Greenpeace report How Clean is Your Cloud? I saw mentioned in 3T magazine news is actually quite interesting reading. This year’s report provides a look at the energy choices some of the largest and fastest growing IT companies. The report analyzes the 14 IT companies and the electricity supply chain in more than 80 data center cases.
The report contains also lots of interesting background information on both IT and telecom energy consumption. I recommend checking it out. Here are some points picked from How Clean is Your Cloud? report:
Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo – these global brands and a host of other IT companies are rapidly and fundamentally transforming the way in which we work, communicate, watch movies or TV, listen to music, and share pictures through “the cloud.”
The growth and scale of investment in the cloud is truly mind-blowing, with estimates of a 50-fold increase in the amount of digital information by 2020 and nearly half a trillion in investment in the coming year, all to create and feed our desire for ubiquitous access to infinite information from our computers, phones and other mobile devices, instantly.
The engine that drives the cloud is the data center. Data centers are the factories of the 21st century information age, containing thousands of computers that store and manage our rapidly growing collection of data for consumption at a moment’s notice. Given the energy-intensive nature of maintaining the cloud, access to significant amounts of electricity is a key factor in decisions about where to build these data centers. Industry leaders estimate nearly $450bn US dollars is being spent annually on new data center space.
Since electricity plays a critical role in the cost structure of companies that use the cloud, there have been dramatic strides made in improving the energy efficiency design of the facilities and the thousands of computers that go inside. However, despite significant improvements in efficiency, the exponential growth in cloud computing far outstrips these energy savings.
How much energy is required to power the ever-expanding online world? What percentage of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is attributable to the IT sector? Answers to these questions are very difficult to obtain with any degree of precision, partially due to the sector’s explosive growth, a wide range of devices and energy sources, and rapidly changing technology and business models. The estimates of the IT sector’s carbon footprint performed to date have varied widely in their methodology and scope. One of the most recognized estimates of the IT sector’s footprint was conducted as part of the 2008 SMART 2020 study, which established that the sector is responsible for 2% of global GHG emissions.
The combined electricity demand of the internet/cloud (data centers and telecommunications network) globally in 2007 was approximately 623bn kWh (if the cloud were a country, it would have the fifth largest electricity demand in the world). Based on current projections, the demand for electricity will more than triple to 1,973bn kWh (an amount greater than combined total demand of France, Germany, Canada and Brazil).
The report indicates that, due to the economic downturn and continued energy efficiency and performance improvements, global energy demand from data centers from 2005-2010 increased by 56%. Estimates of data center electricity demand come in at 31GW globally, with an increase of 19% in 2012 alone. At the same time global electricity consumption is otherwise essentially flat due to the global recession is still a staggering rate of growth.
Given the scale of predicted growth, the source of electricity must be factored into a meaningful definition of “green IT”. Energy efficiency alone will, at best, slow the growth of the sector’s footprint. The replacement of dirty sources of electricity with clean renewable sources is still the crucial missing link in the sector’s sustainability efforts according to the report.
The global telecoms sector is also growing rapidly. Rapid growth in use of smart phones and broadband mobile connections mean mobile data traffic in 2011 was eight times the size of the entire internet in 2000. It is estimated that global mobile data traffic grew 133% in 2011, with 597 petabytes of data sent by mobiles every month. In 2011, it is estimated that 6 billion people or 86.7% of the entire global population have mobile telephone subscriptions. By the end of 2012, the number of mobile connected devices is expected to exceed the global population. Electronic devices and the rapidly growing cloud that supports our demand for greater online access are clearly a significant force in driving global energy demand.
What about telecoms in the developing and newly industrialized countries? The report has some details from India (by the way it is expected that India will pass China to become the world’s largest mobile market in terms of subscriptions in 2012). Much of the growth in the Indian telecom sector is from India’s rural and semi-urban areas. By 2012, India is likely to have 200 million rural telecom connections at a penetration rate of 25%. Out of the existing 400,000 mobile towers, over 70% exist in rural and semi-urban areas where either grid-connected electricity is not available or the electricity supply is irregular. As a result, mobile towers and, increasingly, grid-connected towers in these areas rely on diesel generators to power their network operations. The consumption of diesel by the telecoms sector currently stands at a staggering 3bn liters annually, second only to the railways in India.
What is the case on other developing and newly industrialized countries? I don’t actually know.
NOTE: Please note that that many figures given on the report are just estimates based on quite little actual data, so they might be somewhat off the actual figures. Given the source of the report I would quess that if the figures are off, they are most probably off to direction so that the environmental effect looks bigger than it actually is.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel, 3M, SGI eye new data center coolant
http://www.zdnet.com/intel-3m-sgi-eye-new-data-center-coolant-7000028203/
Summary: 3M’s Novec fluid combined with two-phase immersion cooling could shrink data center footprints and consume a lot less energy. A proof-of-concept supercomputer will be tested this month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel and SGI test full-immersion cooling for servers
The companies are exploring a cooling technique that submerses electronics in a special fluid developed by 3M
http://www.itworld.com/hardware/413707/intel-and-sgi-test-full-immersion-cooling-servers
The companies built a proof-of-concept supercomputer that’s kept cool using a fluid developed by 3M called Novec. It’s a dielectric liquid, which means electronics can be submerged in it and continue to operate normally.
