Green IT Blog!!!

Since the 1990s there has been a greater move toward eco-consciousness across the world thanks to pacts like the Kyoto Protocol, while in India multiple agencies and ministries driving green initiatives are making things slow and complex

It is often said that there are two Indias that live side-by-side; the antiquated and the avant-garde. On one hand there is an India that is ancient and archaic, with millions of individuals flocking to the Ganges every 12 years to wash their mortal sins. And on the other there is the modern India that is sending Chandrayan to the moon, building nuclear reactors, winning Olympic medals or even corporate scandals. The disparity between the two is ironic if not depressing.

And this stark incongruity between the India of Lord Rama and that of Ramalinga Raju is most evident in the law and order structure of the nation, while the nation grapples with the troubles of the 21st century, most of the laws that are in use were framed in 20th century, leading to a stark gap between what needs to be achieved and what is really done. The green movement in India to a great extent suffers from this laxity.

Climate Change Challenge
There is little doubt now that mankind faces an uphill battle in terms of the climatic disaster that awaits us. With every passing day, we come closer and closer to the cataclysmic point of disaster, wherein things would change irreparably for the worse. While much of this damage has been wrought by the greed and gluttony of the advanced nations, the developing world is also no less behind. India for instance is the fourth largest polluter in the world in terms of CO2 emissions, yet the Indian government, quite like the Emperor Nero from ancient Rome is doing precious little.

Since the 1990s there has been a greater move toward eco-consciousness across the world thanks to pacts like the Kyoto Protocol, which have enforced certain binding conditions on the advanced countries to curtail CO2 emissions in a phased manner. In fact the European Union has been quite sensitive about the whole issue of climate change and has over the last few years passed strict legislations against the use of toxic materials in the manufacturing process. Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive and Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive are two legislations that have set the ball rolling on that front.
Read more…

Presenting the results of the first ever survey of companies across India to map the levels of green awareness and implementation.

‘Greener business, healthier bottom line’ was the theme for the first ever Green IT event organized by Dataquest towards the end of 2007. The event was hosted in 3 cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore keeping in mind the rising interest levels on green and to promote a discussion on it. During the a panel discussion on ‘Energy Management Issue’ in one of the cities, there was much debate and discussion on green not from the esteemed panellists sitting on board but from the delegates that had turned up in large numbers. One of the biggest grouse of the innumerable CIOs present on that occasion was that there was not much literature or discussion on green from a holistic purpose. “We do get to read on green, but it is usually comes with a lot of hard sell,” was a common refrain.

Keeping in mind the wishes of the enterprise community and the need of the hour, Dataquest decided to come out with a regular feature on green within the magazine itself, that was to be published every alternative issue. Though, green features were regularly carried within the magazine like most others, but it was for the first time anyone had specifically set aside whole section for green coverage.

In the year gone by, month after month, Dataquest touched upon numerous issues that required immediate or long-term attention, be it green electronics, green buildings, carbon emissions, green datacenter, green software, renewable energy, etc. For the first time, there was substantial green coverage from a domestic perspective, and not just reprinting of reports and features from foreign mags. Dataquest had indeed taken the lead in terms of engaging the Indian enterprise community on the green agenda.
Thus, it was only fitting that the first ever comprehensive survey on green readiness was conducted under the aegis of Dataquest itself. After almost a year of constant coverage, numerous outreach events, time was ripe to know the level of ‘greenliness’ among Indian enterprises. Over a period of few months, a survey was conducted by a professional agency, spanning across cities. The mandate given out was simple and terse: discovering the ground scenario on green.

The DQ Green Survey, for the first time maps the level of awareness levels of Indian enterprises on Green IT, their perceptions, the challenges faced and the stage of implantation. This survey gives a complete snapshot of how green India Inc. is or is turning into.

India Inc. wakes to Green IT
Everything starts with hype, is what any analyst will tell you. For a technology or trend to take shape, the first stage is to find takers for it. It can only happen when there is mass interest for it. Green IT is a buzzword in the West and has already progressed beyond the ‘hype’ stage, as is evident from the kind of work and research that is happening on that front. Thus, to know whether Green IT will find its ground in India, one of the most basic aspects and also the starting point of the survey was to check the awareness levels of it in Indian enterprises. Over the past few quarters there have been a slew of reports that have been released and advertising blitzkrieg done by vendors on the issue of Green IT, hence it was important to check the awareness levels.

The result was fairly encouraging as close to 69% of the respondents admitted that they were aware of the Green IT.  This is a heartening find, as it proves that there is a high amount of interest on the issue. Not surprisingly the awareness levels were higher in the MNCs with some 77% admitting to know about the issue. But it is interesting to note the high awareness levels among the PSUs, some 76% of them said that they were of Green IT.  Another interesting thing to note is that the awareness levels was the highest among the companies with annual revenues of Rs. 50-100 crore, around 79%. Big companies, with annual revenues of over Rs. 500 crore, came next.

Thus the results are conclusive, the hype and hoopla around Green IT seems to be working, as the awareness levels are fairly high. But that leads us to the next question, so what if the awareness levels are high are there any takers for the same? Indeed mere awareness is no surety of whether the CIO will be implementing Green IT within his company.

Hence, as a corollary, we tested the perception of respondents towards Green IT; did they think it was hype, reality, necessity, or none of that? The results again were fairly substantial, as a significant amount of people (around 65%) felt that Green IT was a reality and a necessity. Again and rather surprisingly, it was the PSUs that showed the most maturity on the issue, with some 52% of them stating that Green IT was a necessity. Of all the respondents, some 8% debunked Green IT as hype, and some 27% still seem to be undecided on it.

That means that even though the awareness levels are fairly high, there is still a lot of ambiguity around the issue of Green IT. This is chasm between awareness and perception is the next big challenge in front of India Inc., vendors, media, analysts, will now need to talk of specific benefits rather than merely talking of mundane.  Read more…

Yes, Yes, indeed, bad times are upon and yes, I am being too presumptuous, almost stupid to think that someone is really going to spend their depreciating INR on me. Yet, in hope we live, and so do I.

So in case you are feeling generous in this season, these are a few gifts on my wish-list:

Rollable Solar Charger:
This waterproof solar charger can provide electricity for everything from laptops to car batteries. The cadmium-free solar cells are mounted on a thin film, allowing you to roll it up for easy packing.

