Sustainability

Overview

Energy management & sustainability of the University’s IT equipment is increasingly important as part of the universities ambitious carbon management plan. ICSD has invested in a number of energy saving initiatives, with further work ongoing.

Server Virtualization
Data centre air conditioning
Double-sided printing
Public Cluster power management
Thin client computing
“Desktop Anywhere”
Other sustainable ways of working

Server Virtualization

Server Virtualization is the process of consolidating services to a much smaller number of physical servers in a shared service, saving energy, physical hardware and space.

By using server virtualization, we estimate 5 year savings of £416,549 in energy costs, or around 591 tonnes of CO2 per year. There are additional savings in hardware costs, as well as major reductions in landfill and the embodied energy costs of hardware manufacture & shipping.

ICSD have virtualized over 50% of the universities IT central servers with an aim to virtualizing 85% or more by 2011.

Data centre air conditioning

Over the summer of 2009, Information Systems and Estate Development Service have collaboratively worked to install a standby cooling system in the main computer centre at Streatham campus.

The new cooling system backs up the existing air handling plant system providing additional resilience in the event of plant failure and maintenance. The new system will also provide savings in CO2 and revenue equivalent to approximately 70 tons and £10000 per annum. The system was successfully commissioned by EDS and went live this autumn.

We are now looking to install variable speed fan drives to the existing air handlers. Reducing the fan speed will further reduce power consumption.

Double-sided printing

Where possible, all Academic Services printers use duplex printing. By printing on both sides of paper, we hope to reduce the amount of paper used by up to 50%.

A full print & copy review is currently underway looking at more efficient printing across the university.

Public Cluster power management

A power saving policy is now enforced on all Public Cluster PC’s. Public Cluster usage is also monitored to help identify further power savings. Usage statistics are available here: http://vmlabstats.ex.ac.uk:8080/

Thin client computing

We have installed 49 thin client ‘OPAC’ terminals around the university. These thin clients use much less power than a standard PC and have a much longer working life before they need replacing.

We are currently investigating thin client computing & VDI desktops to provide multimedia rich terminals for areas such as public clusters & new buildings such as the Forum Project.

 “Desktop Anywhere”

Desktop Anywhere allows users to connect to a University standard desktop and use applications such as Microsoft Office, SITS & Raisers Edge. More information about Desktop Anywhere can be found on the project website: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/desktopanywhere/

Other sustainable ways of working

We also provide a number of other systems that also help support more sustainable ways of working.

Video Conferencing

Learning Spaces provide a number of video conferencing facilities which can help save time, money & reduce transport. For more information, please see: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/it/av/

Remote Learning

Online resources for distance learning are provided via WebCT. http://as.exeter.ac.uk/it/systems/webct/ 

Email Archiving

Rather than printing out emails to archive them, we provide electronic archiving for all staff & associate mail boxes. For more information, please see: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/it/email/archive/

VPN Network access

Our VPN service lets users work from home by allowing remote access into the university network. For more information, please see: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/it/network/vpn/

Monitoring & Contact details

The ICSD sustainability group meets once a month to review our current sustainability progress & monitoring KPI’s.

Data Centre Power monitoring	KPI spreadsheet

Information & Computing Systems welcomes new ideas for how to make our University IT services more sustainable. If you have a suggestion, please contact David Barker.