They’re not the only companies experimenting with Novec. Intel is also working with Iceotope on a different full-immersion design.
“It’s an opportunity and a problem at the same time,”
On today’s motherboards, circuits are laid out just the right distance apart to maximize heat dissipation. With Novec, circuits could be packed together much more tightly, but redesigning servers is a big undertaking.
The companies also need to rethink rack-level interconnects, since plunging today’s optical cables directly into Novec might not work, Patterson said.
“Sometime in the future we’re going to look at ‘stacked silicon,’ where air cooling just won’t work,” he said. “Novec is something that can get to 3D stacking.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oklahoma electric utilities want higher rate for solar, wind energy producers
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-electric-utilities-want-higher-rate-for-solar-wind-energy-producers/article/4083525
Senate Bill 1456 allows regulated utilities to apply to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to charge a higher base rate to customers who generate solar and wind energy and send their excess power back into the grid. The bill passed the Legislature and is on Gov. Mary Fallin’s desk.
Solar growth?
Still, it’s the prospect of widespread adoption of rooftop solar that worries many utilities. A report last year by the industry’s research group, the Edison Electric Institute, warns of the risks posed by rooftop solar. It compared the development to the rapid technological changes from wireless communications that upended the traditional “Baby Bell” telephone companies.
“When customers have the opportunity to reduce their use of a product or find another provider of such service, utility earnings growth is threatened,” the report said. “As this threat to growth becomes more evident, investors will become less attracted to investments in the utility sector.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 reasons to use LED lighting in a data center
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/leds-in-datacenters.html?cmpid=$trackid
After building the case for LEDs over fluorescents, the paper says the 942-A standard recommends LEDs for the following reasons.
1. They consume less electricity
2. They generate less heat
3. They are nearly 100-percent dimmable
“These fixtures are connected to a central engine that provides power conversion and control … By performing the conversion at the engine, low-voltage Cat 5e/6/6A cabling can be used to run power to the fixtures, thereby avoiding the expense of deploying ac line voltage cabling.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple mocks Samsung with Earth Day ad, kicks off iPad trade-in program
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-mocks-samsung-earth-day-ad-ipad-tradein-20140422,0,363499.story#ixzz2zhBQafoL
The Cupertino tech company on Tuesday ran an Earth Day ad in numerous newspapers around the world, including The Times, that challenges its competitors to adopt the same environmentally friendly policies that Apple has.
“There are some ideas we want every company to copy,” the ad reads in large letters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ICT Roadmap for Energy Efficient Neighbourhoods (Ireen)
http://www.ireenproject.eu/
IREEN is a strategy project which examines the ways that ICT for energy efficient and performance can be extended beyond individual homes and buildings to the wider context of neighbourhoods and communities.
IREEN is funded under the EC’s 7th Framework Programme as a Coordination and Support Action. Grant Agreement Number 285627. The project commenced 1st September 2011 for 24 months (August 31st 2013). The project budget is a total of 1,464.5K Euros.
The key aim is to extend the notion of energy positive buildings and by extension, districts and neighbourhoods. “Energy positive” are buildings / areas being those that have the capacity to generate more energy than they use.
aking the context of current industry social and economic trends and challenges currently facing Europe, the project will engage with a wide range of stakeholders including those from technology, energy, construction, local authorities, building managers and owners.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New financing method could secure the solar industry’s future
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/new-financing-method-could-secure-the-solar-industrys-future/ec1fe51cfb78806cbbaac5e3d780a1c8.html
Bundling solar assets into marketable securities promises to lower project financing costs, leading to cheaper power and faster industry growth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trinity portable wind turbine takes a breezy approach to charging-on-the-go
http://www.gizmag.com/trinity-portable-wind-turbine/31749/
The plastic-bodied Trinity is carried as a 12-inch (30.5-cm) cylinder when not in use. When you want to juice it up, you pull out the turbine’s three aluminum legs, and prop it up to catch the wind.
And yes, it is waterproof (rated to IPX6), should the wind be accompanied by rain.
As the blades turn, they spin an internal 15-watt generator that in turn charges a 15,000-mAh lithium-polymer battery pack. Using one of two USB ports on the bottom of the unit, you can then plug in your phone (or other device) and charge it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Koch Brothers Attack On Solar Energy
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/04/28/0347225/the-koch-brothers-attack-on-solar-energy
“The NYT writes in an editorial that for the last few months, the Koch brothers and their conservative allies in state government have been spending heavily to fight incentives for renewable energy, by pushing legislatures to impose a surtax on this increasingly popular practice, hoping to make installing solar panels on houses less attractive. ‘The coal producers’ motivation is clear: They see solar and wind energy as a long-term threat to their businesses.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Be prepared with hydrogen fuel cell back-up power
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/commscope-hydrogen-fuel-cell-editorial.html?cmpid=EnlCIMApril282014
For small and mid-sized businesses, however, power outages are not so amusing. According to Price Waterhouse research, once an outage has occurred:
• 33 percent of companies take more than a day to recover.
