Not just global warming but also higher costs for corporations. A recent report by McKinsey & Co. suggests that data centers are grossly under used leading to tremendous wastage of energy on a global scale and causing major cost inefficiencies at the corporation level. With one of the companies which they studied, they observed that a third of their 500 servers had utilization rates below 3%; and about 2/3rds had utilization rate below 10%. Wow, what a waste of power. If not for global warming, then atleast to pare their costs, companies need to work out processes to better manage their data center capacities.

McKinsey’s research brings up interesting findings like, almost every company can double its data center energy efficiency through better, cohesive data center management, better planning, and increased accountability. And this will lead to more efficient energy usage, cutting down in terms of both capital investments for setting up or expanding a datacenter (including expensive real estate) and recurring costs, and, a good level of reduction in CO2 emissions! Plenty of incentives to do what is necessary. And indeed I can’t help saying that common sense isn’t so common after all. While it would seem to be common sense to expand capacity only when the current set up is fully utilized, it appears that companies end up spending billions more than necessary because of poor management.

Tags: Global Warming, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living

Sore throat( tonsilitis) is something I have been susceptible to since I was a child. So whether it is because the virii in the air, or the ice cold water I gulp down at the peak of the hot summers, or the chilled ice creams or spicy pickles I can’t resist, I often get up with a bad throat in the morning. And so I rely on my simple home remedies to cure my sore throat and bad cough that comes with it. They work quite nicely for me, though you do need to have some patience when you try home remedies and not expect them to work like a magic wand. Here’s what I do:

• Boil half a glass of water with tea leaves. Filter and add a tea spoon of salt to the water. Add some bottled water(at room temperature) to make the resultant comfortable enough to gargle with. Gargling with this works wonders for me. I do this 2-3 times a day depending on the severity of the sore throat.
• Grind one cinnamon stick, one green cardamom, 1/2 black cardamom, a few peppercorns, 1/2″ ginger and some sweet wood (liquorice or dalchini) – I use mortar and pestle for the job. Add this to a glass of water and heat in a pan. Let the water simmer for 5-10 minutes after the first boil. When the quantity of water has reduced and it has changed its color, strain the mixture.
  To the liquid, add a spoon of honey and drink it. You can vary the quanitities of ingredients used to suit your taste. I find it to be a great concoction – works great for my daughter who is quite susceptible to dry cough!
• If my throat is too bad to enjoy a good meal, I take Besan Seera. If you’ve never made it, here is my recipe…
  Add a serving spoon of ghee to a pan, add about the same amount of gram flour(besan) to it, stirring continously till the besan turns a nice golden brown. If you don’t stir, it may burn, so be careful. In another pan, simultaneously, heat some water and sugar ( add sugar to taste and water depending on consistency desired). Let the water boil till sugar has completely dissolved. Now, slowly add this hot sugar water to the pan with gram flour and ghee. Remember to add slowly and be careful when you add hot water to the hot ghee-besan mixture. It is good to reduce the flame of the pan with ghee-besan when you add water and keep stirring continously.
  Let the mixture simmer for a while till you get the consistency you want. Now remove from flame. If you like it really thick, put it in a bowl and eat with a spoon – really soothes the throat. I like to have it as a drink though and keep the mixture to a pouring consistency. Having this a couple of times a day soothes my throat. 
• At bedtime, I have a glass of hot milk boiled with Banapsha (herbs found commonly at Auryeda stores and even at local Grocer’s sometimes). Super for dry cough and cold too.
• If my throat is dry, I try and massage heated ghee on the neck.  

If my tonsilitis is at an early stage, I am mostly ok by the next day. If the throat is really bad, it takes about 3-4 days for me to get ok with this. Does anyone have any other remedies for common sore throat? Would be happy to hear…

Tags: ayurvedic cure, cough, home remedy, natural cure, Sore Throat, tonsilitis

Several researches in the present times have focused on Global Warming. A recent report of such a research published in Science suggests that at least half of world’s population could face serious food shortages.

