Feature Story

By Leslie T. O'Neill

August 21, 2007 -- Last week, California Senator Barbara Boxer presented Sun Microsystems with her first corporate Conservation Champion award for its commitment to operating in an environmentally-conscious way and developing green IT products.

During her visit to Sun's Santa Clara, Calif. campus she also experienced first-hand some of Sun's eco innovations by touring Sun's energy efficient datacenter with CTO and Executive Vice President of Research and Development Greg Papadopoulos.

"The tour was mind boggling--I'm so impressed by these technologies. We need companies like Sun to make these environmental commitments--Sun is leading the way. And leading by example means that others will follow," said Senator Boxer.

She also applauded Sun's plans to openly share the design of the new datacenter, saying, "Getting the word out--that's thrilling to me."

Papadopoulos accepted the award on behalf of all Sun employees and led a brief question and answer session with the employees and members of the press who attended the award ceremony.

"This is just another example of the importance of innovation and investing in R&D," he said. "This is particularly rewarding--it's a chance to make products more competitive, make a better workplace, and do something we can feel good about for our kids. It's nice to get recognized for it."

Senator Boxer established her Conservation Champion award to recognize the people and the organizations that are working to make positive changes to conserve the environment. With a long history of protecting the environment, she is currently the first woman to chair the U.S. Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). Most recently, the Senator introduced the "Public Buildings Cost Reduction Act of 2007," which calls for the government to make its buildings more cost effective and energy efficient through cutting-edge technologies and practices--not unlike those Sun is pioneering in its Santa Clara facility.

Companies like Sun are opening the eyes of Boxer's friends and colleagues on Capitol Hill. "They're beginning to see they can approach the future with hope, not fear, which is how it should be," she said.

Boxer isn't the only one impressed with Sun's innovative datacenter designs. Silicon Valley Power (SVP), the City of Santa Clara's electric utility, is presenting Sun with almost $1 million in rebates and awards for the company's work at the Santa Clara facility. In fact, SVP is making Sun its first recipient of its Energy Innovation Program, which includes a $250,000 award.

Simple Steps to Greening Datacenters

Papadopolous and Dean Nelson, Sun's Director of Shared Lab Services, took the Senator and her entourage, including several of her staff members as well as reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle, the Mercury News, and NBC11, through three critical lab areas: the systems development room, which reflects a real-life customer site for product testing, a server room with next-generation datacenter technology, and a view of the mechanical services yard, which is the basis of the building's innovative water-based cooling system.

Boxer peppered the conversation with words like "amazing," "phenomenal," and "wonderful," as she learned more about the energy--and cost--savings that result from Sun's cutting-edge datacenter technologies.

By aggressively consolidating three labs from approximately 200,000 square feet to 72,000, Sun cut energy costs by over 60 percent--reducing its utility bill by over $860,000 in the first nine months--and cut CO2 emissions by 3,227 metric tons. Sun saved $3 million in construction costs by deploying high-density POD designs, which have capped "hot" aisles that capture heat from the servers and do not require the traditional raised-floor of old-school datacenters. These same PODs are so efficient, Sun could increase the datacenter temperature from 68 degrees to 72 degrees with no degradation to equipment reliability or performance--and each degree yields a four percent savings in cooling costs.

"If everyone did this [to conserve energy], it would go a long way to getting the problem solved," commented Senator Boxer.

A Commitment to Planet Earth

The Santa Clara labs is just the latest in a long stream of environmentally responsible actions by Sun and it's this commitment to eco responsibility that earned the company Senator Boxer's Conservation Champion award. From developing the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers, the most energy efficient servers in their class and recognized by Pacific Gas & Electric as part of their energy incentive rebate program, to reducing the company's greenhouse gas emissions to encouraging employees to work from home, Sun is leading IT's way to a future of sustainable computing as well as thriving businesses.

"Eco means economics and ecology. We're really convinced you can solve both," said Papadopolous.

As part of PG&E's Non-Residential Retrofit Program, customers who replace old, inefficient servers with eco-responsible Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers can now apply to receive a cash savings between $700 - $1,000 per server

Taking up Senator Boxer's Challenge

In the Senator's remarks at the award ceremony, she mentioned that with the rising costs of energy, powering datacenters will soon cost more than the hardware itself. But, she noted, "This doesn't have to be our future." She called for more efforts like Sun's to make organizations greener, starting with the government to mandate cuts in carbon and offer incentives for conservation.

"Every generation has its challenge. This is ours," said Senator Boxer. "We can conquer these challenges."

To find out more about Sun's commitment to eco-responsible computing, go to the Eco Resource Center.