Green Desktop:
This green PC runs on an energy-efficient power supply and has an outer shell made of responsibly harvested bamboo. It uses a fraction of the power of a typical tower, but has most of the regular features of a full-size model.

Kill-a-watt Charger:
With displays of voltage, kilowatt-hours, and leakage current, this power strip helps track inefficient appliances. Just knowing how much energy a product uses allows you to cut down on consumption. Read more…

Tapta camee karabhaya haraye Visvakar mane |
Namastamo bhinighnaya rucaye lokasakshine ||

Salutations to you, possessor of the lustre of refined gold, destroyer of ignorance, the architect of the universe. Salutations to the destroyer of darkness, Splendor incarnate; the witness of the world.

A shloka from Aditya Stotram

Among the pantheon of Hindu gods – close to 30 million, according to claims – Surya has an unique and exalted position. The sun god is worshipped as one, ‘who knoweth all that lives’, and regarded as sustainer of life on our planet. In the Rig Veda there are quite a few hymns that elucidate the role played by Surya and implore him to continue his benign mercy. According to scriptures, Aditya Stotram (from which the above shloka has been quoted) was a prayer performed by Lord Rama, asking for power and energy to annihilate the evil hordes of Ravana and slay the demon king himself.

Not only for element worshipping Hindus; the sun was an important deity for the ancient Egyptians who worshipped him as Ra. It is said that the Greek city states were also in
some ways tapping the solar energy for their daily use and even for warfare. Remember the story on how Archimedes was able to burn ships with a very powerful convex lens that magnified the solar ray. Even during the medieval times, according to some researchers, as far back as 1447, Leonardo Da Vinci had predicted and prescribed the use of solar energy on a major scale for the sake of industrialization.

Thus, since time immemorial we have been looking up at the sun to give us power and energy to sustain our selves. The fact is true even today, in the age of supersonic jets and inter-planetary probes, we still look at sun to power our home appliances, office equipments, cars and what not. Much like Lord Rama did thousands of years ago, we are still looking at the sun, albeit instead of bowing our heads and cupping our hands, we have photovoltaic solar cells that do the same for us. The difference being now the worship is termed as clean energy or solar energy. And there are very pertinent reasons – more so for a developing nation like India – why quite like the ancients before us, we are again looking at the sun to save us.

Need for Solar
The past few years have been quite astonishing in terms of economic growth in India. With the economy growing at close to 9% y-o-y, everywhere around us are visible and tell-tale signs of this growth. But even as the those big expressways and massive glass buildings come up, there are serious questions that are being raised and need to be addressed; do we have the means to power this growth? Read more…

Sun Microsystems have built programs in which their servers and software programs are configured to provide more eco-friendly and more efficient platforms.

No, we are not bringing a new discovery on the rays of the ubiquitous sunshine but solely on environment-friendly decisions taken by Sun Microsystems that have reaped rich dividends. Much before the color green became the flavor of IT communities across the world, corporations such as Sun Microsystems had initiated systems and processes that only led others to follow, giving a first-mover advantage for this over a two-decade-old entity that prides in its prowess of operating in the open source arena.

Rich Green, EVP, Sun Microsystems, says: Our eco-green efficiency covers a wide variety of thingsour Niagara 2 microprocessor with its throughput per watt is just unparallel in the market. Even if you look at Solaris and Dtrace, its all about getting more efficiency in the existing platforms.

Green also went on to mention the intricacies of working on a Dtrace platform where one achieves a 30% performance escalation in flat two and half hours of working in Dtrace, which reduces power consumption by at least 30%. We have built programs in which our servers and software are configured to provide more eco-friendly and more efficient platforms, points out Green.

Giving credit to the culture at Sun, Green says: One reason we started early is that a lot of work which we did all these years has been about efficiency, whether its past performance or voltage or software performance, and this is just another step. Application of efficiency and good design has become the epicenter of this enterprise.

With developers worried most about the time-to-market in every application they develop, the concern for most corporations is the path to be taken from having a concept to developing a market around, building an ecosystem over it, and having a user base that would give a competitive advantage.

Typically, the company that starts first gets the advantage. Because of this rapid time to market, developers tend not to look far ahead and so they are not thinking about what happens if I am actually successful in getting this application to the market and I track a whole bunch of usersthe technology that I am employing currently helps me to address challenges later, whether its performance or scalability, and from a Solaris perspective, states Ian Murdock, VP, Developer and Community Marketing, Sun Microsystems.

Murdock adds that promoting environment-centric initiatives or technologies is the same as taking the right technological decisions upfront which allow the company to augment in scale throughout.

With green technologies becoming increasingly important, Gartner Research stated that by the end of 2008, companies across the world would make public statements in their financial results on their carbon emission norms, and Sun Microsystems continues to lead the way on this front.

(Prasad Ramasubramanian. Published in Dataquest)

Over the past year or two, green data centers have turned into a big concern for Indian enterprises. Here is examining a few aspects of going green.

As soon as it was out that Dataquest would be coming up with a story on green data centers, people started calling, emailing, and cajoling us to include them or their clients in the feature. Few stories in the recent past have created such an interest, especially before it was even penned.

This interest and attention got us thinking and we started working on the story with greater zeal and vigor. While much of the calls till now were from the vendor side, we decided to speak to a few CIOs on the subject as well. Not surprisingly, even CIOs seemed to be quite interested in going green. For the CIO community, the main issue was not the “green” as we often talk about (ecological, environment, etc) but the “green” as we love and cherish (namely the rupee and dollar). The challenges faced by the CIOs are two-fold-on one hand cut costs and on the other do more. They are virtually walking the tightrope. It is in this scenario that green becomes important and green data centers vital.

Power’full’ Argument
End of December 2007, Dataquest had kicked off the coverage for green IT with a three-city event hosted in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi. At all the three events, the participating CIOs from some of the most well known enterprises ranging from one of the biggest banks in India to a small call center discussed and debated on one thing-power, or, more precisely, electricity. Considering the erratic power supply in the country, where even metros are not spared from load-shedding, energy consumption is a big issue.

To display the pattern of energy usage, Sandeep Nair, MD, Emerson Network Power India, shares a graph that displays the levels of energy consumed by the computing and the overheads in a typical data center.

