maandag, mei 12, 2008

Being (greener) by following the moon?


Companies delivering services to large companies as well as specialised companies running their business on a 7 * 24 hours schedule, have used the 'follow the sun'-principle: they deliver services 24 hours a day, shifting service-delivery from location to location on the globe, following the sun rise.

This weekend i read follow-the-moon might be better: while most of the country is asleep and out door temperatures are relatively low, a data center might put its computers to good use for customers on the other side of the globe!

With ever increasing network-speeds, this is becoming possible. Energy costs might be lower in the night, cooling equipment might cost less energy... So following the moon might deliver some benefits!
(picture taken from nightskyinfo.com)

6 opmerkingen:

  1. Interesting post. Translated it and linked to you at http://habrahabr.ru/blogs/i_am_clever/44882/

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  2. Thanks for the reply and the link!

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  3. Steve Calder8:58 p.m.

    That phrase is a bit of a misnomer. The presence of the moon in the sky does not necessarily indicate nighttime. As a matter of fact, although I don't have any data to point to on this, I would guess that over a large time period, the moon is probably on average present in the daytime "sky" as much as it is in the nighttime "sky. Perhaps "flee the sun" would be a better phrasing?

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  4. @Steve: you're absolutely right in a moon technical sense :-). I did not coin the term. But i think it is the opposite of the popular "follow the sun". So more a matter of speech :-).

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  5. Wow, love the pic with the moon.:)

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  6. Steve Calder7:24 a.m.

    That phrase is a bit of a misnomer. The presence of the moon in the sky does not necessarily indicate nighttime. As a matter of fact, although I don't have any data to point to on this, I would guess that over a large time period, the moon is probably on average present in the daytime "sky" as much as it is in the nighttime "sky. Perhaps "flee the sun" would be a better phrasing?

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