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:
Swedish Farmers Have Doubts About Climatologists and Climate Change
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/06/29/1435237/swedish-farmers-have-doubts-about-climatologists-and-climate-change
Researchers the world over almost unanimously agree that our climate is changing … But many farmers – at least Swedish ones – have experienced mild winters and shifting weather before and are hesitant about trusting the scientists.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers Claim Wind Turbine Energy Payback In Less Than a Year
Wind turbine payback: Environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140616093317.htm
They conclude that in terms of cumulative energy payback, or the time to produce the amount of energy required of production and installation, a wind turbine with a working life of 20 years will offer a net benefit within five to eight months of being brought online.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wind turbine payback period claimed to be within 8 months
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/06/16/wind-turbine-payback-period-claimed-to-be-within-8-months/
US researchers have carried out an environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines mooted for a large wind farm in the US Pacific Northwest. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, they conclude that in terms of cumulative energy payback, or the time to produce the amount of energy required of production and installation, a wind turbine with a working life of 20 years will offer a net benefit within five to eight months of being brought online.
Coupled lifecycle cost and environmental assessment in terms of energy use and emissions of manufacturing, installation, maintenance and turbine end-of-life processing seems to be limited in the discussions for and against these devices.
It is likely that even in a worst case scenario, lifetime energy requirements for each turbine will be subsumed by the first year of active use.
The problem here is the assumption that a wind turbine is the equivalent of a conventional coal or nuclear power plant. It isn’t, and as we know wind is not a constant thing:
“My biggest fear is if you see 20 percent wind on your system, and then it comes off at a time period where you don’t have resources to replace it — that’s going to, could, result in a blackout situation,” he says.
As we have seen before, when power is needed most, we can’t always count on the wind to blow at a level that will keep a wind turbine producing, requiring another power source to back it up. Thus, it is a blatant fallacy to claim:
…each turbine will, in effect, power over 500 households without consuming electricity generated using conventional energy sources.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NASA Launching Satellite To Track Carbon
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/06/30/1154256/nasa-launching-satellite-to-track-carbon
A NASA satellite being prepared for launch early on Tuesday is expected to reveal details about where carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas tied to climate change, is being released into Earth’s atmosphere on a global scale.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Innovative Data Center Cooling Techniques
http://www.strategicdatacenter.com/52/google%E2%80%99s-innovative-data-center-cooling-techniques
In years gone by, data centers kept temperatures at 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and narrow humidity ranges. According to a recent article in CIO.com, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the organization that issues de facto standards for data center climate, has moved the top recommended temperature range to 80.6° F and increased the peak humidity threshold as well.
This shift to higher temperatures and humidity levels has pushed manufacturers to expand the operating climate range of their equipment. It’s also made data center managers think about employing innovative cooling methods, such as using outside air, water and evaporative techniques.
Google drives down the cost and environmental impact of running data centers by designing and building its own facilities. The company employs “free-cooling” techniques like using outside air or reused water for cooling. Google claims its data centers use 50 percent less energy than the typical data center and are among the most efficient in the world.
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.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Earth Engine Brings Big Data to Environmental Activism
A new forest-mapping tool relies on unprecedented data crunching
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/google-earth-engine-brings-big-data-to-environmental-activism
Watching the Woods: A new mapping tool uses satellite imagery to keep an eye on the world’s forests from above.
When a tree falls in the forest these days, it doesn’t just make a sound—it causes a computer program to generate an alert that’s sent out to activists, researchers, and environmental policymakers around the planet. An online tool to map deforestation is applying big-data processing techniques to massive troves of satellite imagery, and in the process it is making possible a new kind of environmental activism.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Renewable Energy Saves Fortune 100 Companies $1.1B Annually
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/07/01/2151241/renewable-energy-saves-fortune-100-companies-11b-annually
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fortune 100 companies saved $1.1B using renewable energy
Ironically, energy companies and financial services companies are the biggest laggards
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249496/Fortune_100_companies_saved_1.1B_using_renewable_energy
Clean energy is no longer just the bastion of crunchy granola types and companies hoping to improve their public image.
Increasing the use of renewable energy has become a targeted goal of almost half of Fortune 500 companies, and with good reason. According to a new report, more than half of Fortune 100 companies collectively saved $1.1 billion in energy costs by rolling out renewable energy programs.
The report, “Power Forward 2.0,” was put together by Ceres, David Gardiner & Associates, Calvert Investments and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
According to the report, 43% of Fortune 500 companies, or 215 in all, have set targets in one of three categories: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and using renewable energy. When narrowed to just the Fortune 100, 60% of the companies have set the same clean energy goals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Man-made CO2 debate-settler: NASA sniffer sat makes it off launchpad
Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 finally gets off the ground
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/02/oco_2_nasa_carbon_co2_global_warming/
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) has not only managed to blast off today, it has also nailed the separation from its booster rocket.
The satellite – which will study the absorption of sunlight by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – is the third attempt to get a CO2-measuring craft into space by NASA.