According to Nair, the energy usage seems to be evenly split between computing (52%) and overheads (48%). “The growth in installation of blade servers and computing requirement is pushing the heal loads per rack to extreme density racks with heat loads to more than 15 kW/hrs, which is driving cooling challenges of data centers,” he says.

Ganesh Mahabala, regional director, India and Saarc, VMware, also touches upon cooling costs. “In a tropical country like India, companies mainly rely on air conditioning to keep servers at the right temperature. The more powerful the machine, the more cool air needed to keep it from overheating. Energy costs, now about 10% of the average IT budget, could rise to 50% in a matter of years unless companies take radical measures, and CIOs are well aware of this,” he says.

And not to forget, there is still a very valid environmental cost to it all, as Rajesh Saha, country manager, Enterprise Systems, Systems and Technology Group, IBM India/South Asia, reminds us. “With global temperatures on the rise, many environmentalists are calling for significant reduction in the generation of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. Commercial electricity consumption is a major factor in rising atmospheric CO2 levels, and data centres are a significant, and growing, part of the problem. Worldwide, data centers are reported to consume 40 tW/hrs of electricity each year, producing an estimated 17.2 bn tonnes of CO2 emissions. This is a concern for all and needs to be addresses by all parties involved,” he says.

Need to Go Virtual
|Once the CIO has analyzed the energy consumption pattern and chalked out a strategy, there are quite a few ways to address the issue. Of the many ways, virtualization is gaining immense ground over the past few years. In a typical scenario, enterprises will have a host of servers, often one for every enterprise-wide application, or racks and racks of storage containing archaic information. Virtualization of software or server can be of immense help as companies can then consolidate their infrastructure.

In fact, a virtualization device or a software application can track the server space and remap applications to different physical locations as necessary. With virtualization, information can be made location-independent and can be redirected across multiple I/O devices and platforms. Little wonder then almost everyone from Cisco, IBM, down to Emerson, HDS, emphazised the need to go virtual.

According to IDC estimates, un-utilized server capacity equates to approximately $140 bn, or more than 20 mn servers. Also, the fact that at 4 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted annually per server, these un-utilized servers produce a total of more than 80 mn tonner of CO2 per year. This is more than that is emitted from Thailand and more than half of all countries in South America. “Besides the effect on the company’s bottom line, virtualization is positively impacting the environment. Gartner estimates that 1.2 mn workloads run in VMware virtual machines, which represents an aggregate power savings of about 8.5 bn kWh-more electricity than is consumed annually in some small countries globally for heating, ventilation and cooling,” says Mahabala.

Nonetheless, Sumit Mukhija, national sales manager, Data Center, Cisco India and Saarc, warns against the virtualization fad and talks of holistic virtualization that encompasses all the different aspects rather than just piece meal. “A key aspect of data center greening is virtualization. Where organizations rolled out server virtualization they became memory bound on their servers, then I/O bound, and then CPU bound. But without virtualising their network and without virtualising their storage, the full benefits of overall efficient resource utilization cannot be realized. And therein lies the key to data center transformation,” he says.

Storing Better
Another big area that requires CIOs attention is storage. There has been a massive spike over the years in the amount of data that flows through an enterprise these days; with virtually everything going digital, the growth has been phenomenal. Also, due to compliance issues, companies are required to store archaic and old data for longer periods of time. It is a daunting task. Initially, companies went in for either bigger or better storage racks. Result, rooms’ choc-o-block with redundant storage. Not only does it consume humongous amount of energy in terms of usage and cooling, but is also a headache in terms of maintenance.

“Over the years, storage of data has become highly inefficient, with low utilization, over allocation, stranded storage, too many redundant copies, low access speeds, inefficient search, and disruptive movement and migration. The actual utilization of storage is less than 30%, and 70% of data over 60-days-old is rarely referenced again. Continuing to buy more of the same old storage architectures will no longer be an option. Buying faster storage processors with larger capacity disks on the same 20-year-old architectures will not solve the problem of inefficient use of storage. New storage architectures will be required to meet this demand for greater efficiency,” states Vivekanand Venugopal, director, Products and Solutions, Apac, Hitachi Data Systems.

And it is not only the storage rack that sucks power but a number of other peripheral devices as well, like Shyam Gopal, regional manager, India and South East Asia, Brocade, points out. “Many devices have a ‘fair’ level of energy drain in the networked storage space. The SAN Director, which is at the core of the network, is traditionally a significant consumer of power and heat emission. Historically, many organizations have installed Directors in specialized racks that take up more than one floor tile just to allow proper ventilation via the usage of heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Ironically, these HVAC systems at times may consume even more power than the equipment they are trying to cool,” he states.

Analysis of a typical 5,000-sq ft data center shows that demand-side computing equipment account for 52% of energy usage and suppluy-side system account for 48%

Meanwhile, Jim Simon, director, Marketing, Apac, Quantum, talks about the need for something as simple and easy as data de-duplication using efficient storage mediums like tape libraries. “Data de-duplication technology reduces space, power, and cooling requirements enough to make it practical to use disk as a retention medium for weeks or months without breaking the operational budget. However, as data needs to be retained for multiple quarters and years, and the demand for fast recovery diminishes, the most effective retention medium for most users is tape. Tape cartridges in a tape library consume power at lower rates than any disk system, and tape cartridges stored in a vault consume the least of all, as well as provide the lowest aggregated storage cost per GB,” he says.

Gopal, talking about the economics of green storage, says, “Due to tightening purse strings across India, many companies are sensitive toward their IT expenditure. However, many companies do not realize the extent of cost savings that come hand in hand with green storage solution initiatives and how it can create more efficient data storage management. With increased uptake of energy efficient storage products in data centers, many companies can decrease their energy consumption by up to over 20-30% and benefit from cost savings,” he adds.

Even though there seems to be a lot of awareness and interest among Indian enterprises in terms of ‘greening the data center’, there is also a certain amount of distrust and reluctance. Many CIOs claim that vendors are peddling their ‘ware’ under the green garb. “For most of these companies, from server to storage and others, green is a way to sell more. And right now it seems to be a very fashionable way to do it,” says a senior IT head at one of India’s leading banks.

