posted by Julie Clugage on September 26, 2008
I had the pleasure of being in New York this week with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett for our participation in the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting and several other events related to the UN General Assembly. It was an exciting week that made me proud of the role Intel is playing in advancing social and economic development through the use of information and communications technology (ICT).
At CGI, we participated in sessions related to both education and healthcare. At the education session on “Global Expansion of Programs That Increase Quality Education,” Intel Foundation President Brenda Musilli gave a progress report on the commitment Intel made last year at CGI to advance the quality of education in 15 countries by training online over 1.5 million teachers to effectively integrate technology in the classroom. We also announced a new commitment to collaborate with the WiderNet Project at the University of Iowa to help bring web content to communities around the world who lack adequate Internet connectivity. Intel is sponsoring the creation of a new community information platform allowing users to add local content to an eGranary Digital library, an off-line collection created by WiderNet of over 1,200 Web sites and CD-ROMs that provides Internet-like services over local area networks at speeds thousands of times faster than typical Internet connections. These eGranaries are installed at universities, secondary schools, clinics, hospitals, government offices, and libraries in developing countries, enabling access to relevant Internet content. It was great to have Professor Cliff Missen from University of Iowa at CGI with us to talk about his exciting work.
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tagged: CGI, Clinton Global Initiative, Craig Barrett, education, eGranary, energy efficiency, healthcare, ICT, Intel Teach, Rural Connectivity Platform, SEVA, WiderNet, WiMAX
posted by Lorie Wigle on September 23, 2008
It’s been a while since I blogged, so I’ve been anxious to share what I’ve observed in my many travels and conversations around the world. I just returned to the US from a trip to India, where I was impressed with the pace of activity around innovative new energy efficiency technologies, including governmental plans to help develop “smarter”, more efficient electricity transmission and distribution grids. And today at Oracle Open World, our CEO Paul Otellini delivered a keynote speech and cited that over the last two years our Intel Core microprocessors have contributed to a savings of 20 Terawatt (Tera = trillion) hours of energy. So I’m going to provide a little context for this figure.
Given that the global economy is increasingly information and technology driven, I’ve observed increased scrutiny by governments and NGO’s on the energy used by information technology and communications technology (ICT). Gartner has estimated that approximately 2% of the world’s CO2 emissions can be attributed to the energy necessary to build and power the world’s ICT. That is a sizeable number.
So where do microprocessors fit in? Through Moore’s Law we have been delivering performance and features that our customers demand, all while managing energy use within acceptable levels. But we wondered: all the while we’ve been delivering these performance improvements, have we also been able to reduce the energy used by our microprocessors? Are we able to “have our cake and eat it too”, as they say here in the US? I’m pleased to report that the answer is a resounding “yes”.
In 2006, Intel rolled out the Intel Core microprocessors for PCs, servers and laptops. We’ve also referred to this architectural shift as the “right hand turn” (the shift away from performance achieved primarily through clock-speed increases to improvements from the integration of additional processor cores on each chip). Intel’s engineers recently analyzed the difference in the power utilization of earlier generations of our processors, compared to the typical power utilization of today’s products - and considered the number of processors shipped and hours they were likely used in PCs, servers and laptops.
So what did we find? When we added up all the Watt-hours that were saved in the past 2 years as a result of Intel’s “right hand turn”, the calculations point to approximately 20 Terawatts hours less energy used, relative to what our prior generation of processors would have consumed in the same time window. Assuming an electricity cost of $0.10/kWhr (higher in some places, lower in others), this equates to $2B in energy cost savings to the global economy.
This is no small figure - it’s a significant amount of energy savings, and an example of what technology innovation by the ICT industry can do to improve energy efficiency on a large scale.
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tagged: energy efficiency, energy efficient, energy savings, ICT, Oracle Open World, Paul Otellini
posted by Revital Bitan on September 23, 2008
Think positive. It might be an overused, even clichéd mantra, but it’s the perfect call to action as we celebrate Intel’s 40th anniversary. To mark four decades of technological excellence, thousands of Intel employees are donating some one million hours of their time to performing a diverse range of volunteer activities within their communities. One such volunteer program, the “Think Positive” project, has attracted dozens of Intel employees in Israel who mentor high school students during after school hours at Intel campuses throughout the country. The program helps students reach high-level achievements by exposing them to the high-tech work environment.
