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 * Set up OUCS gateway using mini-ITX

This wiki page is provided to help members of the low-carbon ICT benefits realisation project collaborate.

This page is being used to provide an up-to-date view of what is happening, planned and has been completed.

The project is scheduled to run between June-Dec 2009.

TableOfContents([2])

Work tasks

Support - Robert

To do list:

Campaign - Howard

To do list

  1. (HN) (6th July) Update paper to PRAC with new costing model for Jenifer W
  2. (HN) (7th July) Record interview about project for JISC Innovation conference
  3. (All) (15th July) Decide on logo image and tag-line for the campaign
  4. (All) (15th July) Decide on logo image and tag-line for the gateway, central services and website
  5. (Contract web developer) (1st Sep. latest) Create web doing our bIT 'badge'
  6. (HN, AP, KT, RZ) (15th July) ITSS conference
  7. (HN) 15th July) Update website with all ideas below
  8. (HN)(1st Sep) Give management message to JISC to disseminate
  9. (HN)(1st Sep) Educause article
  10. (HN) (1st Oct) Use P. James audit spreadsheet to record the total number of each device types owned by OUCS e.g. switches, servers, telephones etc

Notes

  • Possibly don't need to worry about student campaign: http://www.studentswitchoff.org/

  • Logo image: stream of images that relate to climate change, submitted to a pool and displayed large, medium and small
  • Build tool box including commercial solutions
  • Google analytics
  • Have a re-direct URL to disseminate more easily (or use tinyurl)
  • Make the image icon and tagline a badge. Adapt an imagine from another environmental campaign e.g. an endangered animal such as a frog, or a frog sitting on a keyboard, or a green computer mouse, or a mouse that is being painted green. The badge says we're doing our bIT, are you? - click takes people to a set of messages.
  • RSS feed from twitter or delicious - ask janet to help
  • Get endorsements from academics at Oxford
  • Get campaign endorsed by climate savers or WWF etc
  • Conditions of having badge on your website are: publish case study, have monitoring service, continuously strive to improve performance
  • Get list of other University greenIT initiatives
  • Join or create an email forum
  • Make notes that can be stuck to computers to show how old they are
  • Write summary of machine room report
  • Viral email: what do to if you are a user, manager, it professional
  • Posters to put on walls (please print me on green paper)
  • Presentations for other eco-IT people to use (re-usable object)
  • New name for gateway, central monitoring and central WOL software
  • Contact JISC Comm to get message out to senior members of HE and FE community
  • Name for software and service e.g.
    • WOL server = name sysdev would know they have to download
    • monitoring server = name sysdev would know they have to download
    • gateways = name both ITSS and users would learn e.g. install or "where is our...grrrbIT"
    • web pages = what's the web address for our grrbIT?
  • This is a quick win in a portfolio of projects e.g. efficiency, monitoring and reporting, and replacement activities (flights, paper use)
  • Use simile to plot events on a timeline

Liverpool - Kang

To do list:

  • (Kang and Howard) (10th July) Write technical design document (e.g. VM environment, Shibboleth for authentication and authorisation)

  • Discuss design document with Liverpool, UKERNA, PowerMan, 1e, verdiem and IBM

  • Agree hosting of monitoring service with OUCS e.g. sysdev or NSMS
  • (1st Sep 2009) Build central WOL service
  • Hand over service to national service provider e.g. Janet(UK)

Monitoring - Daniel

  • Enhancements to the manage interface
  • Configure manage interface at OeRC, OUCS and OUCE
  • New graph that shows % of total nodes found throughout the day and night
  • Get support from colleges and departments
  • Get agreement from OUCS to host the service
  • Change permissions structure so the graph can be public
  • Sort out distribution of all code and documentation as per suggestions from Dominic and David F

Model - Ken

The aim of this tasks is to use the modelling4all website to create library of micro-behaviours and a guide relating to IT and the environment. The purpose of the guide is to help people better understand the the impact IT has on the environment by constructing computer models.

  • Define scope
  • Create library of micro-behaviours
  • Design on-line guide for both online-only and f2f teaching/learning
  • Offer f2f course

Ideas

  • Set up bIT campaign prediction market: http://markets.nitle.org/

  • Write up groupware case study with Mark N
  • Make switch computer on button available to mobile phones
  • Make an e-learning thing that explains how people can calculate energy costs e.g. list some common faux pas and show how people can work things out for themselves
  • Write up procurement advice with Maria C
  • Copy security review process for green IT e.g. survey that asks for self assessment on key issues
  • Strategy paper for OUCS e.g. 10 things OUCS should do next in relation to green IT: set up carbon accounting (paper, travel, electricity, gas, data centre, offices), offer workshops?, report publicly in real time, computer modelling,
  • Compete with OUCE with monitoring service
  • Contact JISC about getting a message to VCs
  • Could do a security-like review of energy efficiency IT e.g. a checklist
  • Good tool for understanding personal contribution to global effort on climate change
  • National service:
    • hosted by UKERNA or IBM
    • hosted by Oxford with an annual subscription based on number of gateways, any profit for which goes into the sustainability fund

    • hosted by PowerMan, 1e or Verdiem

Proposal

Objectives

  • Advocate the policy: desktop computers should be in low-power states when not doing useful work e.g. switched off at the end of each working day.
  • Improve awareness across the FE and HE community about the environmental considerations associated with manufacture, packaging, transport, use, re-use, recycling and disposal of computing devices.
  • Bring together resources that help improve desktop computing purchasing and recycling/reuse practices