At first look, the claim does not seem to be unjust considering the glut of “green” equipment in the market. Scores of white papers, case studies, facts and figures seem to add to the confusion. Some say that consolidation of hardware is the key, while others state that software-based solution is a key aspect. All this loud green marketing is making the CIO sceptic.

But vendors dispel the charge. “Going green is not at all a gimmick. The growing cost of energy is painfully evident for IT managers, who, in turn, are insisting that vendors put as much emphasis on product design for greenness as more traditional features such as performance and reliability,” says Simon from Quantum.

Whereas Durgadutt Nedungadi, director, Marketing & Alliances, Technology Solutions Group, HP India Sales, talks of how ‘operating energy-efficient green data centers has become a priority for Indian CIOs’ and the challenges faced by them. “One chief concerns is lack of standards and information-sharing. We believe, industry groups are making progress on establishing best practices, but end-users are struggling with the complexity and scope of the challenges in their facilities. The biggest stumbling block one comes up against in transitioning from the existing data center to green data center is how to do it. There are financial implications also attached to it. Companies with servers or storage virtualization deployments face low data center spending. Other challenges for data center managers are tough internal service-level agreements, continuing data center expansion, and staffing issues,” he states.

Rather than scepticism, the lack of policies to guide the process is the real reason why companies haven’t implemented green IT initiatives, states Nedungadi.

In conclusion, it has dawned upon us that the issue of a ‘green data center’ is too big and too critical so as to be covered in a single story, thus there will be more stories on the same subject in the coming ‘green IT’ segments of the magazine. So all of those who missed the boat this time, and the ones we could not write about, well, need not worry, there is still a lot more to come. Keep those mails coming. We don’t intend to rest till all the data centers are green in some ways or the other.

(Shashwat DC. Published in Dataquest)

Whether an IT park or a residential complex, every building seems to be going green, and greener. In many ways, a trip back to our past, a green renaissance.

Had Shabuddin Mohammed Shah Jahan been alive today, he would surely be hailed as the greatest green architects in conjunction to being one of the most magnificent ones. The ruler of the Mughal Empire in the early seventeenth century is celebrated for building the Taj Mahal and many other brilliant and beautiful edifices. But what the world doesnt really know or rather tends to overlook is that Emperor Shah Jahan was also a keen environmentalist, without really meaning to be one.

The Taj Mahal complex originally was spread over an area of around 900 sq mt. Of this, the main mausoleum in which the bodies of the emperor and his beloved wife are buried, cover an area of around 57 sq mt, a small fraction of the overall space. While much attention was paid to making the complex ornate and exquisite, no lesser attention was paid to making it green as well. In fact, the biggest area of the complex has been reserved for a large 300 sq mt Charbagh, a Mughal garden divided into four quarters by raised pathways; with a raised marble water tank at the center.

Early accounts of the complex describe its profusion of vegetation, including roses, daffodils, and Cypress trees adorned walkways, beside the reflecting pool. In fact, Emperor Shah Jahan had constructed another Charbagh garden just across the river to complete the symmetry. Even to this day, visitors can discern an ingenious, melodious perspective of gardens and canals, which also maintains pleasant and fresh environs even in the harshest of north Indian summer. Thus, in a way, the scenic monument of love is also an exquisitely green building complex in modern lexicon.

But Shah Jahan was certainly not the first Indian to emphasize on symmetry and harmony in construction. From time bygone, buildings have come to mean much more for Indians. Not only was the abode meant to be pleasant and convenient, it was also designed to be harmonious with various natural attributes. Vastu Shashtra is an ancient science of construction that talks of balance between the five basic and essential elements or Panchabhutam namely. Space (Akasha), Air (Vayu), Fire (Agni), Water (Jal) and Earth (Bhoomi).

In Ancient India, there was a lot of emphasis laid on being ecologically sensitive. Take for instance, the traditional architecture of palaces, forts, and even homes, they used to have big lawns, jharokhas (galleries), cooling screens, which provided light and air in most natural of ways. Over the years, we lost track and adopted the Western style of buildingbig mammoth glass buildings that are completely detached from the environment, so to say. But there seems to be a reawakening of sorts, a new renaissance, where we are shifting back to basics again and talking of low environment footprint, says Mili Majumdar, associate director, Sustainable Building Science, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

India LEED-ing
To be precise, the green building movement in India got a big shot in the arm during the presidential visit by Bill Clinton in 2000. It was during his visit to Hyderabad that the idea of a India Green Building Council (IGBC) came to fruition and CII and other agencies set about doing work on the CII-GBC Building in Hyderabad, which was meant to be a showcase for the industry wanting to go green. Since then, there has been a lot of excitement for green buildings in India and many innovative projects have come up around the theme. While a Green Building may look like any other building, the real difference is in the approach, sensitivity toward the environment, a conscious effort to cut down the use of resources like energy, and an attempt to provide comfort and safety to occupants, says S Srinivas, senior counsellor, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Center.

LEED or Leadership in Environment and Energy Design, a leading voluntary certification methodology that has evolved in the US and applied extensively to green buildings across the globe, has surely found a cosy home in India. Scores of LEED certified buildings have come up in the last few years and many others are in the offing. In fact, when the CII-GBC was awarded the LEED Platinum, it was the first building outside the US to receive this certification. From 20,000 sq ft of green footprint in 2003, we have crossed 108 mn sq ft last week. This just goes to show the excitement and uptake of the green building movement. There are around 180 green certified projects constructed and under various stages of construction, in India, adds Srinivas.

The reason for going green is literally a no brainer, as a green building provides many benefits both tangible and intangible, starting from the immediate cost savings in terms of energy and water consumption to a healthy and productive environment for work. The energy savings could range from 2540% depending on the extent of green specifications. And the cost of constructing green building is directly dependant on how early the shift is made at the design level, or once the building is made. Either ways, the incremental costs are easily offset by cost savings in a few years.

Incremental costs are dependent on what the builder is going for. Also, the increment in cost is close to 5-6% and can even be lesser in the basic design is robust and incorporated at the very initial design phase. A green building pays back the incremental costs in 4-5 years through the drastic reduction in operating costs. While typically the life of the building is around 60-70 years, so imagine the pay offs. It is completely a win-win scenario, says Srinivas.

