batteries are unable to keep up with the demands of their

applications and hardware.

And the good thing is, a lot of the technology spills over onto the desktop

and the server. The low-power processor is the standard today. It isn't about

raw clock speed any more, it's all about performance per watt.

Seeing the light



And a footnote. The BPO that saved power with those LCDs? It's discovered

that it was wasting quite a bit of power elsewhere. First, it was in this

mostly-glass building, but with curtains drawn to block the glare... it was using

electric lights all over. With clever use of translucent shutters, it has

managed to use more natural light and cut down on power wastage. Better rubber

seals on the windows and doors have helped the aircon further. Its old backup

power-still not upgraded-now has headroom for more growth.

And the company's discovered religion: The value of power. And it's found:

The heck with the environment. Green business is good business.