Boffins hope that OCO-2’s data can offer clarity on just how much impact human activity has on carbon dioxide production and the processes the gas undergoes in the atmosphere, which will hopefully help lead to some answers on if and how we can do something about climate change.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finland wants to emission-free energy top
From Finland to be a new, emission-free energy production, at the top. For this purpose, Tekes launched under the leadership of the NEO CARBON ENERGY-project, which has an overall this year and two next year, seven million.
The project aims to ensure that Finnish industry in the pole position in the future energy system development. The project is a multi-disciplinary future energy systems operational principles, technologies and focuses on the social impact of research.
The project coordinator is a leading researcher Pasi Vainikka VTT. He believes that solar and wind energy can provide a significant opportunity for Finland, job creation and export of products.
Solar and wind energy based on zero-emission energy system is a major challenge due to the uneven production. In addition, this kind of energy is diffused a much smaller units, as households would act as energy producers.
Emission-free energy challenge is to connect the electricity, heat, transport, and energy-intensive industry from production to varying solar and wind power. In particular, the electrical system of production and consumption must be carefully balanced.
Solar and wind power, prepared hydrocarbons such as synthetic natural gas could be stored and used in the current energy system.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1556:suomi-haluaa-paastottoman-energian-karkeen&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
As threatened, Senate budgetmakers move to end U.S. participation in ITER
http://news.sciencemag.org/funding/2014/07/threatened-senate-budgetmakers-move-end-u-s-participation-iter?rss=1
Budgetmakers in the U.S. Senate have moved to halt U.S. participation in ITER, the huge international fusion experiment now under construction in Cadarache, France, that aims to demonstrate that nuclear fusion could be a viable source of energy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Climate Change Skeptic Group Must Pay Damages To UVA, Michael Mann
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/14/07/09/1223208/climate-change-skeptic-group-must-pay-damages-to-uva-michael-mann
“ATI must pay damages for filing a frivolous lawsuit.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solar has won. Even if coal were free to burn, power stations couldn’t compete
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/07/solar-has-won-even-if-coal-were-free-to-burn-power-stations-couldnt-compete
As early as 2018, solar could be economically viable to power big cities. By 2040 over half of all electricity may be generated in the same place it’s used. Centralised, coal-fired power is over
Last week, for the first time in memory, the wholesale price of electricity in Queensland fell into negative territory – in the middle of the day.
For several days the price, normally around $40-$50 a megawatt hour, hovered in and around zero. Prices were deflated throughout the week, largely because of the influence of one of the newest, biggest power stations in the state – rooftop solar.
“Negative pricing” moves, as they are known, are not uncommon. But they are only supposed to happen at night, when most of the population is mostly asleep, demand is down, and operators of coal fired generators are reluctant to switch off. So they pay others to pick up their output.
That’s not supposed to happen at lunchtime. Daytime prices are supposed to reflect higher demand
The influx of rooftop solar has turned this model on its head. There is 1,100MW of it on more than 350,000 buildings in Queensland alone (3,400MW on 1.2m buildings across the country).
The impact has been so profound, and wholesale prices pushed down so low, that few coal generators in Australia made a profit last year. Hardly any are making a profit this year. State-owned generators like Stanwell are specifically blaming rooftop solar.
The problem for Australian consumers (and voters) comes in the cost of delivery of those electrons – through the transmission and distribution networks, and from retail costs and taxes.
This is the cost which is driving households to take up rooftop solar
Just the network charges and the retailer charges alone add up to more than 19c/kWh, according to estimates by the Australian energy market commissioner. According to industry estimates, solar ranges from 12c/kWh to 18c/kWh, depending on solar resources of the area, Those costs are forecast to come down even further, to around 10c/kWh and lower.
raising the biggest challenge to the centralised model of generation
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finland wants to emission-free energy top
For this purpose, Tekes launched under the leadership of the NEO CARBON ENERGY-project, which has an overall this year and two next year, seven million.
The project aims to ensure that Finnish industry in the pole position in the future energy system development. The project is a multi-disciplinary future energy systems operational principles, technologies and focuses on the social impact of research.
Its aim is to create a view mainly to the sun and the wind-emission energy system requirements and system for business opportunities and social implications. The project will develop, among other things, the power supply connected to the large-scale energy storage and its integration with other energy sectors.
Households may in the future play an important role in the production of electrical energy to the public network.
Solar and wind power, prepared hydrocarbons such as synthetic natural gas could be stored and used in the current energy system.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1556:suomi-haluaa-paastottoman-energian-karkeen&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Last Three Months Were the Hottest Quarter On Record
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/07/15/1436207/the-last-three-months-were-the-hottest-quarter-on-record
The last three months were collectively the warmest ever experienced since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. From the article: “Taken as a whole, the just-finished three-month period was about 0.68 degrees Celsius (1.22 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th-century average. That may not sound like much, but the added warmth has been enough to provide a nudge to a litany of weather and climate events worldwide.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Much Energy Storage Do You Need to Back Up the London Array?
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/underwater-energy-bags-for-the-london-array
Storing electricity underwater in the form of compressed air is a tantalizing notion that could, if it works, help solve the intermittency problem of wind, solar, and other renewable sources. That “if” is a big one, though, because there are many details engineers have yet to nail down for underwater compressed-air energy storage (UW-CAES). One company that’s been trying to nail down those details is the Canadian start-up Hydrostor.
