Nashville Technology Council

Nashville Tech Story (11/9/09)

With over 1,000 attendees, this five day conference is the largest educational conference for data center management professionals worldwide.  Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Data Center World hits the Nashville community, March 7th – 11th, at Gaylord Opryland Resort, bringing together a wide spectrum of attendees including CIOs, MIS Directors, Network and Communications managers, Systems Software managers, Facility managers, Disaster Recovery specialists, Security managers, and Operations managers.  

Not only is there the opportunity to network with peers and potential clients from businesses across the nation, there are a number of chances to educate from these individuals as well.  Conference case studies will take you through a real-life data center crisis and teach you the ins and outs of working through the problem.  Choose from 7 different roundtable discussions, which will give you the chance to ask questions to a panel if industry experts.  In addition, you can sign up for a data center tour at Nashville’s very own Dolphini Networks or Vanderbilt University’s ITS Facility.  This event also has optional tutorials, facilities/greening tracks, product information sessions, and industry leading keynote addresses.  

To find out more information on this event, visit http://www.datacenterworld.com/index.html.

The Nashville Tech Story (9/10/2009)

For laptop or cell phone users, finding a power supply, to send that last email, complete that last call or finish that last couple of sentences in your presentation, can be very frustrating.  Try to imagine a world where your laptop or phone could function without the help of a battery or power cord.  The solution beginning to take shape is known as wireless electricity.  Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity is predicting that many phones and laptops could be losing their power cords as soon as 2010.

What is the reason behind this bold prediction?  His company, WiTricity, has developed a way to convert power into a magnetic field and deliver that power to a laptop or a phone through a certain frequency.  The technology has already been successful, as they are currently able to power a light bulb without the use of a power cord, but moving wireless technology towards laptops and phones still has some kinks that need to be worked out.  The challenge they face is increasing the distance the magnetic field can stretch.  Currently, the distance is limited to a few feet.

The move to wireless electricity could mean good things for the environment and substantial cost savings for the consumer.  Companies currently produce over 40 billion disposable batteries per year and the need to buy and recycle batteries would become a thing of the past.  In addition, the cost to purchase, manufacture and recycle power cords would also become non-existent.

Giler also predicts that wireless electricity will eventually carry over to the automotive market as well.  With so many consumers looking to save on gas and oil prices, the demand for electric cars continues to grow.  The idea of pulling into a gas station to “power up” through a wireless power mat could make the electric car even more attractive to consumers.

The Nashville Tech Story (8/31/2009)

As the economy slowly begins to stabilize and take an upward swing for a change, the world is looking to find new ways to save money.  As witnessed in our blog posting last week, the Pinnacle building in Nashville and the Willis Tower in Chicago, formerly known as the Sears Tower, have taken an aggressive approach using “green” technology to create long term savings.

While all of the improvements are being made, a lot of focus has been put on the use of large turbines to utilize wind power to save cost.  However, another type of power that has lost some attention is the use of solar energy.  At least, that used to be the case.

Industry experts are reporting that the reductions in solar power costs are expected to not only drop, but decrease significantly.  The downside of using solar power has always been the extreme expense of installing solar panels for collecting and transferring energy into the home or business.  Materials and installation expenses are one of the main reasons for the anticipated savings, with projections dipping nearly one-third less than current costs over the next several years. 

For residential buyers, a one-third reduction in cost would equal an average savings of $16,000; dropping the normal budget from nearly $24k to only $8k.  Help from state and federal governments has already been seen in the “cost cut” cause, as some residents, like those in California, are eligible for state and federal rebates.  The primary reason for the drop in price is the significant decrease in production costs for solar cells. 

Currently, the use of solar energy is most popular in places like Germany and Japan.  The hope is that the United States government will take the same approach as the Germans.  The German government placed a premium on “green electrons.”  They have developed a policy that pays solar energy producers a fixed amount of money per watt at a rate guaranteed for 20 years. 

This is great news for solar power investing homeowners, who have been given the ability to generate a healthy rate of return from their solar energy investment.

One of the main concerns on our home soil is that rolling blackouts continue to effect the Southwestern United States and a substantial investment in solar energy should alleviate the problem.

The Nashville Tech Story (8/27/2009)

Last month, the Willis Tower in Chicago, known as the center of renovation, caused shockwaves throughout the world with the announcement to “go green.”

Being the tallest building in the United States, the skyscraper formerly known as the Sears Tower, is a national icon. With these renovations they are working to show how a few changes can save natural resources.  Estimates put the project at approximately $350 million dollars and will include the following changes:

• Installation of solar panels to heat water used in the building.
• Efficiency improvements to the building exterior and windows, reducing energy use by 50%.
• Implementation of fuel cell technologies that will generate electricity, heating, and cooling.
• Elevators will be modernized to reduce energy consumption.
• Plumbing upgrades to restrooms and recovery systems for condensations, which could save almost 24 million gallons of water per year.
• A lighting control system will be added that recognizes the amount of sunlight in a room and dims the lighting accordingly.
• Wind turbines will be placed on the 90th floor to create an efficient energy source.  
• A “green” area will be developed to include plants that can survive high-altitudes and they will be used as a test to see if they can reduce storm water runoff and help with the urban heat island effect.

The upgrades will reduce energy use by 80%, which averages out to 68,000,000 kWh per year or the comparable of 50,000 barrels of crude oil. The updates are in progress and due for completion in four short years.

Other icons that have become more economically friendly include the Empire State Building, and coming soon, Nashville’s newest skyline addition, the Pinnacle at Symphony Place.  Due to be completed by November of this year, the Pinnacle will be the first downtown building to gain the LEED Silver Certification, which is a national standard measuring a building’s environmental friendliness. 

With the Pinnacle building making a strong statement locally with its environmentally conscious design and the statistical advantages shown by the current improvements being done on the Willis Tower, the hope is that others will follow in their footsteps.  The costs of creating of more environmentally friendly buildings can be relatively high in the short term, but the long term financial savings and the reduced strain on the environment are well worth the investment.

Nashville Technology Council member companies Pinnacle Financial and Bass, Berry and Sims PLC will be two of the most highly recognized companies to take up residence in one of Nashville’s first environmentally friendly masterpieces. 

For more information on the Pinnacle at Symphony Place, click here.