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:
Top 6 ways we’ll beat climate change (number 1 will surprise you!)
http://decarboni.se/insights/top-6-ways-well-beat-climate-change-number-1-will-surprise-you
The world has set a goal of limiting global warming to 2°C by 2020. That’s the most optimistic outcome that climate scientists have envisioned, and it is, in a nutshell, the climate change challenge. The International Energy Agency has laid out the solutions that we (the world) will use to reach this goal in its seminal report, Energy Technology perspectives
Number 1 – End use energy efficiency (42%)
A whopping 42% of our CO2 abatement will come from end use energy efficiency. An example of this type of saving is replacing the thousands of fluoro tubes in office buildings with LED versions that use 30% less electricity but produce just as much light. We can also get savings from smart appliances that know when energy is cheapest and turn themselves off when not in use. Some decidedly low-tech solutions can have big results too– adding insulation can provide a 20% savings on your heating and cooling bill – and in turn reduce energy usage.
No one technology will get us to the IEA’s goal of limiting temperature rises to 2°C by 2020. Climate scientists and policy makers sometimes refer to a “portfolio approach” to climate change– using all of the best solutions that we have available and combining their powers when possible to get the best possible results.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Obama Presses China On Global Warming
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/09/24/042221/obama-presses-china-on-global-warming
The NY Times reports that President Obama spoke at the United Nations Climate Change Summit and challenged China to make the same effort to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions and join a worldwide campaign to curb global warming. Obama’s words were directly focused on putting the onus on China, an essential partner of the U.S. if a global climate treaty is to be negotiated by 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
South Australia Hits 33% Renewal Energy Target 6 Years Early
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/09/24/0056236/south-australia-hits-33-renewal-energy-target-6-years-early
South Australia has hit its target of 33% renewable energy by 2020, 6 years earlier than expected, delivering clean power to the state through investment in wind, solar and geothermal energy — mothballing one coal-fired power station in the process.
SA government has now announced a new “stretch” target of 50% by 2025.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google grand fromage Eric Schmidt: Backing climate denier lobby a ‘mistake’
Walk away slowly, don’t look them in the eye
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/23/eric_schmidt_backing_climate_denier_lobby_a_mistake/
Google has become the latest tech giant to wonder if backing the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is such a good idea.
Last month, Microsoft withdrew its support for the group, saying it was no longer participating in the organisation’s Communications and Technology Task Force.
“Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place,” Schmidt said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM Solar Concentrator Can Produce12kW/day, Clean Water, and AC
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/09/24/2139222/ibm-solar-concentrator-can-produce12kwday-clean-water-and-ac
IBM Research and Switzerland-based Airlight Energy today announced a parabolic dish that increases the sun’s radiation by 2,000 times while also producing fresh water and air conditioning. The new Concentrator PhotoVoltaics (CPV) system uses a dense array of water-cooled solar chips that can convert 80% of the sun’s radiation into useful energy
Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy Utilities Trying To Stifle Growth of Solar Power
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/09/29/2250204/energy-utilities-trying-to-stifle-growth-of-solar-power
Incremental improvements have been slowly but surely pushing solar power toward mainstream viability for a few decades now. It’s getting to the point where the established utilities are worried about the financial hit they’re likely to take — and they’re working to prevent it. “These solar households are now buying less and less electricity, but the utilities still have to manage the costs of connecting them to the grid.
Solar power is growing so fast that older energy companies are trying to stop it
http://www.vox.com/2014/9/29/6849723/solar-power-net-metering-utilities-fight-states
If you ask the people who run America’s electric utilities what keeps them up at night, a surprising number will say solar power. Specifically, rooftop solar.
That seems bizarre at first. Solar power provides just 0.4 percent of electricity in the United States — a minuscule amount. Why would anyone care?
But utilities see things differently. As solar technology gets dramatically cheaper, tens of thousands of Americans are putting photovoltaic panels up on their roofs, generating their own power. At the same time, 43 states and Washington DC have “net metering” laws that allow solar-powered households to sell their excess electricity back to the grid at retail prices.