• 10 percent of companies take more than a week.
• It can take up to 48 hours to reconfigure a network.
• It can take days or weeks to re-enter lost data.
• 90 percent of companies that experience computer downtime and don’t have a contingency plan go out of business within 18 months.
Recently, the emergence of advanced hydrogen fuel cell technology has more business owners and managers re-thinking their back-up power strategy. Electrical current hydrogen fuel cells (HFC) are a low-maintenance solution that is gaining momentum in the market as a reliable alternative source of back-up power. HFCs are electro-chemical devices that use hydrogen fuel and atmospheric oxygen to generate clean and quiet direct current electricity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ITU says IT industry must become ‘resilient’ in face of climate change
Your data centre needs a levee and comms should go wireless, say UN techies
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/30/itu_says_it_industry_must_become_resilient_in_face_of_climate_change/
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency responsible for information and communication technologies, has declared the information and communications technologies industries must “design and implement strategies for the sector to better prepare for, respond and adjust to the impacts of short- and long-term climatic manifestations.”
In a new report titled “Resilient pathways: the adaptation of the ICT sector to climate change” ((PDF), the ITU hedges on the causes of warming but says it is happening and has the potential to cause the following unpleasant outcomes for the ICT industries:
Accelerate the degradation of physical assets and ICT infrastructure,
Affect the supply of materials, interrupt transport and logistics,
Disrupt the availability and reliability of ICT services,
Increase operational business costs across the sector, reduce revenue, and challenge the sector’s ability to conduct repairs and recover from the effects of climatic events, among other direct and indirect impacts.
Other recommendations suggest building more redundancy into everything.
The report says climate change is also an opportunity for our sector
Tomi Engdahl says:
Decommissioning Nuclear Plants Costing Far More Than Expected
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/04/29/2355221/decommissioning-nuclear-plants-costing-far-more-than-expected
“decommissioning the plant—constructed early in the 1960s for $39 million—cost $608 million.”
The rising cost of decommissioning a nuclear power plant
http://thebulletin.org/rising-cost-decommissioning-nuclear-power-plant7107
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wind Power Is Getting Big
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=272996&
The US Department of Energy is counting on wind power to meet 20% of the nation’s power needs by 2030, up from 4% today. Advancing technologies play an increasingly critical role in developing offshore wind power. Last November, Clemson University unveiled the world’s largest 15 milliwatt Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test facility to create new technologies for the energy market.
The facility is using National Instruments’ integrated hardware and software tools as part of the brains of the wind turbine testing facility.
NI simulates the electrical grid to show what the turbine will be subjected to. The simulator shows all of the stresses and wear and tear. “A spike in the grid will cause tremendous mechanical strain as well as strain on the power electronics. The simulation allows us to test and validate the mechatronics.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video: Glass-Paved Roads Provide Solar Power
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=273025&
We’ve told you about solar-energy-harvesting glass, and tiles that can harvest energy from people’s footsteps. Now a project devised about eight years ago by an electrical engineer and his psychologist wife combines those two ideas with the development of solar panels that could one day pave our roads.
Scott and Julie Brusaw are the inventors of Solar Roadways, a project to develop solar panels durable enough to be driven on so they can replace asphalt or concrete surfaces of parking lots and roadways. Scott Brusaw has been envisioning the project since he was young, but he and Julie didn’t begin work in earnest on developing solar panels tough enough to be placed in the ground until 2006.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding the 2 Billion-Year-Old Natural Nuclear Reactor In W Africa
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/05/01/0112212/understanding-the-2-billion-year-old-natural-nuclear-reactor-in-w-africa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Let’s Call It ‘Climate Disruption,’ White House Science Adviser Suggests (Again)
http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/05/lets-call-it-climate-disruption-white-house-science-adviser-suggests-again
First there was “global warming.” Then many researchers suggested “climate change” was a better term. Now, White House science adviser John Holdren is renewing his call for a new nomenclature to describe the end result of dumping vast quantities of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into Earth’s atmosphere: “global climate disruption.”
“I’ve always thought that the phrase ‘global warming’ was something of a misnomer because it suggests that the phenomenon is something that is uniform around the world, that it’s all about temperature, and that it’s gradual,”
Instead, he said, “we should call it ‘global climate disruption.’ Although the rising average global surface temperature is an indicator of the degree of disruption that we have imposed on the global climate system, what’s actually happening involves changes in circulation patterns, changes in precipitation patterns, and changes in extremes. And those are very different in different places.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists race to develop farm animals to survive climate change
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-chickens-20140504,0,2628316.story#ixzz30qTurN51
When a team of researchers from the University of Delaware traveled to Africa two years ago to search for exemplary chickens, they weren’t looking for plump thighs or delicious eggs.