The Hydrostor system will use electricity from the Toronto Hydro power grid to run a compressor; the compressed air will then be stored in flexible energy bags submerged at a depth of about 80 meters. Later, the air will be run through a turbine when the energy is needed.
For all that effort, the system will be able to supply just a megawatt of electricity for up to three hours. Eventually, the company is aiming for a capacity of 20 to 30 megawatts that can be discharged over 10 to 20 hours.
the offshore wind farm known as the London Array has 175 turbines and an installed capacity of 630 megawatts. To compensate for a one-day lull would require up to 812,000 cubic meters of compressed air
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lawrence Krauss: Congress Is Trying To Defund Scientists At Energy Department
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/07/24/2225225/lawrence-krauss-congress-is-trying-to-defund-scientists-at-energy-department
He writes that this action from the US Congress is worse even than the Australian government’s move to cancel their carbon tax, because the action of Congress is far more insidious: “Each (amendment) would, in its own way, specifically prohibit scientists at the Energy Department from doing precisely what Congress should mandate them to do—namely perform the best possible scientific research to illuminate, for policymakers, the likelihood and possible consequences of climate change.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook unveils Autoscale, its load-balancing system that achieves an average power saving of 10-15%
http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2014/08/08/facebook-unveils-autoscale-load-balancing-system-achieves-average-power-saving-10-15/
acebook today revealed details about Autoscale, a system for power-efficient load balancing that has been rolled out to production clusters in its data centers. The company says it has “demonstrated significant energy savings.”
For those who don’t know, load balancing refers to distributing workloads across multiple computing resources, in this case servers. The goal is to optimize resource use, which can mean different things depending on the task at hand.
The control loop starts with collecting utilization information (CPU, request queue, and so on) from all active servers. The Autoscale controller then decides on the optimal active pool size and passes the decision to the load balancers, which distribute the workload evenly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brookings Study Calls Solar, Wind Power the Most Expensive Fossil Alternatives
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/08/09/1644224/brookings-study-calls-solar-wind-power-the-most-expensive-fossil-alternatives
Specifically, this means nuclear power offers a savings of more than $400,000 worth of carbon emissions per megawatt of capacity. Solar saves only $69,000 and wind saves $107,000.
Rocky Mountain Institute find the Brookings study flawed in several ways
Tomi Engdahl says:
Information Becoming Key to Increased Energy Efficiency in Building Automation
https://www.csemag.com/single-article/information-becoming-key-to-increased-energy-efficiency-in-building-automation/c36d38823f64cf81ccc9443b9dba0199.html
Since the output of energy from renewable sources remains much lower than that of traditional oil, gas and coal, adjustments must be made to reduce consumption. One way to reduce consumption is to make buildings more energy efficient.
One of the main issues of the twenty-first century is how countries will be able to cut carbon emissions and move toward sources of renewable energy. Since the output of energy from renewable sources remains much lower than that of traditional oil, gas and coal, adjustments must be made to reduce consumption. One way to reduce consumption is to make buildings more energy efficient. To avoid higher energy costs due to increased taxes, building owners have begun looking at building automation systems to regulate one of the largest consumers of energy: the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units, according to a recent report from IHS Technology (NYSE: IHS).
The need to regulate HVAC units has become more apparent with each passing year
With the population moving to warmer regions and trading harsh winters for harsh summers, there is an increased need for air conditioning during the much warmer summer months.
Outside of the US, in the developing regions like India, China and Brazil, the main reason air conditioning isn’t used currently is because of relatively poor nature of their residents. As their populations become wealthier, it is assumed that they will try to emulate the climate control needs of developed nations.
In Europe, due to climate change and the desire to curtail carbon emissions, many governments have continued to increase taxes related to energy usage which has forced buildings to continually find better ways to manage consumption.
Perhaps the most important item for a building automation system is information. With the right information, building automation integrators are able to design robust systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 ways to capture carbon – and use it!
http://decarboni.se/insights/5-ways-capture-carbon-and-use-it?utm_source=ob
One way to reduce emissions from energy is through carbon capture and storage solutions and new techniques are emerging to reuse this carbon dioxide once it’s been captured. Let’s take a look at some of the more novel approaches
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zero-energy building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-energy_building
A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), or net zero building, is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site. These buildings still produce greenhouse gases because on cloudy (or non-windy) days, at night when the sun isn’t shining, and on short winter days, conventional grid power is still the main energy source. Because of this, most zero net energy buildings still get half or more of their energy from the grid. Buildings that produce a surplus of energy over the year may be called “energy-plus buildings” and buildings that consume slightly more energy than they produce are called “near-zero energy buildings” or “ultra-low energy houses”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Foam blanking panels improve cooling efficiency in data center aisle containment layouts
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/07/coolshield-foam-blanking-panel.html
“Filling blank spaces and gaps is crucial in IT spaces to prevent air mixing between supply and exhaust air within the cabinet,” comments Data Center Resources co-founder, Rick Berendes.