That’s a genuine problem for utilities. All these solar households are now buying less and less electricity, but the utilities still have to manage the costs of connecting them to the grid. Indeed, a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory argues that, without policy changes, this trend could soon put utilities in dire financial straits. If rooftop solar were to grab 10 percent of the market over the next decade, utility earnings could decline as much as 41 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How a Supercomputer in Houston is Helping to Secure America’s Energy Future
http://www.nationaljournal.com/sponsored/bp-committed-to-america/how-a-supercomputer-in-houston-is-helping-to-secure-america-s-energy-future-20140919
The world’s largest commercial research supercomputer now sits in a three-story, space-age building in Houston. The global energy company BP paid a hefty price for this technological marvel: $100 million over five years. That investment, however, has paid dividends, allowing its scientists to peer beneath the surface of the earth in the search for oil and gas in ways not possible before now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Four Reasons Why Consumers Don’t Reduce Energy Use
http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2014/10/03/four-reasons-why-consumers-dont-reduce-energy-use/?mod=trending_now_5
Many still fail to appreciate the huge potential for using energy more efficiently, which is probably the best way to reduce carbon emissions. In the Boston Consulting Group’s report The Energy Efficiency Opportunity: Winning Strategies for a High-Growth Market, which was published in May, we calculate potential energy savings of 200 megatons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in the U.S., which is equal to 20% of annual energy demand.
In Europe, we project that energy-efficiency technologies will represent a market worth approximately €30 billion ($38.2 billion) by 2020.
The most robust growth will be in countries with high energy prices, determined regulators, stable regulatory environments, and established energy-efficiency markets.
Some important challenges remain in the residential market, however.
One challenge is that consumers perceive energy-efficiency projects as risky. They are unsure whether these projects can deliver the promised reduction in consumption. Utilities and service companies must make better efforts to explain the economics of these projects to residential customers and offer them attractive financing solutions.
Another obstacle is that not all buyers of energy-efficiency projects and services are themselves the beneficiaries. Take renters, for example. A landlord would have to invest in energy-efficient lighting for his building, but the tenants would realize the lower utility bills.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zig-a-zig-ah! Solar battery lands to curb costs of renewable energy, claim boffins
Hybrid device licked by Ohio State University researchers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/04/solar_battery_ohio_state_university/
Scientists have cooked up a patent-pending hybrid device that combines a solar cell with a rechargeable battery for the first time.
The solar battery was invented by boffins at the Ohio State University, who used a titanium gauze permeable mesh solar panel, which they say was key to the success of the entire US department of energy project.
Wu hopes that the lifetime of the hybrid device will be comparable to rechargeable batteries
Tomi Engdahl says:
Phone boxes turn green to charge mobiles
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29455992
Disused phone boxes in London are being put to a novel use – as solar-powered charging stations for mobile phones.
The first of six boxes was unveiled on Tottenham Court Road this week.
The service is free to use although users will be shown adverts as they wait for their phone to charge.
The boxes have had a makeover for the project – painted green and fitted with a roof-mounted 86cm solar panel.
Inside there are a variety of charging stations for different models of phone and a screen which shows adverts.
Solarbox won second place in the Mayor of London’s Low Carbon Entrepreneur of the Year Award earlier this year and also won the LSE’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers may have solved the biggest challenge for solar electricity. They have developed a technology which could capture the entire spectrum of sunlight to generate electricity.
STPV (solar thermophtovoltaics) is a new type of solar cell structure. In the normal light and the solar panel must be placed between the membrane which first convert the sunlight into heat. This causes the material to glow and emit light which can be converted into electric current.
MIT developed the material sucks just the right wavelengths from ultraviolet to visible light and near infrared.
MIT researchers, the new material sits nicely on existing semiconductor manufacturing methods, and it can be prepared by standard discs, up to 300-millimeter.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1873:mit-lapimurto-aurinkosahkossa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free trade is vital for the future of the solar industry
http://www.epia.org/news/news/?page=1#news-369
EPIA has recently taken a decision to support free trade in all solar products. In light of this EPIA announces its support for a quick conclusion to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on liberalising trade in environmental goods and services. These current negotiations present a great opportunity for tariffs on solar products to be significantly reduced. This would undoubtedly spur growth in the solar industry across the world.
Trade liberalisation would enable a price reduction of environmental goods, including solar products, increasing the demand and thus stimulating business opportunities for solar companies all over the value chain and all over the globe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Living On a Carbon Budget: The End of Recreation As We Know It?
