globalbriefs


Silver Lining Cleaning Up the Cloud


The New York Times has reported that “cloud” data cen- ters—which store YouTube videos, run Google searches and process eBay bids—use about 2 percent of all electric- ity in the nation. In some data centers, up to 90 percent of the energy is wasted.


Now, an industry consortium called the Uptime Institute is sponsoring a “serv- er roundup” and handing out rodeo belt buckles to the Internet company that can take the largest number of heat-producing, energy-hungry servers offline. Many centers expend as much or more energy in cooling their facilities as in computing and transmitting data. Sharing best practices has become common among data center pros. Face-


book won the Institute’s Audacious Idea award last year for its Open Compute Project, which enabled both its server and data center designs to be open-sourced for anyone to access and improve upon.


Source: Slate.com


Online Literacy Students Learning to Adopt Internet


Academics


The findings of a survey of teachers conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, in collaboration with the College Board and the National Writing Project, show that the Inter- net has opened up a vast world of information for today’s students, but digital literacy skills need improvement. Three-quarters of Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers


say that the Internet and digital search tools have had a “mostly positive” impact on their students’ research habits, but 87 percent say these technologies are creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans, and 64 percent say they do more to divert students’ attention than to help them academically. The good news is that 99 percent of teachers in the study agree with the notion


that, “The Internet enables students to access a wider range of resources than would otherwise be available,” and 65 percent agree that, “It makes today’s students more self-sufficient researchers.”


Read the full report at Tinyurl.com/TeenResearch.


Nordic Order Sweden Running Out of Garbage


Sweden’s successful recycling program ensures that only 4 percent of the country’s waste ends up in landfills, while the other 96 percent is reused. But this means incin- erators that burn waste to create heat and electricity are running short on fuel. As a solution, Sweden has recently begun to import about 800,000 tons of trash every


year from other European countries, most of it from neighboring Norway, which finds it a cost-effective option.


Find details at Tinyurl.com/SwedishWaste. 26 Collier/Lee Counties swfl.NaturalAwakeningsMag.com


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