The company says the foam blanking panel provides a multi-purpose solution for air bypass and sealing open spaces in and around data center server cabinets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
WHY ENERGY STORAGE ?
http://www.primuspower.com/energy-storage/
Matching electricity generation and demand to maintain stability is the main goal of the electric power system. Whether you are a customer, a generator or the utility, making sure that the “lights stay on” is paramount. The electric grid is the premier example of just-in-time delivery
Energy storage devices can act like a warehouse for the grid
Today “storage” is already present, but it mainly appears as an excess of capacity in generation, distribution and transmission.
As a society, we continue to make the grid increasingly more complicated through the addition of renewables, distributed generation sources, and electric vehicle technologies, while at the same time demanding higher quality and reliability to run high-tech equipment. Energy storage is a necessary tool to allow the system to operate more efficiently and reliably.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How California’s Carbon Market Actually Works
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/08/15/1948258/how-californias-carbon-market-actually-works
The centerpiece of the state’s efforts — in rhetorical terms, if not practical ones — is a comprehensive carbon market, which California’s leaders promote as a model policy for controlling carbon pollution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Storage Necessary For Renewable Energy?
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/08/17/1550255/is-storage-necessary-for-renewable-energy
Physicist and energy expert Amory Lovins, chief scientist at The Rocky Mountain Institute, recently released a video in which he claims that renewable energy can meet all of our energy needs without the need for a fossil fuel or nuclear baseload generation. There’s nothing unusual about that — many people have made that claim — but he also suggests that this can be done without a lot of grid-level storage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Storage Necessary for Renewable Energy?
http://www.engineering.com/ElectronicsDesign/ElectronicsDesignArticles/ArticleID/8272/Is-Storage-Necessary-for-Renewable-Energy.aspx
Physicist and energy expert Amory Lovins, chief scientist at The Rocky Mountain Institute, recently released a video in which he claims that renewable energy can meet all of our energy needs without the need for a fossil fuel or nuclear baseload generation. There’s nothing unusual about that – many people have made that claim – but he also suggests that this can be done without a lot of grid-level storage. Instead, Lovins describes a “choreography” between supply and demand, using predictive computer models models to anticipate production and consumption, and intelligent routing to deliver power where it’s needed. This “energy dance,” combined with advances in energy efficiency, will allow us to meet all of our energy needs without sacrificing reliability.
Okay, so there is a little storage involved: ice-storage air conditioning and smart charging of electric vehicles. But where others, including myself, have assumed that large storage devices will need to be added to the grid
Tomi Engdahl says:
BrightSource solar plant sets birds on fire as they fly overhead
Death estimates range from 1,000 to 28,000 per year
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/brightsource-solar-plant-sets-birds-on-fire-as-they-fly-overhead-1.2739512
Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the concentrated beams of solar energy focused upward by the plant’s 300,000 mirrors — “streamers,” for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair.
Federal wildlife investigators who visited BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one “streamer” every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator’s application to build a still-bigger version.
The investigators want the halt until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed.
Unlike many other solar plants, the Ivanpah plant does not generate energy using photovoltaic solar panels. Instead, it has more than 300,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door. Together, they cover 1,416 hectares.
Each mirror collects and reflects solar rays, focusing and concentrating solar energy from their entire surfaces upward onto three boiler towers, each looming up to 40 stories high. The solar energy heats the water inside the towers to produce steam, which turns turbines that generate enough electricity for 140,000 homes.
Federal wildlife officials said Ivanpah might also act as a “mega-trap” for wildlife, with the bright light of the plant attracting insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds that fly to their death in the intensely focused light rays.
“birds entering the solar flux and igniting, consequently become a streamer.”
Power-tower proponents are fighting to keep the deaths from forcing a pause in the building of new plants when they see the technology on the verge of becoming more affordable and accessible, said Thomas Conroy, a renewable-energy expert.
When it comes to powering the country’s grids, “diversity of technology … is critical,” Conroy said. “Nobody should be arguing let’s be all coal, all solar,” all wind, or all nuclear. “And every one of those technologies has a long list of pros and cons.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Storage for Renewable Energy
Posted Aug 20, 2014 at 11:26 am
http://www.eeweb.com/blog/tom_lombardo/is-storage-necessary-for-renewable-energy
Physicist and energy expert Amory Lovins, chief scientist at The Rocky Mountain Institute, recently released a video in which he claims that renewable energy can meet all of our energy needs without the need for a fossil fuel or nuclear baseload generation. There’s nothing unusual about that – many people have made that claim – but he also suggests that this can be done without a lot of grid-level storage.
Instead, Lovins describes a “choreography” between supply and demand, using predictive computer models to anticipate production and consumption, and intelligent routing to deliver power where it’s needed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Storage Necessary for Renewable Energy?
http://www.engineering.com/ElectronicsDesign/ElectronicsDesignArticles/ArticleID/8272/Is-Storage-Necessary-for-Renewable-Energy.aspx
Physicist and energy expert Amory Lovins, chief scientist at The Rocky Mountain Institute, recently released a video in which he claims that renewable energy can meet all of our energy needs without the need for a fossil fuel or nuclear baseload generation.