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/10/06/178231/living-on-a-carbon-budget-the-end-of-recreation-as-we-know-it
Dawn Stover looks at unrealistic expectations and the distribution of limited energy resources: ‘This is a question that should move from the fringes of the energy debate to its very heart. Economists and energy experts shy away from issues of equity and morality, but climate change and environmental justice are inseparable: It’s impossible to talk intelligently about climate without discussing how to distribute limited energy resources. It’s highly unlikely that the world can safely produce almost five times as much electricity by 2035 as it does now—which is what it would take to provide everyone with a circa-2010 American standard of living
service dog training los angeles says:
How Clean is Your Cloud and Telecom? |
Very quickly this web site will be famous among all blogging users,
due to it’s good articles or reviews
Tomi Engdahl says:
Getting a high score in video game efficiency
http://edn.com/electronics-blogs/eye-on-efficiency/4434998/Getting-a-high-score-in-video-game-efficiency
Video game consoles could become a lot greener if the European Commission’s (EC) Ecodesign Directive group approves a “self-regulatory initiative” (SRI) to reduce game console energy consumption.
While small in size, the video game consoles use a significant amount of power annually. A recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), projected that the latest versions of the three popular game consoles (Wii, X-Box, and PlayStation) will use roughly 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually in the U.S. alone. The NRDC also found that two of the latest consoles consumed up to 3 times more annual energy than their predecessors.
In Europe, the three major game console manufacturers believe that self-regulation through an Ecodesign Voluntary Agreement (VA) would be the best and quickest way to achieve energy savings, instead of the usual approach of a mandatory efficiency standard (also known as an Implementing Measure).
The three major console manufacturers estimate that the SRI will result in electricity savings of 1.1 TWh within the European Union in 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scrobby’s on Your Roof, Cleaning Your Solar Panels
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/scrobbys-on-your-roof-cleaning-your-solar-panels/
Solar panels are a great, sustainable addition to your home’s energy scheme. They’re bound to get dirty, but they can’t withstand harsh chemicals and still be effective. While there are companies that will come out and clean your installation a few times a year, the service is a recurring cost that adds up quickly. With Scrobby, his entry into The Hackaday Prize, [Stefan] sought to build a highly affordable and sustainable solution that, after installation, requires no dangerous trips back up to the roof.
Scrobby is solar-powered and cleans using rainwater. The user can set and alter the cleaning schedule over Bluetooth from their phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Week: Solar Battery Recharges Itself Using Light & Air
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324239&
Researchers at Ohio State University have developed a “solar battery” — a hybrid device integrating both a battery and solar cell functions — that recharges itself using light and oxygen. The device is claimed to lower the costs of solar by 25% and increase solar energy efficiency by eliminating the losses normally incurred from using an external battery.
The device, which uses elements from the researchers’ previous KAir battery design, was made possible by the use of a solar mesh material fabricated from flexible titanium gauze that allows air to enter and leave the device, allowing it to “breathe” as it charges and discharges. According to the researchers, tests on the device indicate that its lifetime is comparable to that of rechargeable batteries currently available on the market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cheap Fusion Beats Fossil Fuels
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324255&
Researchers at the University of Washington (Seattle) claim to have invented a simpler fusion reactor that is more economical than a coal-fired power plant, yet produces zero green house gases.
Sutherland’s and Jarboe’s low-cost fusion reactor design will be presented at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Fusion Energy Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia on October 17, 2014.
The design, called a spheromak, began as a class project by professor Thomas Jarboe, but had not been proven a viable design until a prototype called the Dynomak was recently built by Jarboe and doctoral candidate Derek Sutherland, who had previously worked on reactor designs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The standard approach to fusion reactors today, exemplified by the joint Chinese, European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and US collaboration called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, France, is akin to using brute force compared to the more elegant Dynomak design invented at University of Washington.
The current Dynomak prototype uses three toruses to helicity inject those confining and stabilizing currents into the plasma, however it does require a single coil in a feedback loop to maintain equilibrium inside the reactor during steady-state operation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wind Power Is Cheaper Than Coal, Leaked Report Shows
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/10/13/2258256/wind-power-is-cheaper-than-coal-leaked-report-shows
A leaked report shows wind is the cheapest energy source in Europe, beating the presumably dirt-cheap coal and gas by a mile. Conventional wisdom holds that clean energy is more expensive than its fossil-fueled counterparts. Yet cost comparisons show that renewable energy sources are often cheaper than their carbon-heavy competition.
