Podcast Episode 14 is out: Richard Kenny from Interact / Techbuyer

Podcast

By Lukas on 7 Jun 2023

One of the biggest emitters in our world is the internet. In this episode we speak to Richard Kenny, MD of Interact. Interact are a real David in a world of Goliaths, developing some of the most innovative approaches to reducing the energy consumption of the world’s data centres. They recently beat Microsoft to the award for Energy Impact at the Data Centre Design awards. Rich is down to earth and full of great stories in this conversation. We discuss:

Buying, rebuilding, and selling his first computer aged 9
Becoming one of the first professional MMA fighters in the UK and how his experience influenced his later career
The importance of ‘controlling the controllable’
His studies and early career in international development and poverty alleviation
Techbuyer’s ethos around refurbishment and the circular economy
Their breakthrough in disproving Moore’s law – that computer chips do not double in performance and efficiency every two years
The data centre industry’s blind spot for their own hardware and the efficiencies that can be created by optimising and reconfiguring
How the streaming of music hit ‘Despacito’ used the same energy as 4 African nations
Whether you should consume data on 4g, 3g, WiFi, and how many photos you should be taking
His optimism for the future driven by innovative technology
His love of his home county of Yorkshire and the burgeoning tech sector that’s growing there
His wish for political change through getting more diverse people into power
How the most important jobs are not remunerated as such in his view