Green GRIHAs
But even so, Majumdar from TERI emphasizes on the need of a holistic approach, rather than just a blind rush for green. The focus should be on demand minimization, rather than just energy conservation. Currently the whole aspect of green is being worked in silos, for instance, water treatment, HVAC and others. If not looked holistically, the whole thing could backfire. Take the case of rainwater harvesting; we have come across several occasions when the system has actually contaminated the ground water table, resulting in actual harm. One should go green with intent and caution, she advises.

TERI has also come out with a certified process named as Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), which has been adopted by the Government of India. It is a 100-point system focussed on design efficiency, rather than just upfront usage of technology, addressing peculiar Indian issues like the underground water table, etc, adds Majumdar. Close to 30 GRIHA certified projects are in various stages of construction, from a Centre for Environmental Science in Kanpur to Fortis Hospitals in different cities. GRIHA could be the homegrown challenger to LEED.

IT Companies Go Green
It is the construction business that has taken the lead in going green, with a whole lot of green projects coming up from builders like Hiranandani, Raheja, DLF and others. The basic idea of green is change. We need to change the way we build, we need to follow a systematic methodology, a need to be aware of the materials we use and their impact on the environment. At Hiranandani, we have made a commitment to go green in a major way, not only for the sake of costs savings and ecological impact but also to provide a better life to our estate owners, says Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director, Hiranandani Constructions.

While the construction industry in India that accounts to nearly 10% of Indias GDP has decided to go green, another industry that also accounts for nearly 10% of Indias GDP, namely IT, has embraced green buildings as well. Among the Indian players, Wipro has again taken a lead and is ensuring that most of its upcoming projects are LEED certified. The IT giant also boasts of a Platinum certified green campus in Gurgaon. Meanwhile, the other IT titans, TCS and Infosys, seem to have woken up to the green building movement. For instance, TCS is going green for its Bhuvaneswar office while Infosys is working at making its Jaipur center green. It is indeed heartening to see Wipro going all out in the green building space; other IT companies can surely learn from its successes.

IT companies can also aid the green building movement in another way; by developing indigenous tools and simulations that aid in the design process. The tools available are pretty high end and not very user friendly. Currently only a few designers and architects that need to do complex modelling exercise to evaluate energy usage are able to use computer simulation tools. There is a need for a simple tool that can be used without much difficulty and IT companies can help in development of this tool, says Majumdar.

Green All the Way
Considering the trying times we live in, with much pressure on energy, space and lifestyle, the green building movement is here to stay. The best part is that we seem to be coming full circle, returning to the very basics that were discarded over time, as leading architect in the field of climate responsive/energy efficient Arvind Krishan, also an international consultant to the World Bank for and member UNEP Expert group on Eco-cities says talking on sustainability, rather than mere conservation. The idea/notion of sustainability has been central to Indian culture in its various forms: the manner in which we have planned/designed built our habitats: resource optimisation, the manner in which we conserve, preserve, recycle, and resource products has been part of our culture and has been our second nature. To my mind, Indian culture has been rooted in sustainability and not in consumption. Unfortunately, this has changed through globalization, which has spread unbridled consumption. Societies that are the most consumptive are now trying to corporatize sustainability through different mechanisms, he says.

Lets go back to our green Emperor Shahjahan, now if he were alive today, surely he could have gone in for a LEED certification for the Taj Mahal and his other magnificent buildings and palaces. In fact, he could have earned quite a few million dollars through the CERs gained (much like Olympia Technology Park). The money earned could have easily gone in to finance the Black Taj Mahal that he wished to make. And we would have one more magnificent edifice that we could admire and pride on. Now wouldnt that be something worth heaving a sigh: Wah Wah Taj?

(Shashwat DC. Published in Dataquest)

Everyone, even the IT sector, needs to join hands in the efforts to battle climate change. And there is a big possibility that they might be able to reap the rewards by just going green.

Legend has it that in 333 BC, Alexander (the Great), while holidaying in Gordian, chanced upon an intricate knot made of cornel bark. The knot supposedly held together an ox-cart to a pole. It was prophesied by an Oracle that the one who was able to disentangle the knot, would lord over Asia. After trying to sort out the ends, Alexander, in despair (though many claim it to be deftness), sliced the knot into half with his sword, producing the required ends and, in a way, finding the solution.

In a similar fashion, there is a complex puzzle that needs to be solved by mankind today. A knot that has got more complicated over the last century, especially in the past few decades. Unlike the one in Gordian, this knot is infinitely more complex and the stakes are much higher. Honestly, the survival of the human species is, to some extent, dependent on unravelling this knotthe Carbon Knot.

Carbon the Demon
Over the past few centuries, after the advent of the industrial revolution, we have been using nature with impunity and scant regard for ecological balance. In the quest for power and energy, companies have bored ocean floors or dug deep into mountains to find fossil fuels that drive almost everythingfrom a turbine wheel at an electricity plant to the wheel of our cars. But even as we use it, this fossil fuel (usually petrol and charcoal) releases CO2 (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere, leading to what we know as the greenhouse effect. The process has increased by a great extent due to the economic boom and the addition of millions of cars on the road year after year.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates, global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 70% between 1970 and 2004 and would rise by another 25-90% above the 2000 levels by 2030 without new restraints.

The IPCC report further states that world temperatures are likely to rise between 1.1-6.4Celsius by 2100, triggering more frequent floods, droughts, melting of icecaps, and threatening species extinction. Indeed, it is by far the largest problem that has been faced by the humans, and everyone needs to pitch in for the battle of survival, right from the government to the private sector to the individual. Even the non-polluting (direct emissions) IT sector needs to gear up and take a lead in unravelling the carbon knot, and set an example for the rest to follow. Not to mention a large amount of money can be generated by simply being green and clean.

And Came Carbon Trading
Labeled as clean development mechanism (CDM), and known more popularly as carbon trading, it has completely changed the way companies look at environment-friendly practices. There is little altruism, and more economic gains, that could be made out of CDM.

According to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, all countries are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5% (from 1990 levels) by 2012, else pay a price for it. A company that follows goof practices and savs on carbon emissions can change them into certified emission reductions (CERs) and sell them to companies in the developed world that are unable to achieve their emission cuts. This works wonders for Indian companies, and over the past few years, many have traded CERs worth in millions.

