Thanks for sharing this Katherine, and All, Best regards, Scott
On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 8:55 AM, Katherine Maher <kma...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi all, > > Thanks Lukas for bringing this back up. Since my name was mentioned, I'll > share some context, but I'm copying my colleague Juliet Barbara who is best > positioned to move this forward, as she is the current holder of our > relationship with Greenpeace. > > The Comms, Finance, and COO teams met with Greenpeace in 2015 to discuss > the ways the WMF could improve our overall environmental footprint. The > Foundation already has some positive efforts underway formally and > informally - IIRC, we included clean energy consumption as a factor in > evaluating in our RFC for our choice of a backup colo a few years back, we > are transparent (if not overly proactive) in disclosure of energy > consumption, we have sensible policies around server efficiency and > hardware replacement, and we have pushed for clean energy alternatives for > our SF office consumption. > > We are less effective in areas such as advocacy and purchasing (e.g., > stating this is a priority for the movement, pushing our colos to provide > clean sources/mixes). Some of these are questions of scale and efficiency - > Ops runs a tight ship, and we're a relatively small footprint in our colos, > so we don't necessarily have the ability to drive purchasing decisions > based on scale alone. > > At the time the report came out, we started talking to Lukas about how we > could improve our efforts at the WMF and across the movement, but we've had > limited bandwidth to move this forward in the Foundation (and some > transitions in our Finance and Operations leadership, who were acting as > executive sponsors). However, I think it's safe to say that we'd like to > continue to reduce our environmental impact, and look forward to the > findings of this effort. > > Katherine > > On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Lukas Mezger <lukas.mez...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > Dear MZMcBride and Brion, > > > > Thank you for your comments! Let me quickly respond to a few points. > > > > – I have in fact already looked at previous conversations regarding the > > environmental impact of the Wikimedia movement, but apparently they never > > went anywhere. From my point of view, the topic leaves no room for > > cynicism, looking at how easy it is to improve the current situation. > > > > – In fact I would be grateful if you could point me to any information > > about the WMF's energy use that I can understand. > > > > – It is probably true that our absolute numbers might not be very large, > > but I think we should still set an example by having the servers run on > > renewable energy, by asking the board to make a strong renewable energy > > commitment, and by adopting a green investment strategy for the Wikimedia > > endowment. > > > > – I have also been in a conversation with Greenpeace USA, so I can try to > > answer any further questions regarding their report if needed. The report > > is actually based on detailed figures that the WMF (in person of Katherin > > Maher) shared with Greenpeace. > > > > Thanks again, > > > > Lukas / Gnom > > > > 2016-03-30 16:30 GMT+02:00 Brion Vibber <bvib...@wikimedia.org>: > > > > > On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 12:27 AM, Lukas Mezger <lukas.mez...@gmail.com > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Dear readers of the Wikitech mailing list, > > > > > > > > I am a member of the Wikipedia community and I have started a project > > to > > > > reduce the environmental impact of the Wikimedia movement > > > > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact>. The main > idea > > is > > > > to > > > > use renewable energy for running the Wikimedia servers and the main > > > reason > > > > for this is that by doing so, Wikipedia can set a great example for > > > > environmental responsibility in the entire internet sector. > > > > > > > > My project was started after Greenpeace USA published a report > > > > <http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/click-clean/> about > the > > > > energy consumption of the biggest sites on the Internet in 2015 and > in > > > > which Wikipedia, to my astonishment, performed poorly, receiving a > "D" > > > > score and only passing because of the Wikimedia Foundation's openness > > > about > > > > its energy consumption. > > > > > > > > > > I don't see *anything* about energy consumption or environmental impact > > in > > > their statistics there. > > > > > > They do measure the relative balance of various energy sources, but > that > > > means little... We could probably be burning big lumps of coal and > have a > > > positive environmental impact if our relative energy consumption is > much > > > lower than competing sites might have been, but that isn't measured in > > any > > > way. > > > > > > They also measure some sort of "commitment" and "championship" of > > specific > > > energy sources, which sounds nice but doesn't in any way measure energy > > > usage or environmental impact. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I would very much like to change that and set up a page called > > > > "Environmental > > > > impact <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact>" on > > Meta. > > > I > > > > have already discussed the issue with a few people both from the > > > Wikimedia > > > > Foundation's management and from the Wikimedia community and have > > > received > > > > positive responses. > > > > > > > > > > Neat! > > > > > > -- brion > > > > > > > > > > > > > > In order to further advance the project, I would like to learn more > > about > > > > how much energy Wikipedia's servers use. As far as I can tell, these > > > > figures are not public, but I believe they could very well be. > > > > > > > > Also, I am interested to learn how changing a server site's energy > > > sources > > > > can be carried out on the operations side since the United States > > energy > > > > sector hasn't been completely deregulated yet. > > > > > > > > So, thank you very much for any comments! Maybe there also is an even > > > > better forum to discuss these questions? > > > > > > > > Finally, if you would like to support my project, please consider > > adding > > > > your name to this list > > > > < > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact#Show_your_support > > > >. > > > > Thank you. > > > > Kind regards, > > > > > > > > Lukas Mezger / User:Gnom <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gnom> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikitech-l mailing list > > > > Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikitech-l mailing list > > > Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikitech-l mailing list > > Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > > > > > > -- > Katherine Maher > > Wikimedia Foundation > 149 New Montgomery Street > San Francisco, CA 94105 > > +1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635 > +1 (415) 712 4873 > kma...@wikimedia.org > _______________________________________________ > Wikitech-l mailing list > Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > -- - Scott MacLeod - Founder & President - 415 480 4577 - http://scottmacleod.com - Please donate to tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) - World University and School - via PayPal, or credit card, here - - http://worlduniversityandschool.org - or send checks to - PO Box 442, (86 Ridgecrest Road), Canyon, CA 94516 - World University and School - like Wikipedia with best STEM-centric OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