They were seeking out birds that could survive a hotter planet.
The researchers were in the vanguard of food scientists, backed by millions of dollars from the federal government, racing to develop new breeds of farm animals that can stand up to the hazards of global warming.
Some climate-change activists dismiss the work, which is just getting underway, as a distraction and a concession to industrial-style agriculture, which they blame for compounding the world’s environmental problems. Those leading the experiments, however, say new, heat-resistant breeds of farm animals will be essential to feeding the world as climate change takes hold.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Be prepared with hydrogen fuel cell back-up power
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/commscope-hydrogen-fuel-cell-editorial.html?cmpid=EnlCIMMay52014
For small and mid-sized businesses, however, power outages are not so amusing. According to Price Waterhouse research, once an outage has occurred:
• 33 percent of companies take more than a day to recover.
• 10 percent of companies take more than a week.
• It can take up to 48 hours to reconfigure a network.
• It can take days or weeks to re-enter lost data.
• 90 percent of companies that experience computer downtime and don’t have a contingency plan go out of business within 18 months.
Traditionally, businesses rely on a combination of generators powered by diesel fuel and lead-acid batteries for back-up power. These solutions, known as gen-sets, are permanently installed on an exterior concrete slab in a climate-controlled enclosure and hardwired into the building’s electrical system.
Still, commercial users are plagued by persistent issues with generators, including maintenance and space requirements, unreliable operation, inefficient delivery of power and the impact of noise and air pollution.
Over the years, a variety of HFC technologies were developed to optimize performance for specific applications. The most common types include proton exchange membrane (PEM), phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), solid oxide fuel cell and molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). PEM fuel cells are suited for smaller capacities (2–200 kW), while PAFCs and MCFCs are suited for higher capacities (50 kW–10 MW and 200 kW–100 MW). Among these, the PEM fuel cell is the most common.
Around 95 percent of fuel cells in use worldwide are based on this technology.
By comparison, fuel cells have minimal environmental impact. They use a renewable and plentiful fuel and the only byproducts are heat and water. Fuel cells also reduce noise emissions. By comparison, fuel cells have minimal environmental impact. They use a renewable and plentiful fuel and the only byproducts are heat and water. Fuel cells also reduce noise emissions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GE recounts data center energy efficiency innovations for Earth Day 2014
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/ge-earth-day.html
In recognition of Earth Day 2014, Jeff Schnitzer, general manager of GE’s Critical Power business (NYSE: GE), discussed recent trends in data center energy efficiency. Schnitzer noted that “on the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the World Wide Web existed only in research labs, ‘texting’ was something you wrote in a notebook, and the closest thing to a data center was the public library.”
“In 1970, we worried about landfills and paper waste, some 44,310,000 tons of it annually,” he continued. “Today, those things that were on paper now are in digital format, with an estimated 639,800 gigabytes of that digital information passing through data centers every minute.” He added, “Forty-four years later, Earth Day 2014 reminds us to examine the impact data centers have on our natural resources and sustainability, and the strides being made by businesses and governments to meet new data center energy efficiency levels.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, data centers now account for up to 2.5 percent of the total electricity generated in the United States.
“As we create, share and use more and more data in our business and personal lives, data center energy efficiency will remain one of the great challenges facing the industry,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Climate change is here, action needed now, says new White House report
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/06/politics/white-house-climate-energy/
Climate change is here and will only worsen. Get used to more flooding, wildfires and drought, depending on where you live. Cities and states across America already are spending lots of money to respond.
Those are the take-home messages of a new White House report released Tuesday that is part of President Barack Obama’s second-term effort to prepare the nation for the impacts of a changing climate such as rising sea levels and increasingly erratic weather.
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. Climate Report Predicts Growing Problems for Energy Sector
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/us-national-climate-assessment-report
More frequent and intense weather events—from hurricanes to wildfires to sweltering summers—can be attributed to climate change and are affecting energy production and power delivery in the United States, according to a new government report.
The latest National Climate Assessment, prepared by the U.S. National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee (NCADAC) and released yesterday, says that climate-related effects are not only already being felt but will likely get worse.
The study notes that there is some variation as to what is considered an extreme weather or climate event, but most of the U.S. territory is seeing “increased frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events, sustained summer heat, and in some regions, droughts and winter storms.”
Energy is affected at both the point of production and across the delivery chain.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vattenfall Ditches Carbon Capture and Storage Research
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/green-tech/clean-coal/vattenfall-ditches-carbon-capture-and-storage-research
Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest energy producers, announced this week that it will discontinue its research and development activities in carbon capture and storage (CCS) for coal-fired power plants.
Vattenfall said in a statement that research will continue in smart grid, wind, hydro, coal, and nuclear.