• There is a greater than 90% probability that the lowest crop-growing-season temperatures in the tropics and sub-tropics will be higher than any recorded to date.
• India to be among the worst hit areas. Higher temperatures will mean some of our crops can-not be cultivated. Or will face reduced yields.
• Extreme warnings that have happened the world over in the recent past – like heat waves in Europe, hurricanes, droughts, floods could become the norm in the long-run.
• Cities or countries could get wiped out because of rising sea levels, which would lead to a further shortage of agricultural land.

Does paint a scary picture, this report! However, while I am sure the scientific community will be doing its bit to ensure crop yields are not affected this much by rising temperatures, let this be a reminder to all of us to do our bit to preserve our beautiful planet.

Tags: Global Warming, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living

Last December, EU member states approved in Brussels, a Commission regulation that calls of phasing out incandescent bulbs by 2012. Incandescent bulbs are energy guzzlers and are fast being replaced by CFLs(Compact Flourescent Bulbs) which use about 75% less energy.

Whats the benefit?

It is estimated that by forcing this shift from incandescent to energy saving bulbs, energy equivalent to the yearly output of 10 power stations of 500 MW will be saved. And talking in terms of carbon footprint, this would mean a reduction of 15 million tons of CO2 emissions per year. Plus, on an average, there are projected to be savings of Euro 25-50 per household per annum on electicity bills. Hurray! Hope the responsible authorities in other countries take notice (and inspiration) from this agreement and enforce similar regulations in their own countries.

So is the shift to CFL the no-problem solution?

Well, in our excitement, lets not forget that CFLs too are not trouble-free. They will one day compound the problem of disposal. CFLs contain mercury, albeit in very small amounts. However, assuming that every household, office, store moves to CFL, we’ll soon have mountain loads of used CFLs posing a humungous disposal problem.

CFLs can-not be simply put into trash bins. Most people are unaware of this and used CFLs end up making their way with general household trash and eventually into landfills. And given its extremely toxic nature, Mercury then contaminates land, water and air. Not enough to cause panic as of now, but authorities do need to plan out the disposal before it reaches panic causing levels. Currently, given the complete absence of any special disposal authorities, all CFL waste in our country ends up in landfills.

Again, one must be careful that CFLs do not break during transportation or handling. If broken, it mustn’t be handled with bare hands and caution must be taken while collecting and disposing the fragments.

Tags: ecofriendly lighting, incandescent bulb to cfl, reducing greenhouse emissions

So innovative, and pragmatic and thoughtful. What an idea, truly! Someone’s come up with an idea of a plantable eco-calendar. There are 12 sheets, one of each month, made of recycled paper which have seeds embedded in them. There are different seeds in different months. All you do when a month gets over is pull off its page and plant it! And the whole calendar comes in an attractive reusable tin box. Agreed at a price of Rs. 1250 (about usd 25), its a tad steep for us in India. But it is an idea totally worth the price. I wish they would go a step ahead next year and use eco-friendly inks too.

Tags: eco friendly calendar, plantable calendar

Mouth ulcers, also termed Stomatitis, are painful sores, inflammation in the mouth.

Common causes of mouth ulcers:

• Vitamin B12 deficiency
• Too much of intake of acidic food
• Constipation
• Too much heat in the body

Natural Cure: There are a number of simple home remedies for mouth ulcers.

• Apply a thin layer of Glycerine on the ulcers twice a day.
• Gargle with milk. 
• Take Vitamin B supplements. Vitamin B is naturally found in potatoes, bananas, milk, milk products and other animal products.
• Rub garlic on the ulcers.(Might hurt a bit)
• Gargle with salt water.(Will hurt)
• Drink a lot of water. 

If the problem persists, consult your doctor.

Tags: ayurvedic remedy, home remedies, natural cure, natural health, treat mouth ulcers

Am compelled to share another one of those gems of emails I am forwarded by friends and family. This one deals with the natural process of detoxification that our body undertakes everyday. Incredible! I have no idea about its origins or authenticity but some of things in this mail I could relate to well enough…like one does tend to cough more in the wee hours of the morning and the text below (presented as-is) tells us just why…

Evening at 9 – 11PM :

is the time for eliminating unnecessary/ toxic chemicals (detoxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes). This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music.

If during this time a housewife is still in an unrelaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on health.

Evening at 11pm – 1 am :

is the detoxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 1 – 3 am :

detoxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 3 – 5 am :

detoxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the detoxification process had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process.