Companies like Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Jindal Vijayanagar Steel, Indian Rayon & Industries, Triveni Engineering, Balrampur Chini Mills, SRF, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Birla Corporation, DCM Shriram, Oswal Woolen Mills, Tata Steel, Usha Martin, JK Cement, Birla Cement, Kalpataru Power Transmission, and others have already started projects under the CDM guidelines.

According to estimates, Indian companies that have hopped on the CDM bandwagon, from steel and sugar firms to utilities, could generate 500-600 mn CERs or nearly a quarter of a global traded total of 2.5 bn units by 2012. According to UNFCCC, the market for carbon trading has been estimated to be around $60 bn last year and is projected to grow in the coming days. India has become a power to reckon with in the CDM market. Till now, only energy-intensive industries have been making the most of CDM, but even IT companies stand to gain from the situation.

IT Goes Clean
While IT services companies may not contribute to climate change as much as, say, a coal mine, every single business should be concerned about climate change. Consumers increasingly demand climate-friendly products and services, and while businesses working against climate change will reap the early mover benefits, those who dont act will eventually lose market share. Not only from a marketing perspective, but also from the perspective of energy consumption, IT companies should be concerned about climate change as much as any other business, says Berenike Hartmann, marketing manager, Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI). In fact, Australia-based CRI has certified several IT companies as carbon neutral, for instance, Technically Yours (www.technically.com.au), Unlock Technology (www.unlocktechnology.com.au), and Vigilant Solutions (www.vgs.com.au).

According to David Cook, chief executive, the Natural Step International, companies need to first thoroughly assess their energy usage and then look at ways to cut them. So long we have been focussed on finding cleaner and better ways of generating power, but what we need to pay urgent attention to is using much lesser power than we currently do. Businesses need to examine everything they do. IT companies across the globe have been taking a lead in terms of energy efficiency and showing the path to rest of the world, he adds.

Internationally, IT companies have come out in a big way in reducing power usage. Recently, Google set up a huge solar power installation to power its infrastructure and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Other tech giants like Intel, AMD, Yahoo, Dell, Sun, HP, and Microsoft have joined hands in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

Meanwhile, there is some rumbling in India as well. Based on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Green Business Centre have come up with a national voluntary greenhouse gas program for India.

The first step for IT companies is to measure carbon footprint and then find ways to reduce it. IT companies use electricity extensively for servers and big data centers, so they could look at ways in which they could reduce the usage of power by various means like investing in renewable energy (like solar energy) or buying products that are more energy efficient. They can also look at the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, specific tools have been provided for the IT sector, for instance, on ways of cutting emissions from the use of electricity and business travel, says Pankaj Bhatia, business/climate change associate, WRI.

Bhatia further argues the need for Indian companies to pay more attention to climate change. Infosys is a global brand, and if Google and Microsoft have their climate change roadmap, why dont Infosys and other leading brands from India have one? IT giants from India should also come out with announcements to show they are working on green gas inventory and have a roadmap in place, he states.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Environment and Science, Technology and Industry directorates, there are many ways that an IT services can go green. Implement life-cycle audits of their production processes to identify areas where energy efficiency can be improved, including production of equipment used, the use of the equipment and final disposal of equipment. More generally, they should also be involved in improving the energy efficiency of the business environment in which they work in India and abroad, and efforts to use energy sources with long-term sustainability, says an official from OECD.

Raking in the Moolah
Not only from the perspective of climate consciousness, good climate practices can result in big money as well. Recently, Chennai’s Olympia Technology Park was one of the first commercial buildings in India to go in for carbon trading. IT companies have the potential for generating CERs as energy is consumed in the services provided by them. Any savings in the energy is obviously expected to lead to savings in GHG emissions into the atmosphere, which can otherwise be converted into CERs, if this can be documented and submitted as a project to the CDM Board. The CDM Board looks into the merits of the project and its additionality before approving the same for potential CER generation after its implementation, says Joseph Massey, DMD, MCX (read the complete interview for more details).

Companies like TCS, Wipro, and Infosys which employ thousands of employees could possibly show major reduction in carbon emissions by means of tele-working. If they are able to make a significant portion of their workforce, work from home, thereby reducing travel to and from office, and calculate the amount of energy saved, it could also qualify for CDM, agrees Vivek Kumar, associate fellow, TERI (Tata Energy Research Institute). It could be possible if they have done a thorough evaluation of their footprint and are able to prove that a significant amount of energy is saved. They could then be eligible for CER, he adds.

If Indian service giants were to invest in such an initiative and if it got approved, returns would be higher than the cost of the employees working from home. But sadly, Indian companies seem to be a bit tardy when it comes to climate change. Of the three, it was only Wipro that eagerly shared its plan and roadmap for the future, whereas global companies like Sun, IBM, and HP are carrying on green initiatives even in India.

Economics apart, is it possible for us to forget our cultural and national differences, and unite to combat the effects of climate change? Do we have it in us to be able to do so? No other option, says Allan Miller, principal project officer and climate change expert, International Finance Corporation (IFC), adding, Everyday, I dangle between hope and despair. There are times when I look at the numerous reports on glacial and Arctic ice melting; I feel that we have very little time on our hands. And then I look at the presidential candidates of the most polluting nations talking about climate change; I feel we might just be able to scrape through. I remember the last time we had come together successfully to plug the ozone hole. Likewise, the only way to solve the climate change crisis is globally, none else.

Two thousand and three hundred years ago, Alexander was able to solve the Gordian puzzle single-handedly, but it will take all of us to unravel the Carbon Knot that we ourselves have fashioned out of ignorance and indiscretion. Lets hope that we are able to unravel this knot as early as possible.

(Shashwat DC. Published in Dataquest)

With incresing oil prices and Ozone worries, everyone is chanting green. But are VCs in India humming the same tune?

Nobel prize money is a lifebelt thrown to a swimmer who has already reached the shore in safety.

These lines from George Bernard Shaw ring so true when one finds minds and innovations trying to thrive for the want of money. The ideas are around, the will palpable and the cry for a better earth is echoing aloud. But sufficient VC support or Angel investing and capital pump-ins for greener ideas, clean technologies and sustainable development concepts in India are still a far cry. The motion is set but the pace is slow. Do VCs find it attractive to fund green or clean start-ups? How true is the concern on the not-so-encouraging commercial attractiveness and market execution problems of such projects?
Its time we ask.

