Short notice: Webcast today of “Eco-Technology Great Debates”

There’s a webcast today from 1-5pm PT of the “Eco-Technology Great Debates.”

The debates will address the current and future state of energy-efficient computing, with panelists from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, IDC, Microsoft, Sun, IBM, and Intel. Topics are:

–Alternating Current (AC) vs. Direct Current (DC) Power: Which power architecture is best? How efficient are they really? Where would one use DC instead of AC? Is high-efficiency AC as good as DC? Isn’t it easier to do? What about safety? Can we mix types? Cost to build? TCO? Reliability?

–Liquid vs. Air Cooling: We all know water is a better heat transfer fluid than air; does that make liquid cooling more efficient than air cooling? What does liquid cooling mean? Rack level, server level, or chip level? Isn’t a data center with airflow segregation more efficient than standard air cooling? What about the cost to buy and cost to run? Leaks and reliability?

–Thick vs. Thin Clients: The debaters will discuss the TCO analysis and energy efficiency of a thin client model versus their thicker alternatives.