Wind power is cheapest energy, EU analysis finds
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/13/wind-power-is-cheapest-energy-unpublished-eu-analysis-finds
Onshore windfarms far cheaper than coal and gas when health impacts are factored in, report shows
Tomi Engdahl says:
Subsidies and costs of EU energy
An interim report
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/studies/doc/20141013_subsidies_costs_eu_energy.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hybrid Solar Cells Promise More Than 95% Efficiency
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324264&
Researchers at the University of Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory say their new kind of hybrid solar cell could boost efficiency to 95% or more. The UK researchers are working on an organic formulation that can be layered on top of standard silicon solar cells to achieve its hard-to-believe goal of nearly 100% efficiency.
Today’s silicon solar cells have a theoretical maximum efficiency of 33.7%; the rest of the incident light is wasted by heating up the cell.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cleantech second-quarter 2014: analysis and outlook
http://research.gigaom.com/report/cleantech-second-quarter-2014-analysis-and-outlook/?utm_source=tech&utm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=880569+august-smart-lock&utm_content=shigginbotham
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can the Sun Realistically Power Datacenters?
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/10/14/213232/can-the-sun-realistically-power-datacenters
A massive solar array in central New Jersey provides the daytime power for a server farm delivering online financial services for McGraw Hill. The 50-acre field of photovoltaic solar panels symbolizes a new phase in the use of renewable energy in data centers.
I Love Solar Power But…
http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2012/03/17/ILoveSolarPowerBut.aspx
I love solar power, but in reflecting carefully on a couple of high profile datacenter deployments of solar power, I’m really developing serious reservations that this is the path to reducing data center environmental impact. I just can’t make the math work and find myself wondering if these large solar farms are really somewhere between a bad idea and pure marketing, where the environmental impact is purely optical.
Facebook Prineville
What was installed in Prineville was a 100 kilowatt solar array at a more than 25 megawatt facility
Using this solar panel output estimator, we can see that the panels at this location and altitude, yield an effective output of 13.75%. That means that, on average, this array will only put out 13.75 killowatts. That would have this array contributing 0.055% of the facility power or, worded differently, it might run the lights in the datacenter but it has almost no measurable possible impact on the overall energy consumed.
Having said that the Facebook solar array is very close to purely marketing expense, I hasten to add that Facebook is one of the most power-efficient and environmentally-focused large datacenter operators.
Apple iDataCenter, Maiden, North Carolina
the solar farm deployed at the Apple Maiden facility is absolutely massive. In fact, this photo voltaic deployment is reported to be largest commercial deployment in the US at 20 megawatts.
The Apple Maiden facility is reported to cost $1B for the 500,000 sq ft datacenter. Apple wisely chose not to publicly announce their power consumption numbers but estimates have been as high as 100 megawatts.
Even using these fairly conservative numbers for a modern datacenter build, it would be 78MW total power, which is huge.
Apple elected to put in a 20MW solar array at this facility.
the 20MW photo voltaic deployment has an average output of 15.8% which yields 3.2MW.
Apple is reported to have cleared trees off of 171 acres of land in order to provide photo voltaic power for 4% of their overall estimate data center consumption.
The panels are built on taxpayer guarantees and installed using tax payer funded tax incentives.
As I work through the numbers from two of the most widely reported upon datacenter solar array deployments, they just don’t seem to balance out positively without tax incentives.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solar Rising in Village Microgrids
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324266&
Solar panels are on the rise for microgrids that bring electricity to small villages in the developing world, spawning work on low-power, direct-current homes, according to presentations at a conference here.
“In India, there’s been a big mindset shift among regulators and utilities in favor of photovoltaics and microgrids,” said Vineeth Vijayaraghavan, director of research and outreach for the non-profit Solarillion Foundation.
“So far, there’s been little research in networking microgrids, but the government is interested” in ways to connect DC rural grids to each other and to the AC urban grid, he said in a talk at the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference.