Turn-offs
Funding a green venture is not the same ball game as nurturing an exciting tech start-up. The market is different, the capex is overwhelming, and the levels of vision, patience and even prophecy needed can be intimidating enough.

Green ideas and sustainable development are perceived as a domain of environmentalists/NGOs, as points out Dr Pramod Paliwal, a Professor at the Institute of Petroleum Management, Gandhinagar (IPMG) who has been avidly pursuing research in sustainable development, energy security and cleaner fuels: Whatever progress has been made so far has been due to the efforts of these two interest groups. But there is little evidence to suggest that such initiatives have been converted into feasible solutions. However, the scenario on clean technologies is a little different as he sees it: The organized sector has indeed made some advancement on this front, but this, I feel, has been largely due to market pressures and not necessarily a proactive one. Entrepreneurs have shown little interest in these areas and obviously the VC too has to wait for requisite signals before it acts.

As explained by Pravin Gandhi, managing partner, Seedfund, We have great interest in such technologies, but would not be able to afford the levels of capital required here. Gandhi, who is also president, TiE, Mumbai describes the perceived apathy of venture capital in green and clean technologies as an upshot of the high-risk profile that such ventures have. Apart from examples like Suzlon and Jatropha related ventures, there havent been many early stage start-ups in green soils. Most of them are existing or growth-stage capital infusions, as he recalls. The challenge is significant for Indian VCs. There are surely technologies in this sector being developed in India and it appears to be the flavor of the times too. But the excitement of Green IT would make sense to a VC only if the costs of doing it are reasonable.

Another deterrent to VC interest in alternative technology sectors is the issue of market attractiveness. Commercial viability is a huge concern.

Clean technologys large-cap bias coupled with lack of commercial attractiveness cannot be easily overlooked, says Dr Paliwal. The concerns, though largely prevalent, are not necessarily true. However, no serious efforts have been made in India to channelize small investments/start-ups in this area.

Gandhi, however, shrugs off the issue of bucks translating into bang as a minor concern. Market attractiveness of such ventures, as he says, is remarkable. It is being tapped in the US but with the risk factor attached in India, other sectors like retail and telecom throw up more tempting opportunities.

Moreover, the commercial viability problem is not specific to India in case of such ventures, he adds. Its a global question. And its not limited to the project but also to the end product. We have not started using ethanol that way yet, he cites. There are distribution snags and the product has to eventually get sold. Also, most technologies consume a lot of the money on R&D and cost-reduction aspects, as these are the ultimate market drivers when it comes to consumers interest and affordability. Competing with incumbent technologies is not that easy. The venture essentially needs good teams and execution abilities.

Green in the Blues?
Repeating successes like Suzlon is not at all easy owing to long gestation periods and VC horizons of seven to ten years as many VCs, small and big, admit.

Rahul Khanna, director, Clearstone Venture Advisors, the local investing arm of the US venture capital firm Clearstone Venture Partners, explains the slow take-off of VC-backings as a lack of the requisite ecosystems and regulatory encouragement. Theres a greater risk to change behavior. If someone devises a new vehicle, the auto industry needs to change with the technology. Ditto for the respective regulatory environment. Its an industry that has to collectively embrace the change, be it the suppliers, the channels, the marketers or the customers. In fact, if the government does not mandate a shift, its hard for new technologies to take off and take over. It requires an eco-system shift and one cannot influence the market forces and thats why it is difficult for a non-theme based fund to play in this area. One cant be as aggressive as required here, he reasons. Hence, its a hard game for general-purpose funds to participate in or spark this new wave. Given the relatively high quantum of investment, its PPPs (Public-Private Partnerships) or VCs with a specific mandate that can successfully invest in new ventures of this kind. There are some bright ideas in the field of energy but the sector is still dominated by the government, he says: Commercial execution, distribution hiccups, time horizons, lack of fundamental IP are the main reasons that stall VC interest.

Dr Paliwal echoes the sentiment here. There is a lot of resistance to change, unless the regulatory system intervenes, he adds. A lot needs to be done to monetize the social and environmental benefits that a sustainable business provides.

Vineet Rai, founder and CEO of Aavishkaar gives a first-hand account of the experiences and tribulations that marketing fronts of a green venture bring up. It has done two such investments and agrees that commercial viability issues are serious ones. We had to struggle a lot but now the projects are profitable. It is very important for a VC to focus on the idea as well its feasibility and have a solid understanding with the entrepreneur concerned, he advises.

Point of no Return?
Seedfunds Gandhi, who has earlier co-founded companies like Hinditron and claims the first IPO of a technology company where he exited at 80x, has also exited two previous investments at 10x+ and a few at 3-5x+. Talking about what rate of returns would excite him in a clean or green technology venture, he doesnt see any major difference on the paybacks expected. Still, in case of a clean technology venture the returns have to be significantly high because of the time that a VC has to stay with the venture. That commands a much higher IRR.

Clearstones Khanna dovetails here. He thinks that investing in green should justify the yield play. With over $650 mn of committed capital for investment, Clearstone has invested in 25 and 30 active portfolio companies with past success stories. In India, its focus has remained on telecom, financial services, gaming, media and entertainment.

Exceptional Exceptions
Not everyone is averse to taking the plunge though. And, interestingly, it is smaller players with not-so-big-war-chests that are keen in experimenting with green ventures. Aavishkaar is one such case in point, that has an investment pipeline of 8-10 companies this year, of which three would be in the energy space. CEO Vineet Rai, who tells that from $6 mn the aim is to hit $25 mn in corpus by March 2008, explains the small but strong excitement: Unlike bigger players, our transaction cost is small and we can afford bigger risk-taking capabilities.

His list of candidates is long, varied and strong. We are looking at all the options. With the likes of Vinod Khosla evincing interest in green technologies and with the oil brimming over the $100 a barrel mark, all of us are concerned for innovations that are essential, he says.

Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund intends to promote development in rural and semi-urban India by providing micro-equity funding (Rs 10 lakh to Rs 2 crore), approximately $20,000 to $500,000, and operational and strategic support to commercially viable companies increasing income in or providing goods and services to rural or semi-urban India.

