Slashdot Mirror
Data Centers Push Back On US Efficiency Rules
alphadogg writes "Data center executives from Google and other large companies are pushing back against new efficiency requirements proposed by a prominent standards group, saying they are too 'prescriptive' and don't leave them room to innovate. 'This standard defines the energy efficiency for most types of buildings in America and is often incorporated into building codes across the country,' Urs Hoelzle, Google senior vice president for operations, wrote in a post on the Google blog. Data centers are among the fastest-growing users of energy, and setting efficiency standards for them is a welcome step, he said. But he called the requirements 'too prescriptive.' Instead of setting efficiency targets and letting engineers decide how they can best meet them, the amendments specify types of cooling systems that companies should use."
This isn't about limited government, it's about overly prescriptive specifications of efficiency. Even those in favour of efficiency regulation would likely agree that this way of specifying things doesn't make sense, so opinions about the scope of government aren't all that relevant. Also, if you happen to watch Fox News and take it seriously, please stop.
I'm in full agreement with Mr. Hoelzle, and I think that anyone who truly believes in limited government would as well.
Hmm, so your opinion about this is motivated, not by reference to the practical reality, but to ideology?
Words can be very strange things at times - I don't see any ambiguity in the word prescriptive; it simply means that they don't like the government to tell them to save energy. I'm much more worried about words like "innovation" - as well as your use of the word "limited".
"Innovation": it looks like such an innocent and positive word, almost like "invention"; however, as far as I can see, where "invention" means that you have invented something that is actually new, "innovation" is much weaker - it just means that you have re-painted the tin in another colour or something. I.e. it is much closer to being simple deception.
It is the same with "limited" - what you hope it sounds like is that government should not be almighty and decide every detail in people's lives, which is of course supremely obvious to the point of triviality. But I suspect what you mean is that "all government is bad, bad, bad" and that it should be abolished as much as possible, which a completely different matter, and one that I think most people would disagree with.