Europe’s power producers are already losing money on many coal and natural gas power plants due to depressed wholesale electricity prices from the recession
Despite years of research, CCS continues to be an expensive option to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. Even in the European Union, which has decarbonization policies, it has yet to become a commercial-scale, affordable option to keep older coal plants operating while producing fewer emissions.
CCS is not the only research area to get axed by Vattenfall. The company said it will also close down “a number of” projects in offshore wind and gas power.
For wind and hydro, the focus going forward will be on lessening environmental impacts of new projects. Vattenfall’s nuclear research will continue into how to safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel and it will also continue to look at ways to use coal assets as a regulator for intermittent renewables.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Wyoming Is First State To Reject Science Standards Over Climate Change
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/05/10/2353208/wyoming-is-first-state-to-reject-science-standards-over-climate-change
“Time Magazine reports that Wyoming, the nation’s top coal-producing state, has become the first state to reject new K-12 science standards proposed by national education groups mainly because of global warming components.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inventors: Feast your eyes on fuel cell tech that’ll power up Internet of Thingies
Developer kits at the ready, just add water
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/01/fuel_cell_tech_to_power_internet_of_stuff/
As we’re in the land of handheld devices and ultimately sensor nodes supporting the “internet of things”, keeping power consumption down, or at the very least making it practical, is high on the list here.
London-based outfit Arcola Energy strives to deliver the best of both worlds with its adaptations of hydrogen fuel cell tech.
The fuel cell determines the overall output of the system. With the Arduino One kit it’s 1.5W whereas the R-Pi version delivers a 12W and can increase this to 30W.
Besides green credentials, efficiency is a factor for industrial purposes. Diesel generators don’t like working below a full load, and Todd says that if your needs are 500W or less, then fuel cells are competitive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spotty solar power management platform could crash the grid
Flaky firmware makes power panels p0wnage possible
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/12/hackable_solar_systems_spurt_free_money/
Criminals could potentially cause black-outs and mess with power grid configurations by exploiting flaws in a popular solar panel management system used by thousands of homes and businesses.
Details of how the attacks could be executed were kept under wraps while solar panel monitoring kit vendor Solar-Log distributed a patch for the flaws.
The threat is substantial because, as the company boasts, its eponymous management system runs globally on roughly 229,300 solar plants that typically pump out 566TWh of electrical energy, or so we’re told.
“For instance a massive attack can cause power grid reconfiguration and chains of blackouts [and] bad guys can try to monetise it via blackmail,” Goreychik said.”
“At moment we can’t disclose more detail [about the vulnerabilities] because thousands of households around the globe are using vulnerable version of Solar-Log and can be attacked by cyber criminals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans as Antarctic Ice Melts
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/earth/collapse-of-parts-of-west-antarctica-ice-sheet-has-begun-scientists-say.html?_r=0
The collapse of large parts of the ice sheet in West Antarctica appears to have begun and is almost certainly unstoppable, with global warming accelerating the pace of the disintegration, two groups of scientists reported Monday.
The finding, which had been feared by some scientists for decades, means that a rise in global sea level of at least 10 feet may now be inevitable. The rise may continue to be relatively slow for at least the next century or so
The new finding appears to be the fulfillment of a prediction made in 1978 by an eminent glaciologist, John H. Mercer of the Ohio State University.
Most scientists in the field see a connection between the stronger winds and human-caused global warming, but they say other factors are likely at work, too. Natural variability of climate may be one of them. Another may be the ozone hole over Antarctica, caused by an entirely different environmental problem, the human release of ozone-destroying gases.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Indian climate boffins: Himalayan glaciers are NOT MELTING
IPCC caught in yet another confirmation bias trap
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/13/indian_boffins_himalayan_glaciers_are_not_melting_ipcc_alarmist_global_warming/
Top Indian physicists have concluded Himalayan glaciers show little sign of retreat – in one of the largest studies of its type ever carried out.
Glacier melt is important because it presages rising sea levels in the future – although this can take a very long time, typically hundreds of years.
India stepped up its own scientific research after shoddy work was exposed in the 2007 IPCC AR4 report into climate impacts. That report claimed the Himalayan glaciers would disappear entirely by 2035, leading to widespread drought, starvation and migration. It was rubbish, as the unapologetic IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri, was forced to admit.
India is now stepping up its own climate research as a consequence; Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has described the IPCC as “alarmist”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Grid standards for interoperability, interconnection, integration
Joining disparate power, IT, and communications systems in developing the Smart Grid.
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/smart-grid-standards-for-interoperability-interconnection-integration/ca68f6ba239e7ae8481524fbefe411e3.html
Standards are an important consideration in the work of building engineers, but their role is increasing with the globally intensifying implementation of the Smart Grid and the revolutionary changes that are being brought about to way that buildings interact with electricity.
There is an array of standards that helps enable interoperability, interconnection and integration of disparate systems as power, IT, and communications are interweaved in the developing Smart Grid.