Five research institutions each in the US and India will collaborate on the design of a 30 to 40 W home that can include at least one LED light, a brushless DC fan, a 12 W cellphone charger, a 23-inch TV, and a 10 W kitchen device with a motor, said Vijayaraghavan.
The market for solar water pumps is also surging, he added, with as many as 40,000 now installed in India.
Several speakers at the event said solar is on the rise in Africa and elsewhere, in part due to the falling costs of panels. As much as 20 percent of the world’s population — about 1.5 billion people — have no access to electricity.
“The reality is 400 million people have no access to electricity in India, and the figure jumps to as much as 600 to 700 million if you add those with only intermittent access,” Vijayaraghavan told the audience.
The so-called DC House initially targets a 450-600 W home, with plans for a 150W version later.
The junction box, initially just supporting 80 W, was the most challenging part of the design. The team plans to work on a 450 W version with a single converter.
The team also created a smart wall plug. It can sense whatever output a device needs and step down from its native 48 V to 5 V or less. Researchers also created a portable dimmable bulb with an embedded battery.
A shed on the Cal Poly campus served as the first prototype DC house in June
Several experts said the biggest issues they face are not about the technology
For instance, the wide variation in subsidy and donor levels creates very different business models. “The diversity is mind boggling… There are so many players it can be confusing,
If people in one village being charged for electricity hear of people elsewhere for whom it is free, they resist
“Rural India does not want something urban India does not use — it’s a problem of aspirations,” he said.
The DC House Project
Providing access to electricity for the less fortunates
http://www.calpoly.edu/~taufik/dchouse/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-lockheed-fusion-idUSKCN0I41EM20141015
(Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.
In a statement, the company, the Pentagon’s largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.
In recent years, Lockheed has gotten increasingly involved in a variety of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it looks to offset a decline in U.S. and European military spending.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Study: Past Climate Change Was Caused by Ocean, Not Just the Atmosphere
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/10/26/184252/study-past-climate-change-was-caused-by-ocean-not-just-the-atmosphere
Most of the concerns about climate change have focused on the amount of greenhouse gases that have been released into the atmosphere. Researchers have found that circulation of the ocean plays an equally important role in regulating the earth’s climate.
Past Climate Change Was Caused by the Ocean, Not Just the Atmosphere, New Rutgers Study Finds
The study published in Science provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of climate change today
http://news.rutgers.edu/news/past-climate-change-was-caused-ocean-not-just-atmosphere-new-rutgers-study-finds/20141023#.VE6GlmdQO9L
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM and Airlight team up to amplify the sun’s power with a Solar Concentrator
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4436472/IBM-and-Airlight-team-up-to-amplify-the-sun-s-power-with-a-Solar-Concentrator?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20141027&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20141027&elq=e6c636712dfb45b291ce09bc7dc50cd4&elqCampaignId=19870
It almost seems too obvious that the way to increase photovoltaic panel efficiency is to amplify or magnify the sun’s rays. Concentrating solar energy, however, is not as simple as one might think; the solar panels with amplified and focused sunlight become very, very hot (Remember the magnifying glass we all used to focus sunlight on a piece of paper?). Although this technique called Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) systems have been around for tens of years, the cost and complexity has prevented it from going mainstream until now.
IBM Research in Zurich had developed a water-cooling technology for its SuperMUC supercomputer in Germany. In this system water flows through a network of tiny tubes called “microchannels” which are actually etched into a silicon layer that draws the excessive heat away from the supercomputer hot spots—super-fast processors— to prevent damage.
The sun’s rays are concentrated several hundred times (The equivalent of 2,000 suns) on special PV cells using two concentrators to produce 12 kW of electricity and 21kW of thermal energy thus converting about 80% of sunlight into energy.
Next electricity is directly generated from the photovoltaic effect and the PV cells are cooled through a water circuit so that steady operation temperature is attained. 90oC hot water resulting from the cooling process is then available for further applications, such as powering desalination systems, space heating, air conditioning, etc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mysterious smart energy company raises $150 million, led by ex-HTC executive
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/30/7129199/mysterious-smart-energy-company-raises-150-million-led-by-ex-htc-executive
Taiwanese firm Gogoro came out of stealth mode this morning — sort of — announcing in very broad, vague terms that it’s looking to “utilize the power of mobile connectivity and data analytics to transform energy distribution and management in the world’s cities.” It’s hard to say what that really means, beyond that the company has an energy focus — but it’s interesting to note that they’re promising products at next year’s CES in January. That suggests that there’ll be a consumer angle here of some sort.