“energy dance,” combined with advances in energy efficiency, will allow us to meet all of our energy needs without sacrificing reliability
Okay, so there is a little storage involved: ice-storage air conditioning and smart charging of electric vehicles. But where others, including myself, have assumed that large storage devices will need to be added to the grid
Flexible Demand
Lovins quickly mentions “unobtrusively flexible demand” without telling what it is. When you turn on a light switch, you want the light to come on now; there’s nothing flexible about that. But when your refrigerator’s compressor needs to run, can it wait a few minutes? Certainly. The same is true for air conditioning, heating, and many other “automatic” loads. Smart grid technology can be added to appliances, allowing the grid to control these flexible loads.
To a certain extent this is already being done.
Storage or Choreography?
Lovins presents this in the context of storage vs intelligent routing of electricity – which one do we need? That’s a false dichotomy. There will always be a need for storage since many applications are off grid.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Overview of the Microgrid and the role of storage to reduce cost and improve stability
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhkdYqNU-ac
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is how I set about making a fortune with my own startup
Would you leave your well-paid job to chase your dream?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/25/doing_my_own_ting_making_money_from_a_startup/
In the course of this I realised that some relatively simple technology could halve people’s space-heating costs in the UK
I was invited to give the first presentation for a “smart heating” workshop at the Department of Energy and Climate Change by the chief scientist, at which I pointed out that it seemed blindingly obvious that introducing “zoned” heating (heating only the bits that actually need it) and occupancy sensing, as is common in larger commercial buildings would be simple and likely save loads without reducing comfort. Everyone nodded sagely in agreement, but there was nothing on the market at the time that had the right combination of features.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solar Energy Isn’t Always as Green as You Think
http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/solar/solar-energy-isnt-always-as-green-as-you-think
Do cheaper photovoltaics come with a higher environmental price tag?
Solar panels glimmering in the sun are an icon of all that is green. But while generating electricity through photovoltaics is indeed better for the environment than burning fossil fuels, several incidents have linked the manufacture of these shining symbols of environmental virtue to a trail of chemical pollution. And it turns out that the time it takes to compensate for the energy used and the greenhouse gases emitted in photovoltaic panel production varies substantially by technology and geography.
When the photovoltaics industry was smaller, the solar-cell manufacturers got their silicon from chipmakers, which rejected wafers that did not meet the computer industry’s purity requirements. But the boom in photovoltaics demanded more than semiconductor-industry leftovers, and many new polysilicon refineries were built in China.
dumping silicon tetrachloride waste on neighboring fields instead of investing in equipment that could reprocess it
This problem could completely go away in the future. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., are looking for ways to make polysilicon with ethanol instead of chlorine-based chemicals, thereby avoiding the creation of silicon tetrachloride altogether.
The struggle to keep photovoltaics green does not end with the production of polysilicon. Solar-cell manufacturers purify chunks of polysilicon to form bricklike ingots and then slice the ingots into wafers.
These steps all involve hazardous chemicals.
Although more than 90 percent of photovoltaic panels made today start with polysilicon, there is a newer approach: thin-film solar-cell technology.
Makers of thin-film cells deposit layers of semiconductor material directly on a substrate of glass, metal, or plastic instead of slicing wafers from a silicon ingot. This produces less waste
Today’s dominant thin-film technologies are cadmium telluride and a more recent competitor, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS).
So each of these technologies uses compounds containing the heavy metal cadmium, which is both a carcinogen and a genotoxin, meaning that it can cause inheritable mutations.
Toxicity isn’t the only concern. Making solar cells requires a lot of energy. Fortunately, because these cells generate electricity, they pay back the original investment of energy; most do so after just two years of operation, and some companies report payback times as short as six months.
Analysts also judge the impact of the energy used to make a solar panel by the amount of carbon generated in the production of that energy—a number that can vary widely.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Data Center Efficiency
Five unexpected ways to achieve more with less.
http://www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/articles/86749-data-center-efficiency#AIR
Today’s world increasingly demands better, faster, and cheaper data management, so running an efficient data center is more important than ever. New ways to reduce cost, maximize computing capacity, and minimize the environmental impact are top of mind for data center operators globally. Common approaches, such as simply turning up the thermostat, have streamlined operations and trimmed costs, but other lesser-known opportunities could make a big difference with little time or investment.
TOP 5
AIR FILTRATION
CABLING
FIRE SUPPRESSION
ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEMS
EVAPORATIVE IMMERSION COOLING
High-performing, electret-enhanced air filters provide improved filtration and can be changed less often than conventional commercial filters.
Flat, foldable copper cable assemblies can save space and reduce airflow blockage, while low-power active optical cable assemblies cut energy use.
Fluorinated ketone clean agents improve performance, safety, and sustainability.
There is growing recognition of the benefits of clean-agent fire suppression systems for data centers
FK-5-1-12 can improve data center efficiency on a practical level as well, requiring less space and adding less weight than other clean agents.
There are savings opportunities in access control systems.
Save time and money with a flexible system that’s easy to operate.
New, simplified immersion technology can cut data center cooling costs by 95% and shrink footprint by 90%.
Air cooling is often one of the greatest efficiency-limiting barriers in a data center.