IEEE 1547 “Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems” for the basis of the interconnection of the photovoltaic device itself to the power grid, and IEEE 1547.1 “Standard Conformance Test Procedures for Equipment Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems” for commissioning tests.
Systems-level standards are an area of focus for IEEE with regard to the Smart Grid. The IEEE 1547 family of standards
IEEE 2030 “Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS), End-Use Applications, and Loads” takes a similar system-of-systems approach.
The Smart Grid is bringing definitive change to the ways that buildings relate with electricity. Whereas most buildings have historically been only consumers of electricity, more and more buildings will also serve as points of power generation in the Smart Grid.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fusion Power By 2020? Researchers Say Yes and Turn To Crowdfunding.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/05/20/0126248/fusion-power-by-2020-researchers-say-yes-and-turn-to-crowdfunding
“To date, the bulk of fusion research has been channelled towards a plasma containment and stabilization method. This is the approach used by ITER’s tokamak reactor”
” Researchers at LPP Fusion, in a project partially financed by NASA-JPL, are working in a different direction: focus fusion, which focuses the plasma in a very small area to produce fusion and an ion beam which could then be harnessed to produce electricity. It is small enough to fit in a shipping container”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy economics from the coalface: We WON’T run out of it in five years
We won’t run out in 500 years either…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/22/energy_economics_coal/
Among the more surprising things that the BBC revealed to us last week was that the UK was going to run out of coal within the next five years. Given that the island is pretty much built on a bed of coal, this is something of a puzzler.
However, “resources” and “reserves” are a legal and economic description, not one of actual availability.
We simply don’t have any meaningful shortage of these metals that they’re worrying about.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trillions of Plastic Pieces May Be Trapped in Arctic Ice
http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2014/05/trillions-plastic-pieces-may-be-trapped-arctic-ice
Humans produced nearly 300 million tons of plastic in 2012, but where does it end up? A new study has found plastic debris in a surprising location: trapped in Arctic sea ice. As the ice melts, it could release a flood of floating plastic onto the world.
Scientists already knew that microplastics—polymer beads, fibers, or fragments less than 5 millimeters long—can wind up in the ocean, near coastlines, or in swirling eddies such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But Rachel Obbard, a materials scientist at Dartmouth College, was shocked to find that currents had carried the stuff to the Arctic.
What is the consequence of all this plastic floating around? At this point, it is hard to say. Plastic is chemically inert. But the plastic can absorb organic pollutants in high concentrations, says Mark Browne
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Giant Tower In The Desert Could Generate As Much Power As The Hoover Dam
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3030110/this-giant-tower-in-the-desert-could-generate-as-much-power-as-the-hoover-dam
The Solar Wind Downdraft Tower will generate huge amounts of power–if it’s ever built.
If the Solar Wind Downdraft Tower is ever built in the Arizona desert, it truly will be a wonder of the modern world. At 2,250 feet, it would be taller than the new Freedom Tower in New York (1,776 feet), and 1,000 feet higher than the Empire State Building. It would have 120 huge turbines at its base, and enough pumping capacity to keep more than 2.5 billion gallons of water circulating. And it would have colossal power output: the equivalent of wind turbines spread over 100,000 acres, or as big as the Hoover Dam.
The idea goes like this: Water is sprayed at the top, causing hot air to become heavy and fall through the tower. By the time it reaches the bottom, it’s reaching speeds of up to 50 miles per hour, which is ideal for running the turbines. The advantage over standard solar and wind energy is the plant runs continuously, day and night.
The plant itself runs under its own generated energy: about 11% of output goes to pumping the water to the top again, and about three-quarters of the water is collected at the bottom
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Energy Saved By Ditching DVDs Could Power 200,000 Homes
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/05/29/1926217/the-energy-saved-by-ditching-dvds-could-power-200000-homes
“The environmental benefits of streaming a movie (or downloading it) rather than purchasing a DVD are staggering, according to a new U.S. government study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. If all DVDs purchased in 2011 were streamed instead, the energy savings would have been enough to meet the electricity demands of roughly 200,000 households. It would have cut roughly 2 billion kilograms of carbon emissions.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Energy Saved By Ditching DVDs Could Power 200,000 Homes
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-energy-saved-by-ditching-dvds-could-power-200000-homes
If you still buy DVDs, you’re killing the environment.
Maybe that’s a little extreme, but the environmental benefits of streaming a movie (or downloading it) rather than purchasing a DVD are staggering, according to a new US government study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
If, like me, you’re thinking, “who buys DVDs anymore, anyways,” the answer is “a lot of people.”
Despite the advent of hi-res streaming sites and hi-res digital downloads, Americans still spent $7.78 billion on physical DVDs and Blu-Ray discs last year; they only spent $4.35 billion on digital versions of movies and subscription streaming services such as Netflix. Of course, both are trending in the expected ways: Physical media sales dropped 8 percent in 2013, and digital movie sales were up roughly 47 percent. But people are still buying a lot of DVDs, roughly 1.2 billion last year.