Patent searches reveal a number of filings that suggest a strong focus on transportation: there are multiple mentions of motors, scooters, and hybrid automobiles.
There’s also a partnership with Panasonic, which is a major supplier of EV batteries
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Week: Idle Computers Waste More Energy Than Thought
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324442&
Desktop and laptop computers are consuming much more energy when not in use than previously thought, according to two recent studies commissioned by the California Energy Commission. The studies, using a university population, found that many computer users were not properly taking advantage of power management options such as sleep, hibernate, and shutdown modes even when leaving their machines on, but not in use, for many hours at a time.
Real-time data collected for one of the studies showed that only 20% of the computers measured had automatic settings enabled, yet were powered up for 76% of a day on average and in use for only 16% of each day. At the same time, most users assumed — incorrectly — that their computers had energy saving settings enabled.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Week: Compact Fusion Energy About to Happen?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324528&
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has announced that its Skunk Works unit is developing a compact nuclear fusion reactor that is small enough to fit in a truck and capable of generating enough energy to light 80,000 homes. According to the company, the technology offers a 90% size reduction from prior concepts and could be deployed within a decade.
The size reduction was achieved by combining several alternative magnetic confinement approaches. Lockheed says the first reactor could be designed, built, and tested within a year, with a prototype to be produced within five years.
For more, see Lockheed’s compact fusion page.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AC/DC power supply performance and international efficiency standards
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4436816/AC-DC-power-supply-performance-and-international-efficiency-standards
With the increasing restrictiveness of international power supply efficiency standards, power supply controllers are being pushed to their cost-performance limits. Meeting these new standards while keeping performance high and cost low, has forced the market to move to disruptive new technologies. New design techniques now enable AC/DC converters to achieve the stringent DC efficiency requirements without sacrificing AC performance, in particular, load transient response. This article will discuss the implications of these new efficiency standards on the power supply controller, how they affect the output voltage integrity and the latest design techniques used to improve performance without adding unnecessary cost or complexity.
The US Department of Energy’s AC/DC external power supply efficiency standards enacted in 2007 established a strict combination of no-load power consumption and average efficiency at loads from 25% to 100% of rated load current. The European Union also has enacted similar standards, as have other countries throughout the world, although the DoE’s standards are the strictest mandatory standards. The DoE released an updated external power supply standard in February 2014, further restricting efficiency and no-load power consumption in off-line power supplies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Denmark Faces a Tricky Transition To 100 Percent Renewable Energy
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/11/12/0247217/denmark-faces-a-tricky-transition-to-100-percent-renewable-energy
Justin Gillis writes in the NYT that Denmark is pursuing the world’s most ambitious policy against climate change, aiming to end the burning of fossil fuels in any form by 2050 — not just in electricity production, as some other countries hope to do, but in transportation as well. The trouble is that while renewable power sources like wind and solar cost nothing to run, once installed, as more of these types of power sources push their way onto the electric grid, they cause power prices to crash at what used to be the most profitable times of day. Conventional power plants, operating on gas or coal or uranium, are becoming uneconomical to run. Yet those plants are needed to supply backup power for times when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shin
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Saudi Arabia Will Kick Its Oil Habit
http://www.ozy.com/acumen/how-saudi-arabia-will-kick-its-oil-habit/33512
Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest economy and the world’s largest oil producer, is running out of its black gold. Some estimate that the wells will run dry as early as 2030. That’s a huge deal. Oil revenue reached $312 billion this year and accounts for almost half the economy and 90 percent of export revenue. It also makes the kingdom the Persian Gulf’s economic powerhouse.
That’s why diversification is no longer a luxury. Opening its notoriously insulated stock exchange to foreign investors and investing in solar power, poultry, dairy, petrochemicals and innovative technology — these are the threads stitching together the kingdom’s safety net.