Evaporative immersion cooling submerges the servers in a non-corrosive, non-conductive fluid that literally boils off the heat generated by electronic devices. Though this approach has been used for decades to cool high-value electronics, such as radar systems and transformers, most servers are currently optimized for air cooled architectures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Study: America’s Data Centers Consuming — and Wasting — Growing Amounts of Energy
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pdelforge/new_study_americas_data_center.html
All of our online activity — including email, internet use, social media, and conducting business — is delivered through nearly 3 million data centers across America, from small closets and larger server rooms, to mammoth “cloud” server farms. Their explosive growth is gulping huge amounts of energy, and despite some efficiency improvements much of it is still wasted.
Although well-known internet brands like Apple, Facebook, Google and others rightly pride themselves on the ultra-high efficiency of their immense data centers delivering search, social networking and other digital services to consumers and businesses alike, according to a new report from NRDC and Anthesis, these cloud server farms are responsible for less than 5 percent of total data center energy consumption in the nation, and are not representative of how the average U.S. data center operates.
Our study shows that many small, mid-sized, corporate and multi-tenant data centers still waste much of the energy they use.
One of the key issues is that many of the roughly 12 million U.S. servers operate most of the time doing little or no work but still drawing power – up to 30 percent of servers are “comatose” and no longer needed but still drawing significant amounts of power, many others are grossly underutilized.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global Renewable Energy Status Uncovered
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/08/global-renewable-energy-status-uncovered
REN21’s 2014 Global Status Report reveals a number of key trends for the renewables sector, shedding light on likely policy and market movements across technologies. Despite stormy weather, the analysis picks up on a positive under current for renewables.
More than a fifth of the world’s electrical power production now comes from renewable sources and in 2013 renewables accounted for more than 56 percent of all net additions to global power capacity. These remarkable conclusions come from this year’s Renewables Global Status Report (GSR) from REN21.
This highly-regarded annual analysis — the 2014 edition was released this summer — concludes that renewable electricity capacity jumped by more than 8 percent overall in 2013, to produce some 22 percent of all global power production. Total global installed renewable electricity capacity reached a staggering 1,560 GW in 2013.
At the end of 2013, China, the United States, Brazil, Canada, and Germany remained the top five countries for total installed renewable power capacity. Excluding hydro, the top three were again China, the U.S. and Germany
Furthermore, the report also identifies a trend, particularly in Europe, that is seeing new policies emerge that respond to the issue of grid integration of renewable energy. This is in some cases being manifested as support for energy storage, demand-side management, and smart grid technologies, REN 21 finds.
In the last five years, the report finds, hydropower capacity has increased by nearly 4 percent annually to approximately 1,000 GW. In 2013, hydropower and solar PV each accounted for about one-third of new renewable power capacity; however, solar PV has experienced the fastest growth of any energy technology, with growth in global capacity of 39 percent in 2013 and averaging almost 55 percent annually over the last five years. Non-hydro renewables for electricity generation, including wind, collectively grew nearly 17 percent during 2013 to more than 560 GW.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eta Devices Named 2015 Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum
http://www.eeweb.com/news/eta-devices-named-2015-technology-pioneer-by-world-economic-forum
Eta Devices today announced that it has been named a 2015 Technology Pioneer by The World Economic Forum (WEF) for its groundbreaking technology that dramatically reduces the energy consumption of mobile base stations and smartphones. The company joins a thriving community of previous WEF Technology Pioneers including AirBnB, Nest Labs, Dropbox, Kickstarter, Spotify and Twitter to name just a few recent recipients.
Mobile communications is experiencing explosive growth with nearly 7 billion mobile subscribers around the globe. However, the energy efficiency of mobile networks is extremely low.
“Mobile networks regularly waste 70% of the energy used as heat. That’s nearly as bad as incandescent light bulbs,” said Joel Dawson, CTO and co-founder of Eta Devices. “This is because the power architecture of mobile communications still essentially relies on technology from the 1930s. It is time for a 21st century solution to a 21st century problem.”
ETAdvanced, Eta Devices’ new power architecture, solves this classic dilemma by working like a car’s automatic transmission, constantly providing exactly the right amount of power needed for the radio signal at any given time. The result is an 80% reduction in the amount of heat waste over conventional mobile power amplifiers deployed in today’s base stations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Extrinsic Motivation: Off-grid Solar System Monitoring Solution
http://hackaday.com/2014/08/30/extrinsic-motivation-off-grid-solar-system-monitoring-solution/
nice job!
the graphs clearly shows what are the downsides of an off-grid pv islands.
of course it depends on the local regulation whether one is allowed to feed back
juice to the grid.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientific consensus has gotten a bad reputation—and it doesn’t deserve it
It’s used by both sides in the climate debates, but consensus is part of a process.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/scientific-consensus-has-gotten-a-bad-reputation-and-it-doesnt-deserve-it/
One of the many unfortunate aspects of arguments over climate change is that it’s where many people come across the idea of a scientific consensus. Just as unfortunately, their first exposure tends to be in the form of shouted sound bites: “But there’s a consensus!” “Consensus has no place in science!”
Lost in the shouting is the fact that consensus plays several key roles in the process of science. In light of all the consensus choruses, it’s probably time to step back and examine its importance and why it’s a central part of the scientific process. And only after that is it possible to take a look at consensus and climate change.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If Tesla Can Run Its Gigafactory On 100% Renewables, Why Can’t Others?