According to the study, published in Environmental Research Letters, even when you take into account cloud storage, data servers, the streaming device, streaming uses much less energy than purchasing a DVD.
“Data center energy use—both operational and embodied within the IT equipment—account for less than 1 percent of the total video streaming energy use,” the study said.
Most of the energy use comes from actually getting the video to you—the internet connection itself—and the device you’re streaming with.
Watching one hour of streaming video requires roughly 8 megajoules of energy, compared to 12 megajoules for watching a DVD.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Telstra kills ZOMBIE BOXES all over Australia
Redundant kit revealed by Warrnambool auto-da-fé
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/04/telstra_kills_zombie_boxes_all_over_australia/
The fire that took out a major regional exchange last year has inspired Telstra to start building bigger mobile exchanges for future emergencies – and it’s also revealed that there’s a bunch of redundant hardware still consuming carbon around the country.
The 2012 fire in the Warrnambool exchange showed up various holes in the incumbent carrier’s disaster recovery plans.
Now, David Plitz, who conducted the original review, has posted an update on what the carrier has learned since the fire – and one of the big surprises is that there’s lots of redundant equipment that remains merely because nobody realised it was no longer needed.
He writes: “one of the biggest surprises actually came after we had restored the Warrnambool Exchange to full working order. In the months following the restoration we noticed a significant drop in the consumption of power at the site which was something that we had not been expecting.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
4.5 Degrees
http://xkcd.com/1379/
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK govt preps World War 2 energy rationing to keep the lights on
PUT THAT FACTORY LIGHT OUT!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/10/uk_preps_ww2style_energy_rationing/
The UK government will today set out Second World War-style measures to keep the lights on and avert power cuts as a “last resort”. The price to Britons will be high, however.
Factories will be asked to “voluntarily” shut down to save energy at peak times for homes, while others will be paid to provide their own backup power should they have a spare generator or two lying around. And as part of the government’s wider energy market reforms, electricity producers will be able to name their price for bringing mothballed fossil-fuel-powered plants back on line.
The problem is that the energy plants were closed due to compliance with EU environmental regulations, but the UK has failed to build adequate replacements. This means the country can barely cope with peak winter demand.
Energy market experts predict that because the UK’s need is so urgent, the producers will be able to demand a high price
The capacity crunch has been predicted for about seven years, with voices such as Professor Ian Fells warning UK energy policy would lead to either power cuts or extremely high peak prices. Everyone seems to have seen this coming – except the people in charge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Time to Swap Power Plants for Giant Batteries? Almost
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/time-to-swap-power-plants-for-giant-batteries
High costs have limited the use batteries in the electricity grid, but emerging technologies will make batteries a more compelling way to supply power during hours of peak demand. And they’ll do it soon, say battery firm executives.
Utilities and energy project developers are now considering batteries as alternatives to traditional grid infrastructure, such as substation upgrades and natural gas-fired “peaker” power plants that only run a few days a year, according to industry executives who spoke at the Utility of the Future conference in Washington D.C. last week. Once the price of energy storage goes below US $300 per kilowatt-hour, batteries could transform how power is delivered, they said.
“You’re seeing the price points going down and the capability to monetize the benefits of storage going up,”
Battery systems could supply power during those critical hours and provide other services to the grid the rest of the year.
Already, batteries are cost effective for ancillary services in some regions, said Chris Shelton, president of AES Energy Storage, which now has 174 megawatts of truck-size lithium ion batteries installed.
Among its projects is a 32-megawatt battery attached to a wind farm that serves to smooth out the power supply from the wind turbines and provides frequency regulation services to local grid daily.
Billions of dollars are spent every year on peaker plants, but changing regulations will prompt utilities to consider batteries as an alternative
Earlier this month, for example, flow battery company EnerVault said it expects to sell a battery at a cost of $250 per kilowatt-hour that can work for four or more hours.
Lithium ion batteries are more expensive, but the costs are coming down steadily
AES Energy Storage’s Shelton noted that grid-scale batteries are coming at a time when utilities need to upgrade the aging electricity infrastructure and, in some cases, incorporate more renewable energy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Machine learning optimizes Google data centers’ PUE
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/05/machine-learning-google-datacenters-pue.html
Did you know that Google has been calculating its data centers’ PUE data every five minutes for over five years, including 19 different variables such as cooling tower speed, processing water temperature, pump speed, outside air temperature, humidity, etc?
“neural networks are the latest way Google is slashing energy consumption from its data centers”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Investigating the use of ceiling-ducted air containment in data centers
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/06/apc-ceiling-ducted-datacenter-containment.html
A new graphical white paper from APC-Schneider Electric investigates how ducted air containment can simultaneously improve the energy efficiency and reliability of data centers.
