·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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How Green Is Your IT Vendor?
By Preston Gralla
http://www.greenercomputing.com/column/2008/06/04/how-green-your-it-vendor
When it comes to climate change, how do the big IT vendors, including IBM, HP, Dell, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others stack up? In this column, you’ll find out how the Climate Counts environmental group rates them based on dozens of criteria.

Kaseya Software Supports Power Management Initiatives
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/24979
Kaseya’s new User State Management module includes technology allowing remote control of power management settings.

Dell Releases Energy Efficient Desktop PC for Small Businesses
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/24919
The Vostro 410 desktop is designed to save users 47 percent on energy costs.

Survey Finds Data Centers Lagging in Green Actions
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/24856
Most data center professionals do not currently have energy efficiency plans in place, take efficiency into account when purchasing equipment and don’t measure power consumption per client.

Equinix Data Centers Get ‘Certified’
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/24724
Data center operator Equinix Inc. said all of its Silicon Valley centers have received certification under the Bay Area Green Business Program for measures undertaken in areas such as purchasing, recycling and energy conservation. The company also joined The Green Grid.

Crossbeam Systems Analyzes Data Center Security Savings
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/24575
A new white paper by the IT security services company looks at how virtualization and consolidation of security can bring down data center expenses.

National Semiconductor Develops IC Metrics
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/24540
National Semiconductor Corp. has created a set of metrics to help designers assemble systems that can do more with less power. The company created power-to-performance metrics to assess its more energy efficient products, the top tier of which are found in its PowerWise family.

Craft a Green IT Action Plan
http://www.greenercomputing.com/node/23894
This report, made available specially to GreenerComputing readers by InfoTech, explains how to create an overall green IT plan and set up different types of projects.

Read the editorial in the New York Times.

The Bush administration’s strategy for bending science to its political ends has resulted in seven lost years in this country’s fight against global warming.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

With no end in sight for elevated gas prices, G.M. announced drastic cuts in production of sport utility vehicles and pickups and stepped up plans for smaller cars.

The latest issue of Renewable Energy Weekly is now available. Highlights include:

• California School Sees Benefits of Solar Energy
• Geothermal Electricity Booming in Germany
• Sandia, Kirtland Air Force Base Eye 30-MW Wind Farm
• A Harmonized Feed-in System for the EU: Are We Ready to Seize the Opportunity?
• Direct Use of Geothermal Energy in the United States
• Food Price Increases: Is it Fair To Blame Biofuels?

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

Consumers and farmers will soon be on their own when it comes to finding out which pesticides are being sprayed on everything from corn to apples.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it plans to do away with publishing its national survey tracking pesticide use, despite opposition from prominent scientists, the nation’s largest farming organizations and environmental groups.

Read the full story in E The Environmental Magazine.

In the 2007 state legislative session, Oregon passed a renewable energy standard bill mandating that the state’s largest utilities get 25 percent of their energy from homegrown renewable sources by 2025. To meet the requirement, Oregon is investing in several green energy technologies, including eight wave energy projects along some 360 miles of coastline. This represents the largest, most concentrated and fast-tracked development of wave energy anywhere in North America.

Read the full story in E The Environmental Magazine.

With the average price of a gallon of gasoline topping $4 in some parts of the country, Americans have cut back on driving at an unprecedented rate. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week that figures from March 2008 show the largest decrease in driving ever recorded, with Americans driving 4.3 percent less — some 11 billion fewer road miles — than during March 2007. The federal government started keeping records in 1942 at the dawn of the highway age.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

The new ISO 15392:2008 standard establishes internationally recognized principles for sustainability in building construction. It thus provides a common basis for communication between stakeholders such as builders and architects, product manufacturers and designers, building owners, policy makers and regulators, housing authorities, and consumers.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Using data from instruments in a constellation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellites, scientists have discovered that they can see deep inside clouds. The satellites are taking first-of-a-kind measurements, shedding new light on the link between clouds, pollution, and rainfall.

Read the full story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Under pressure to help dispose some of the electronic waste it helped create, Best Buy Co. is testing a free program that will offer consumers a convenient way to ensure millions of obsolescent TVs, old computers and other unwanted gadgets don’t poison the nation’s dumps.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

NASA’s inspector general concluded that there has been distortion and suppression of climate science, mostly by the agency’s press office.