Morning 5 – 7am :

detoxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel.

Morning 7 – 9 am :

absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time.

Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30 am , for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30 am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9 – 10 am rather than no meal at all.

Sleeping late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals. Aside from that, midnight to 4:00 am is the time when the bone marrow produces blood. Therefore, have a good sleep and don’t sleep late.

Credits: To the Anonymous composer of this mail.

Tags: natural cure, Natural detox, Natural healing, natural health

Well, now that we are officially heading towards times when cost-cutting and reduction of overheads will be the key to survival, I thought it was a good opportunity to initiate some steps in our small office as well. I checked up with a friend who owns a mid-sized firm and they are well on their way to making such changes a way of life at his workplace. The good thing is that each of these measures also has the potential to reduce greenhouse emissions. Heres a partial list of what they have started doing:

• Switching off computers when not in use. Atleast switching off monitors. Its a waste of energy if the system is on and not in use. And switching off computers when not in use, can pare energy usage by two-thirds.
  According to an estimate by the research firm Gartner, PCs account for some 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions coming from IT & Telcom.

• Reducing drastically on personal meetings with clients and vendors they have worked with in the past. And relying on phone and email for business communication instead.
• Installing power saving flat screen monitors in place of the old TFT monitors. And boy, do they look good!
• Switching off extra lights.
• Allowing natural light to come in through windows. Earlier, the blinds were always drawn.
• Turning off the coffee dispenser when not in use.
• Printing only when imperative.
• Making slip-pads out of one-side used paper.

What’s your office doing? Any other ideas?

Tags: Global Warming, green living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting

Reckless texting, net surfing and emailing is killing the planet! Surprised? Thats exactly what my reaction was when I heard it for the first time. This gentleman, I met last year, heads a Cooling solutions company that specifically looks after Data Center cooling. During the course of an informal conversation, I learnt facts that were appalling. Like everytime I forward a fun sms to a friend, somewhere at some data centers it is taking up energy enough to light up a football field!

Data Centers, typically the size of a football field, house servers which work behind the scenes everytime we send that sms, or email or access the internet. They are power hungry and generate immense heat, green house gases. According to a study by McKinsey, by 2020, the greenhouse gas emissions from data centers would have surpassed those by the airline industry. Data Centers will be major contributors to Global Warming!

And so understandably, there is immense interest in innovations for Green data centers. However, while that happens, lets do our bit to save the planet:

• Lets think twice before we forward that totally unnecessary sms to friends.
• Lets think twice before we while away hours on a social networking site. I am going to just hop over and see friends who live close by. Nothing like chatting with a friend in person, over a good cup of coffee
• Lets get a DVD to watch a movie and if its new, watch it at a movie hall with friends and family. In the long run, it will turn out to be cheaper than mitigating the effects from Global Warming that result from downloading or watching a movie online.
• Lets reduce the number of spam mails we send…yes, we all spam our friends’ mailboxes with fun email forwards.

The information technology has impacted our lives, and, more importantly, the way we communicate with each other, radically. But in our enthusiasm, lets not forget that until further advancements ensure Green Data Centers we’ll be better off if we keep our ‘data center footprint’ to what is necessary.

Its difficult – ask me! I make a living out of internet services – but possible.

Tags: Global Warming, green living, Sustainable Living

Do you find yourself being irresistibly drawn to a SALE? Do you find yourself picking up stuff you don’t really need now or will ever? All because it seems like a good deal? Do you often find your wardrobe full of stuff that you have never used, but bought at a good sale in the hope of finding a use for it someday? Don’t worry, you have plenty of company All of us are like that. Well, atleast have been like that at one point or another. And whether we like it or not, we end up adding to the global warming, by our impulsive shopping. I am filled with guilt when I imagine the power, fuel, resources used in manufacturing, transporting, warehousing and retailing that has gone into making that piece of scarf I bought at the last sale but have hardly worn. And I haven’t counted in the cost of packing it and the fuel I wasted driving to the store!

So this new year I have resolved to look the other way when I see a hoarding proclaiming sale. Unless I really need something, I won’t buy it. And I will de-clutter my home and give off the un-used stuff to those who can find better uses of these.

Tags: Global Warming, impulsive buying, Stop Wasting