“Ducting hot IT-equipment exhaust to a drop ceiling can be an effective air management strategy,” states the paper’s executive summary. “Typical approaches include ducting either individual racks or entire hot aisles and may be passive (ducting only) or active (includes fans).”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Greenpeace rejoices after getting huge renewable powerplant CANCELLED
There’s just no pleasing some hippies*
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/12/greenpeace_rejoices_after_getting_huge_renewable_powerplant_cancelled/
Greenpeace activists are celebrating today, after their protests led to the halting of plans to build a massive renewable powerplant which would have supplied clean, green, low-carbon electricity in huge quantities.
The project, which would have seen hydroelectric dams constructed on the region’s rivers and a lengthy high-voltage DC line constructed to carry the power to centres of population and industry, would have met as much as 21 per cent of Chile’s electricity requirements with effectively zero carbon emissions.
Chile has no fossil fuels or nuclear power and very little renewable energy. As a result of the Hidroaysén cancellation, more imported fossil fuels will be burned and electricity prices – already the highest in Latin America – will climb still further.
“The big winners here are the environmentalists but the big losers are the consumers,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
British boffin tells Obama’s science advisor: You’re wrong on climate change
Cold US winters to be more frequent? NO, SILLY
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/16/brit_boffin_to_obama_science_advisor_you_are_wrong_on_climate_change/
A top British scientist has come out with new research flatly contradicting the idea that extremely cold winters in North America – like the one just past – will become more frequent due to global warming. This new analysis disagrees completely with the assessment of President Obama’s personal science advisor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Interests, Ideology and Climate
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/opinion/krugman-interests-ideology-and-climate.html&assetType=opinion&_r=0
There are three things we know about man-made global warming. First, the consequences will be terrible if we don’t take quick action to limit carbon emissions. Second, in pure economic terms the required action shouldn’t be hard to take: emission controls, done right, would probably slow economic growth, but not by much. Third, the politics of action are nonetheless very difficult.
But why is it so hard to act? Is it the power of vested interests?
I’ve been looking into that issue and have come to the somewhat surprising conclusion that it’s not mainly about the vested interests. They do, of course, exist and play an important role; funding from fossil-fuel interests has played a crucial role in sustaining the illusion that climate science is less settled than it is. But the monetary stakes aren’t nearly as big as you might think. What makes rational action on climate so hard is something else — a toxic mix of ideology and anti-intellectualism.
So the real obstacle, as we try to confront global warming, is economic ideology reinforced by hostility to science. In some ways this makes the task easier: we do not, in fact, have to force people to accept large monetary losses. But we do have to overcome pride and willful ignorance, which is hard indeed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using eco mode in UPS systems
Saving energy is the ultimate goal when implementing UPS eco mode.
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/using-eco-mode-in-ups-systems/ca9ebc394f29b9166545ba601908fcee.html
The choice of using UPS eco mode operation for critical systems is a widely debated topic in the industry today, as energy costs rise and corporations seek to enhance their green image by showing improved power usage effectiveness (PUE) in their annual reports.
There are many different interpretations of what “eco mode” operation means in a UPS system. The reality is that eco mode is a broad term used to describe any UPS mode of operation that improves the efficiency of the system. This efficiency increase comes with a particular trade-off in performance, which varies by vendor. This means that, depending on the manufacturer, UPS systems that use an eco mode may have entirely different modes of operation, affecting reliability and energy savings—again, stressing the importance of understanding the operating characteristics of the specific equipment within your facility.
UPS systems with an eco mode use the same configuration as double conversion units, but with different operational characteristics that provide an increase in efficiency. When placed in eco mode, the UPS system typically allows utility power to bypass the rectifier and inverter and directly feed the critical load. In the event of a power disturbance, the UPS can provide conditioned power to the load by returning to normal mode. This process can significantly reduce the losses in the UPS system, depending on the manufacturer, and generally improves UPS efficiencies by 2% to 4%.
A common misconception of UPS systems is the difference between offline and line interactive, both of which can be considered eco mode.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Enable smarter, cleaner power through technology innovation
http://www.ti.com/lit/wp/sszy011/sszy011.pdf
Advanced electronic technologies allow the intelligent power grid to embrace renewable forms of energy generation, bringing greater efficiency and a greener world.
Grid parity will soon be upon us, bringing power from renewable sources that costs the same or less than power from fossil fuels and other traditional sources. We will achieve these low renewable energy costs through a continued investment in solar and wind turbine technology development and manufacturing, but also by investing in an intelligent power network, the so-called smart grid. As a leading supplier of analog and embedded processing technologies, Texas Instruments (TI) is closely involved in developing the smart grid, providing integrated circuit solutions that enable power equipment manufacturers to introduce greater measurement, control and communication in their products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloud computing and your carbon footprint
http://video.ft.com/3515497713001/Cloud-computing-and-your-carbon-footprint/Companies
Apr 28, 2014 : Cloud computing is designed to make your business more efficient – but, asks Hugo Greenhalgh, what is the impact on your carbon footprint?