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/09/11/2336237/if-tesla-can-run-its-gigafactory-on-100-renewables-why-cant-others
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his company’s Gigafactory battery plant, the world’s largest, will be “self contained” and run on solar, wind and geothermal energy. The obvious problem with renewable sources is that they’re intermittent at any given location, but on a larger scale they’re quite predictable and reliable,
Tomi Engdahl says:
If Tesla’s Gigafactory can run on 100% renewable energy, why can’t others?
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2604352/if-tesla-s-gigafactory-can-run-on-100-renewable-energy-why-can-t-others.html
n artist’s rendition of Tesla’s new Gigafactory.
Credit: Tesla
Tesla’s trifecta of renewable energy sources is likely to surpass its electricity needs
Tesla’s Gigafactory, the world’s largest lithium-ion battery factory, is expected to generate as much renewable energy as it needs to operate — and then some.
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Last week, Tesla announced it would build its factory outside of Reno, Nevada.
Using conservative estimates, the Gigafactoy’s trifecta of renewable energy sources could generate more than 2,900MWh of renewable electricity daily, which amounts to 20% more than it needs, according to Tom Lombardo, a professor of engineering and technology at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill.
“These are conservative estimates on production and worst-case estimates on consumption, and it’s clear that there’s enough renewable energy to run the plant with some to spare,” Lombardo wrote in wrote in a recent blog.
“This factory will produce its own energy as well. Through a combination of geothermal, wind and solar it will produce all the energy it needs,” Musk said. “So it’ll be sort of a self-contained factory.”
Renewable ROI
More than half of Fortune 100 companies collectively saved more than $1.1B annually by reducing carbon emissions and rolling out renewable energy projects over the past year, according to a recent report titled “Power Forward 2.0.” Collectively, 43% of Fortune 500 companies, or 215 in all, have also set targets in one of three categories: greenhouse gas reduction, energy efficiency and renewable energy. When narrowed to just the Fortune 100, 60% of the companies have set the same clean energy goals.
Not really “off grid”
Lombardo doesn’t believe the factory, however, will be energy independent based on its own renewable power plants. Instead, it will use “net metering”, a method whereby Tesla will generate its own electricity and sell excess back to utilities. Then, during times when Tesla’s own renewable energy production falls below demand, the electrical grid will intelligently route to it electricity based on energy credits.
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“It’s more reliable, more cost-effective, and location-independent,” Lombardo said in an email reply to Computerworld. “Even Tesla isn’t necessarily going off-grid. Musk said “net-zero energy,” which just means that they’ll generate as much energy as they use.”
On average, Reno basks in five peak hours of sunlight per day.
Using an average 20% efficiency for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels, the Gigafactory’s 10 million square foot roof would produce 850MWh of solar power daily, Lombardo said.
Lombardo estimates that the Gigafactory would have 85 wind turbines able to generate about 1,836 MWh of power daily.
That 10MW plant would produce 240MWh of daily geothermal electricity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Build a Home With No Energy Bills
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/life/home-improvement/the-home-with-no-energy-bills.html
If rising energy prices make you wonder if you’ll have to tighten your budget and eat out less, then you need to see this home. Built as a model of energy efficiency, this home building process was anything but normal. Equipped with energy saving windows, bamboo counters, and of course solar power, this home uses zero energy. Yours can, too. Read to find out how.
This house is the product of Colorado University’s 2005 Solar Decathlon entry.
While the CU team focused on energy efficiency and bringing this knowledge to the public, they knew they needed to make this home approachable
Great Ways to Save at Home Appliances
“If you’re not using Energy Star appliances, you’re not even trying,” Lyng says. This is the smartest move a homeowner can make to reduce energy bills and quite an easy one if you already need to replace a clothes washer, dishwasher, water heater, or furnace, especially considering more than 40 percent of a home’s energy is used just to heat water. Many communities even offer rebates for buying certain energy-rated models.
Energy Efficient Lighting
These bulbs are more expensive up front than the typical light bulb, but they use less energy and can last as much as 7-10 times longer than standard bulbs. Replacing the bulbs in your home is a quick, cheap solution that will pay for itself in a year.
Older windows or improperly installed windows allow expensive heat to escape and force your furnace to work overtime trying to warm your home.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shell Invests In Solar Power-Based Enhanced Oil Recovery Technology
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/09/11/shell-invests-solar-power-based-enhanced-oil-recovery-technology/
Royal Dutch Shell has teamed with a sovereign investment fund from Oman to invest $53 million in a company that manufactures solar power equipment designed for increasing oil production. Glasspoint Solar Inc. installs aluminium mirrors near oil fields that concentrate solar radiation on insulated tubes containing water.
The steam generated from heating the water is injected into oil fields to recover heavy crude oil.
Shell hopes to employ this technology in its oil fields in Oman. The company hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with enhanced oil recovery operations. A large-scale successful implementation of this technology could be a game changer for major consumers like India and the US. Both have substantial oil reserves, but are unable to tap them due to high costs involved in heavy oil recovery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s the future of diesel in the generator sets market?