I think “Think Positive” is a great name for a volunteer project involving high school kids. When you consider that the program facilitates the study of math and science, two areas which are often difficult and frustrating for high school students, “Think Positive” genuinely puts students in a positive frame of mind, supporting and encouraging their abilities to succeed in these two study areas. You don’t have to believe me. Just look at what students who participated in the program had to say about it. These are excerpted (and believe me, I really had a hard time choosing because this is just the tip of the iceberg) from among the dozens of completed surveys we received about the program.
“Meeting people from important companies and speaking with them about how they got there… In my opinion, that’s interesting and useful.”
“My attitude towards mathematics improved and I learned new methods for solving problems. I loved the feeling of working with Intel engineers.”
“Math has suddenly become exciting, special, beautiful and - who would have believed it - simple.”
“The project contributed a great deal to my understanding… and there was also an improvement in my grades… the project adds an element of responsibility… I now take all my different responsibilities more seriously.”
“In my opinion, you guys should really continue with the project because there are tons of other kids who want to take part but there was no room.”
The “Think Positive” program has been operating on Intel campuses in Israel for several years. Its high degree of success comes from a number of factors:
It matches rich human capital with the needs of the community
It makes a significant impact on the community
It suits employees from various departments (not just technical ones)
Students achieve immediate results
Volunteers feel a sense of pride and achievement enjoyment on the part of the volunteers.
High school students who have participated in “Think Positive” have improved their grades in mathematics, physics, chemistry and related subjects. Beyond that, the long-term goal is to help them obtain good grades on their matriculation certificates, encouraging them to enroll in science or engineering faculties at Israel’s universities, after which they will hopefully secure coveted positions in knowledge-intensive industries…. maybe even at Intel. So, think positive! It’s an ideal way to help build the next generation of technology workers…And, because some of them will help drive Intel’s future, it’s a perfect way to celebrate Intel’s first 40 years.
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tagged: community, CSR, Intel, Math, Volunteers
posted by Gary Niekerk on September 22, 2008
I spoke last week on a panel session on, “Aligning Carbon Footprint Marketing Messages & Communications With Business Strategy”. It was a fun and engaging discussion as we talked about the inherent challenges in making statements such as “Carbon Neutral” or “carbon negative”. The real problem with these statements is that half the people don’t believe you and the other half don’t understand what it means.
We also had some discussion on carbon off-sets, which was stimulating. The good news is sustainability issues continue to become more main stream and just like wearing a seat belt might have been uncommon or uncomfortable for people a decade ago, people are starting to settle into that fact that sustainability issues are an inherent part of our business, and our lives.
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tagged: carbon footprint, carbon negative, carbon neutral, CSR, sustainability
posted by Raju Doshi on September 10, 2008
In Wendy Hawkins' blog "Spring, Science, Hope, Math" she talked about why we created and continue to invest in the Intel Schools of Distinction program. Since that post in April, we have had the pleasure of announcing six outstanding schools as this year's winners with one of them achieving the distinction of being a "Star Innovator". You can read more about the winning schools and the Intel Schools of Distinction program here. We have invited the schools to share their experiences, how they go about their business, what steps they have taken to create an environment where teachers are excited to teach and the students are equally excited to learn math and science. Our hope is that by sharing these experiences and achievements, we can inspire other schools and educators to emulate the success of these winners. So watch this space to hear from the schools and please share your thoughts on this topic as well.
I would like to congratulate each one of the six winning schools with a special applaud to our Star Innovator, Sojourner School of Oregon. Click on the school name below to watch their inspiring video profiles:
Mathematics Excellence:
Sojourner School, Milwaukie, OR ›
DeLay Middle School, Lewisville, TX ›
Sabino High School, Tucson, AZ ›
Science Excellence:
Laguna Elementary School, Scottsdale, AZ ›
Key Peninsula Middle School, Lakebay, WA ›
Townsend Harris High School, Flushing, NY ›
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tagged: education, innovation, Intel, Schools of Distinction, teaching award
posted by Gary Niekerk on September 04, 2008
I don’t like to be “promotional” in my blog, but today Intel and our employees have something to cheer about. Today we learned that Intel Corporation was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) for the 10th straight year. The DJSI reviews and highlights a company’s economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change, supply chain standards and labor practices.
Intel was also named the Supersector Leader for Technology - *the ONLY U.S.-based company *named to the list of 19 Supersector Leaders. The Technology Supersector encompasses companies in software, computer services, semiconductors, and hardware. Intel received sector-leading scores in a number of criteria including environmental reporting, human capital development, corporate citizenship/philanthropy, and corporate governance.
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tagged: DJSI, dow jones sustainability index, Leadership, sustainability
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