Success stories like Suzlon are more of not only exceptional but unfortunately exceptions as well. Nonetheless, this indigenous pioneer in the wind energy market that started way back in 1995 when soaring power costs and infrequent availability of power hit the textile business hard, its founder Tulsi Tanti, who then looked to wind energy as an alternative, incidentally though first as a customer. The company went public with a highly successful IPO in September 2005. It is today a behemoth to reckon with, ranked as the fifth leading wind turbine supplier in the world, with over 7.7% of global market share in 2006.

Green-eyed Comparisons
Times Bryan Walsh in his article Gambling on Green reckons green investment by American venture capital at $2.6 bn in the first three quarters of 2007, that was incidentally the highest level ever recorded and nearly 50% more than the 2006 total. As the report adds, by 2006, the clean-tech sector saw 11% of all venture capital in North America and Europe. Europe hasnt been behind and not even our next-door neighbors. China showed 20% of total venture capital being invested into clean companies in 2006 which was interestingly double the percentage in the US.

VCs were growing green in China with investments rising by 147% to $420 mn between 2005 and 2006.

In terms of pay-offs, some statistics that were thrown up show a bullish streak.

Revenues for companies in solar energy, wind, biofuels and fuel cells surged from $40 bn in 2005 to $55 bn in 2006, according to the research group, Clean Edge. Green venture capital in the US is projected to rise to $18 bn by 2010, according to Nicholas Parker of the research group, Cleantech Network, cited the Time article.

India Sprouting
Now, back home in India, venture capitalists invested over $777 mn in about 57 deals for entrepreneurial companies during the first three quarters of 2007, according to the Quarterly India Venture Capital Report. The leap, if not revolutionary, is significant enough as this was nearly five times the $158 mn invested during the first nine months of 2006 and more than twice the annual investment record of $320 mn set in 2005.

siblings are not lagging in furrowing the green fields. Private Equity firms invested a record $7,460 mn over 299 deals in India during 2006, according to a study by Venture Intelligence. In 2007, an EvalueServe report on VC investment in India estimated about $4.4 bn to flow into India via VC funds over a year. At that point, about 44 US-based VC firms were seen interested in investing heavily in start-ups and early-stage companies in India. These included names like Helion Venture Partners, Intel Capital India, Sequioa Capital, Seedfund, etc. But just how much of the VC euphoria for start-ups falls in the lap of green, clean and alternative technologies, still stays a moot point.

Venture Intelligence, that tracks private equity and venture capital in India and Indian-founded companies worldwide, throws up some buoyant names here. Among PE firms, following the highly successful ChrysCapital and Citi investment in Suzlon, other funds are actively investing in the Wind Energy sector. Baring PE in Auro Mira Energy and UTI Venture, ChrysCap and Bessemer Ventures in Shriram EPC are some pertinent examples. In Bio-fuels, APIDC, SIDBI VC and UTI Ventures have invested in Hyderabad-based Natural Bioenergywhich has just begun production of bio-diesel based on Jatropha seeds. In solar, the only play is Moser Baer whose expansion into this sector is backed by IDFC PE, Warburg Pincus, ChrysCapital and IFC. In fact, at this point the investment in all the above indicated companies would be around $300 mn.

Green Still Looks Rosy
India has several ingredients which can make it successful in the alternative energy area: availability of natural resources, cost-effective engineering and manufacturing talent and high-cost of importing traditional fuels, says a bullish Arun Natarajan, founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private equity and venture capital activity. He does not see alternative energy posing a threat to traditional favorite sectors among investorslike IT, BFSI and Manufacturingany time soon, but he definitely feels a strong interest in this sector. The main reason is that the technology behind alternative energy sources seems to be reaching a point of maturity to make economic sense without needing the artificial crux of tax breaks.

VCs like Clearstone are already eyeing this field with a fresh perspective. The fund is exploring areas like e-waste and recycling sectors. I dont see a lot of incumbency in this space. There are many opportunities to create interesting brands in the green space particularly, Khanna says.

Going ahead, areas like waste management and alternate technology ideas would be looked at with interest by VCs, both from the regular and the social venture funds, Gandhi says. And it might take some thematic (specific green-focus funds) to ride that bandwagon. We will see thematic funds emerging around these technologies. There is so much money in the market that lot of specialized funds may spring up as we move ahead. I see a shift around the corner, says Clearstones Khanna.

Just how much of the green crops can VCs sow and reap, would be a new and interesting Midas story altogether. A noble cause indeed.

(Pratima Harigunani. Published in Dataquest)

Vendors of all hues and colors have now started converting themselves to green. Sun Microsystems is no exception, with its green strategy hinging around its processor design. The company is stressing on going green in its products through adoption of Core-Multi Threading technology, thus increasing the performance-per-watt usage. Sridhar Vajapey, VP, technology, validation and test, speaks on Suns strategy on going green Excerpts.

What is Suns green products strategy from the product development/technology perspective?
Our green strategy starts from the processor design. Our Core-Multi Threading (CMT) methodology has shown that we can provide performance while maximizing performance/watt. Suns energy efficient UltraSPARC T2 CMT CPU has 64 threads and each thread consumes less than two watts of power. The performance/watt leadership also allows customers to minimize on space. Lower power actually causes CPUs to run cooler.

Suns roadmap for microprocessors/multi-core chips, as the industry is talking of Quad core while Sun is well on its way to 8-cores?
More than well on its way. We have released both first and second generation products, UltraSPARC T1 and T2, respectively, with 8-cores on a chip. UltraSPARC T1 CMT CPU was released in December 2005.
Yes, Sun SPARC has been leading the way in innovations for nearly two decades now. Our CMT strategy is yet another innovation that allows us to be able to tightly integrate 8-cores with each core having 8-threads. Our first generation CMT chip, UltraSPARC T1, had 8-cores and 4-threads per core (total of 32 threads).

In UltraSPARC T2, the 8-cores are connected by a high-speed crossbar capable of 180GB/s of read and 90GB/s of write to internal memories. Further, apart from the number of cores and threads, we have pulled in and integrated dual 10Gb Ethernet ports. This further enhances the performance in networking.

What is the USP of Suns Throughput Computing Strategy? How is it different from other technologies prevailing in the market?
The Web and applications are very thread-friendly. This is, therefore, more of a throughput problem than a single-thread problem. A single-thread design will actually have to brute-force various threads through a pipe while in a highly threaded environment they can indeed run in parallel. This is a difference between the two styles of implementation.

(R Jai Krishna. Published in Dataquest)