2010 Eco-Challenge

More information can be found @ Filter For Good

Brita is thrilled to announce the return of its Eco-Challenge Student Grant Program. Last summer, Brita sent three of Canada’s most promising young environmentalists on a life-changing educational expedition to the Arctic. Now, they are looking to send three more deserving students to the Arctic this summer through this incredible program.

Are you a high school student* who has done great things to help protect the environment at your school or in your community? Would you like to learn more about the impact we are having on the planet in one of the world’s greatest classrooms? Read on to learn how you could win an educational expedition to the Canadian Arctic this August, courtesy of Brita!

If you are selected, you’ll join explorer Geoff Green and his team from the award-winning organization Students on Ice on an educational expedition to the Arctic. There, you’ll learn about climate change, environmental degradation, flora & fauna, glaciology, and much more with leading researchers, experts and scientists in one of the world’s greatest classrooms. You’ll experience nature in ways you may have only dreamed of, and you will learn to see the planet with new perspectives as you are introduced to Inuit culture, and make new connections with the natural world.

Register Now!

To apply (and please make sure you read the qualifying criteria first), fill in the registration form and submit a 2-4 minute video that showcases your leadership and what you’re doing in your community to help protect the environment. Don’t forget to tell us what you hope to gain from a trip to the Arctic. We’ve got some pretty impressive judges on our panel, so make it count!

Get your submissions in by May 31, or you’ll miss the boat**. We’ll let you know by July 9 if you should start packing your bags.

* Contest is open to any student who will be attending high school in his or her province or territory of residence as of September, 2010 and who will be no older than 19 years of age as of August 4, 2010.

**2009 Eco-Challenge grant recipients do not qualify for this year’s grant. You must be able to travel between August 3 and August 21, 2010 to qualify.

IIJ to Conduct Proof-of-Concept Testing for the Next-Generation Eco-Data Center

Testing the Practicality of Constructing an Eco-Friendly Data Center Using Japan's First Outside-Air-Cooled Container Unit Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ) (Nasdaq:IIJI) (TSE1:3774), one of Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions providers, today announced that it will conduct proof-of-concept testing for building an environmentally friendly data center for the cloud computing age in cooperation with Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba), NLM ECAL Co., Ltd. (NLM ECAL) of the Nippon Light Metal Group, Nohmi Bosai Ltd. (Nohmi Bosai), and Kawamura Electric Inc. (Kawamura Electric).
They will build a modular data center with a cooling system that directly uses outside air, and operate it for one year starting in February 2010, with the aim of commercialization. This will be the first data center in Japan with a container unit cooled all year round by outside air.
IIJ had been considering the use of a chilled-water-cooled container unit, but with the trend in the United States away from water-cooled systems and towards the more energy-efficient outside-air-cooled systems, they realized that they could not focus solely on one single method geared towards environmental measures and improved power efficiency. They thus decided to embark on this test in order to find the most appropriate method for the installation environment.
IIJ will use its know-how (garnered from the operation of 15 data centers nationwide) to design a next-generation data center model that is aimed at achieving the scalability, low costs, and energy efficiency demanded by cloud computing. Based on this model, NLM ECAL will develop a container shell, with Toshiba supplying the outside-air cooling equipment, Nohmi Bosai providing the fire-prevention equipment, and Kawamura Electric providing the racks and power equipment.
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Think Ecological

What is Eco-Logical?

"Eco-Logical" addresses both the environmental side (Eco) of IT sustainability imperatives and the pragmatic side (Logical) of proper business management. Through a new strategic approach of combiming both green and fiscal thinking. Eco-Logical simultaneously satisfies social responsibility and bolsters business value. By engaging in green IT best practices, such as purchasing energy efficient servers, organizations can achieve IT sustainability imperatives through reduced power usage and bootom-line benefits through significantly reducing costs.

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