The City of Huntington Beach Information Services divisions are dedicated to conserving energy and enhancing the sound energy choices of the City. These divisions are employing a variety of strategies to reduce energy consumption at the City’s data center and with technology equipment used throughout the City. Many of these strategies are outlined in the Green Grid Consortium: www.thegreengrid.org.
Data Center
In the Data Center on the first floor of City Hall, we are employing VMWare virtual machine architecture to consolidate our current 60 servers to 20 to 30 to run our current and forecast level of City applications.
We are also in the process of consolidating a number of data drives connected to the application servers (above) into a Storage Area Network and Network-Attached Storage architecture. This will reduce the number of physical devices consuming power and creating heat requiring additional cooling.
Desktop PC and Laptop Computers
Every year, we replace the oldest of the City’s installed PCs and laptop computers. The replacement PCs and laptops ordered from 2007-08 budget funding are the Energy Star 4.0 compliant OptiPlex 755 model from Dell Computer. These computers have received the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold rating.1 These PCs and laptops will also contain the Intel vPro chipset that will allow us to centrally power-off all networked PCs and laptops not in use during non-core work hours and weekends.
Network Switches and Routers
We use Cisco, Inc. switches and routers to direct and control traffic over the City’s data network. Cisco has developed a Design for Environment program that employs the following design and manufacturing elements:- Energy efficient network switch design criteria including a thermo-management circuit that operates the switch cooling sub-system more efficiently by activating controls only as needed, reducing power demand.
- Incorporating a modular approach to system design for upgradeability. This design allows for the easy upgrade of network interface and processor boards with continued use of the existing system chassis and back-planes. Chassis built and shipped 10 years ago are still in use today.
- Design for recyclability incorporating material diversity, ease of disassembly, and other end of life disposal concerns.