The Idea Blog

David Kirkpatrick’s recent Fast Forward newsletter on Fortune.com refers to Sun’s commitment to thinking about energy and ecology. “…Computers are egregious energy hogs. Data centers alone, Sun calculates, account for 2-3 percent of total world energy use, with all IT making up more like 4-5 percent. At big companies, 20 percent of total energy costs can typically be accounted for by information technology.”

This also caught my eye: “The Holy Grail, which nobody does today, will be automatically turning computers on and off as they are needed.

“[Dave Douglas, Sun's vp for eco-responsibility] describes his fantasy: ‘Why can’t we have 15 huge data centers around the world covered in solar panels and when the sun’s out go completely off the grid? We could virtualize our computing tasks and move them in real time around the world to wherever energy is cheapest.’

“It’s far from possible now, but the day may come when Sun helps you follow the sun.”