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/what-s-the-future-of-diesel-in-the-generator-sets-market/6ccdcfe4ed55e9b251d9c1e71f562463.html
Despite the overall global trend toward cleaner burning non-diesel fuels, diesel will remain the leading fuel type used in the global generator sets market for many years to come.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This adage can be applied to many aspects of life, but it is also an apt description of the dominance of diesel fuel within the overall industrial generator sets market. Diesel fuel has been the life-blood of the vast majority of industrial generator sets for decades; however, natural gas and other alternative fuels are gaining traction. Despite the overall global trend toward cleaner burning and more environmentally friendly (non-diesel) fuels, diesel will remain the leading fuel type used in the global generator sets market for many years to come.
According to a recently published study by IHS, the generator sets, or ‘gen-sets,’ market totaled just under $16 billion in revenues in 2013 and is forecast to reach nearly $23 billion in 2018. Gen-sets using diesel fuel accounted for the vast majority of total sales in the market in 2013, with $12.1 billion, or approximately 75.6% of revenues, as well as 81.6% of units shipped.
While the diesel generator set market is forecast to lose some market share to natural gas and alternative fuel gen-sets, it is still predicted to experience moderate growth at a 6.2% CAGR over the forecast period. One of the factors working against diesel gen-sets is the increasing stringency of emission regulations occurring globally. In order to meet emission standards in regulated countries, diesel fuel gen-sets are now required to run on ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD).
Natural gas and alternative fuel gen-sets made up the remaining 24.4% of market revenues in 2013. The natural gas gen-set market, which accounted for around 20% of total market revenues at just over $3.1 billion in revenues in 2013, is forecast to experience the fastest growth of all fuel types within the market at an 11.9% CAGR through 2018, yet this will only slowly erode a small share of diesel fueled gen-sets.
Alternative fuel gen-sets totaled just over $800 million in revenues in 2013, which accounted for approximately 5.1% of total market revenues, yet, similar to natural gas gen-sets, are projected to experience high growth (a CAGR of 8.2%) over the next five years. Examples of alternative fuels include solid waste landfill gas, agricultural waste biogas, flare gas from oil drilling, seam gas from mining coal deposits, and biodiesel. Historically, waste gases have been under-utilized and instead vented or flared into the atmosphere.
IHS defines a generator set as a packaged combination of a reciprocating engine and an electric generator, often referred to as an alternator, used for the purpose of producing electricity in commercial and industrial applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The power of salt for renewable energy
MIT study investigates power generation from the meeting of river water and seawater.
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/the-power-of-salt-for-renewable-energy/3bc3b245d8825d71953e142e33536f15.html
Where the river meets the sea, there is the potential to harness a significant amount of renewable energy, according to a team of mechanical engineers at MIT.
The researchers evaluated an emerging method of power generation called pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), in which two streams of different salinity are mixed to produce energy. In principle, a PRO system would take in river water and seawater on either side of a semi-permeable membrane. Through osmosis, water from the less-salty stream would cross the membrane to a pre-pressurized saltier side, creating a flow that can be sent through a turbine to recover power.
“People have been trying to figure out whether these systems would be viable at the intersection between the river and the sea,” Banchik said. “You can save money if you identify the membrane area beyond which there are rapidly diminishing returns.”
As the freshwater enters the saltier side, it becomes pressurized while increasing the flow rate of the stream on the salty side of the membrane. This pressurized mixture exits the tank, and a turbine recovers energy from this flow.
“Just as the radiator in your car exchanges heat between the air and a coolant, this system exchanges mass, or water, across a membrane,” Banchik said. “There’s a method in literature used for sizing heat exchangers, and we borrowed from that idea.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy market outlook
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/energy-market-outlook/eccb62f089c70f28378c257b080b21bb.html
Mark Peters reports the energy market outlook for the next decade at the 2014 Yokogawa Users Conference and Exhibition.
The U.S. market, in particular, has reversed 40 years of oil and gas decline. Oil prices range between $100 to $120 and natural gas is poised for a long-term recovery. Peters reported that Texas will surpass its 1972 all-time high oil production by 2017. The U.S. has already surpassed Russia as one of the largest gas producers. Shale has been the game changer for the U.S. oil and gas industry and its recovery.
In addition, carbon emissions have decreased while petrochemicals have increased.
Dependence on imported liquids is decreasing because natural gas supply is booming in the U.S.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power consumption has always been an important parameter in the design, but the Internet of Things becomes an even more important factor. Another factor affecting power consumption is the cloud, Rowe says.
Moving, say, 64-bit NAND circuit inside does not take much electricity. – The same amount of data, removal or applying for a cloud server means that the operation is 1 W of power.
- In order bits must be moved as little as possible, keep as much of the calculation to be local. IoT world have to be smart, Rowen requires.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1797:suurinta-osaa-mooren-lain-kuolema-ei-kosketa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 climate change busting MEGAPROJECTS
http://decarboni.se/insights/6-climate-change-busting-megaprojects?utm_source=ob&utm_source=ob
The goal to provide clean energy is happening through thousands of projects around the world. On Decarboni.se we’re building a library of these projects and sharing the lessons learned from many of them. Some projects in particular stand out as megaprojects due to the size and scale of the work underway or the promise they hold for the future.