Rationale:

  • The UK FE and HE sector is currently wasting millions of pounds each year, by powering desktop computers that are not doing useful work: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/wol/index.xml.ID=body.1_div.2

  • There are a 'simple' measures that operations managers, IT managers and end-users can put in place to dramatically reduce this waste

  • 2009 is a very good year to implement energy saving measures considering the current economic situation, recent dramatic increases in electricity prices, and new legislation on greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. the "carbon reduction commitment": http://www.climatechangecorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5751)

  • Desktop computers underpin most learning, teaching and research activities so are perhaps a good focus for communicating simple messages: (a) we have to reduce financial costs and carbon emissions, (b) there are ways to do this without negatively impacting the core activities that constitute academic life

Project members:

Members of Liverpool and Oxford Universities are continuing to build expertise in the area of low-carbon desktop computing. This project would bring together staff from both institutions to work with SustainIT (Peter James et al) and the JISC Advisory Service.

Benefit to the programme:

The proposed project will help other organisations make use of the practical knowledge built up over the last 18 months at Liverpool and Oxford.

Through running the 'low-carbon desktop computing' campaign other projects in the programme will learn lessons about how to communicate their experiences to the wider FE and HE community.

The project team has also set itself the goal of winning a Green Gown Award in 2010: http://resources.glos.ac.uk/staff/news/gowns.cfm. This recognition would raise awareness of the Institutional Innovation Programme.

Tasks

  • Publish and promote the tools and techniques implemented at Oxford and Liverpool (http://www.liv.ac.uk/csd/greenit/powerdown/index.htm) for automatically switching desktop computers and monitors into low-power states. The project team will also promote commercial software and service providers who offer solutions in this area.

  • Publish and promote the open source wake-on-LAN (WOL) software developed at Oxford. This will include improving the technical documentation based on feedback from Liverpool, Oxford departments, UKERNA and Logica. The project team will also promote commercial software and service providers who offer solutions in this area
  • Publish and promote the open source monitoring software developed at Oxford. This will include improving the technical documentation based on feedback from Liverpool, Oxford departments, UKERNA and Logica. The project team will also promote commercial software and service providers.
  • Install and manage the Oxford WOL and monitoring software at Liverpool.Continue discussions with Janet(UK) to ascertain the feasibility of using the software to offer a 'free' (for FE and HE organisations) WOL service.
  • Continue discussions with Logica to ascertain the feasibility of using the software to offer a commercial WOL service. Oxford will support this investigation by answering technical queries about the WOL software.
  • Work with the JISC Advisory Service and SustainIT to publish documentation aimed at senior management teams and local 'environmental champions' in FE and HE. This documentation will present the business case for changing the way desktop computing infrastructures provisioned and maintained.
  • Work with professional networks such as UCISA and EAUC to communicate the low-carbon ICT messages to the main user groups: students, academics, IT managers, operations managers. This work task will consist mainly of presenting to senior managers at workshops and conferences.
  • Support the use of the "low-carbon computing full lifecycle model" to improve understanding of the environmental impacts associated with computing equipment: manufacture, packaging, transport, use, reuse, recycling and disposal. This work would improve the documentation for the current model but also help support people in constructing their own models.
  • Help improve Wikipedia pages that relate to low-carbon computing e.g. "Green Computing"

  • Contact EnergyStar with the aim of adding more information that describes how to reduce desktop power consumption in managed computing environments. Currently the advice is geared towards much more simple scenarios e.g. home use for an experienced user, where the built-in automatic power management features can be used 'safely'

  • The project team will also experiment with 'appropriating' a range of 'web 2.0' tools to get across the key messages behind low-carbon computing. This will include using Flickr, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and other tools that are currently popular
  • Work with procurement teams at Oxford and SustainIT to gather and publish information that helps purchase more sustainable desktop computing equipment.

  • Promote the project through commercial networks such as ClimateChangeCorp (http://www.climatechangecorp.com/), the ClimateGroup (http://www.theclimategroup.org/) and ClimateAction (http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/industry_focus/ict)

Deliverables:

  1. Web documents that bring together all the findings from Liverpool and Oxford regarding the technical and business considerations relating to desktop power management in managed desktop computing environments. This would include scripts for turning computers off when idle, implementation guide for installing and managing the WOL software developed at Oxford, case studies that describe how a variety of groups have implemented energy efficiency projects, including approaches that use commercial software and services.

  2. The information made available via the web will then be ‘packaged’ for other forums e.g. Wikipedia, EnergyStar, printed distribution (where necessary)

  3. Technical feasibility report regarding whether Janet(UK) can offer a free at point of use WOL service for UK FE and HE organisations, using the Oxford WOL open source software
  4. Technical feasibility report regarding whether Logica can use the WOL software developed at Oxford to offer a commercial service
  5. Materials for use by the team and ‘environmental champions’ for presenting to operations and IT managers
  6. Documentation and support to help other organisations use and construct low-carbon ICT computer models.
  7. Presence in public Web 2.0 tools to promote the low-carbon desktop computing messages
  8. Contribution to a wide range of online forums both commercial and educational e.g. using the EAUC mailing list