Read more: http://www.ozy.com
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rooftop Solar Could Reach Price Parity In the US By 2016
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/11/19/0030229/rooftop-solar-could-reach-price-parity-in-the-us-by-2016
The cost of rooftop solar-powered electricity will be on par with prices of coal-powered energy and other conventional sources in all 50 U.S. states in just two years, a leap from today where PV energy has price parity in only 10 states, according to Deutsche Bank’s leading solar industry analyst. The sharp decline in solar energy costs is the result of increased economies of scale leading to cheaper photovoltaic panels, new leasing models and declining installation costs, Deutsche Bank’s Vishal Shah stated in a recent report.
The cost of solar-generated electricity in the top 10 states for capacity ranges from 11-15 cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh), compared to the retail electricity price of 11-37 c/kWh.
Rooftop solar electricity on pace to beat coal, oil
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2848875/rooftop-solar-electricity-on-pace-to-beat-coal-oil.html
States that allow utilities to place fees on solar power users will make it less competitive
The cost of rooftop solar-powered electricity will be on par with prices for common coal or oil-powered generation in just two years — and the technology to produce it will only get cheaper.
The prediction, made by Deutsche Bank’s leading solar industry analyst, Vishal Shah, is part of a report on Vivint Solar, the nation’s second-biggest solar panel installer. Shah believes Vivint Solar is doing so well that it will double its sales each year for the next two years.
Today, only 10 states boast solar energy costs that are on par with those of conventional electricity generation methods, such as coal-fired power plants. Those states include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico and Vermont.
Last year, those states using solar power accounted about 90% of U.S. installations. But, by 2016, Deutsche expects solar energy to reach price parity in all 50 states.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Cleantech’ a dirty word for VCs? RUBBISH!
They just think the current schemes are terrible
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/19/vcs_dont_think_cleantech_is_a_dirty_word/
Over at Bloomberg there’s a piece bemoaning the fact that the big Venture Capital companies aren’t investing in “cleantech”.
You know the sort of thing: climate change, biggest opportunity ever, why isn’t private money getting involved, maybe the government will have to do everything, blather blather, et cetera. The problem with the analysis isn’t that it’s entirely wrong: VCs are being pretty careful about investing in those wondrous new non-emitting technologies and renewables.
But that’s not because they’re not interested in cleantech itself: it’s because the way that the support and subsidy system for those new technologies has been designed ignores absolutely everything that economists have been saying about how it should have been designed. It’s the incentives that are wrong.
Solyndra and Tesla aren’t really quite the sort of thing that venture capital is interested in.
what the VC investor is looking for: they want the breakthrough, not the variation.
Why current efforts are so shoddy
What has actually been done is that the politicians and the bureaucrats have chosen certain technologies for support. Solar panels get feed-in tariffs and grants and cheap loans: tidal generation machines not so much. Fuel cells using biogas get support, fuel cells using natural gas (despite their lower emissions than normal gas boilers) not so much. We’ve actually had the politicians doing what the economists said not to do: trying to see which technologies might work and then subsidising those they approve of. This is also known as “picking winners”, which always produces a hollow laugh among observers of politics and bureaucracy.
The problem is that the selection of a technology to be supported, though those political means, rather leaves all those very left-field potential or possible technologies out in the cold. Whereas having the one simple rule for everyone, that higher price on emissions, gives all potential technologies an equal chance of benefiting from the oar we’ve just inserted into the economy to achieve our desired aim.
We had interventions alright, but they’re biased in favour of certain extant technologies. Solar, wind, biomass and so on – these get preferential treatment but they’re all pretty much know technologies that require only building out to scale.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Greening the copper with NFV, lower power optics from GreenTouch
Network boffins slash link power budgets
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/20/greening_the_copper_with_nfv_lower_power_optics_from_greentouch/
The GreenTouch group, which researches less power-hungry networking technologies, is pitching an NFV-style home gateway architecture as one way to curb broadband networks’ appetite for electrons.
The vendor-and-research partnership was set up in 2010, and now lists nearly 50 member organisations listed.
Leading its latest announcement is an architecture for home network gateways that suggests the smarts should be pulled into the network cloud to save energy; and a new approach to optical transceivers.
The idea is to deploy far dumber, simpler home gateways, a move GreenTouch reckons would slice 19 per cent from the power consumption of the residential access network.
Since most residential gateways are mostly left switched on 24×7, the group reckons that global adoption of the architecture would save the equivalent of more than 800,000 households’ energy consumption each year.
Functions like controlling voice, data and TV access would consume less power by running on virtual machines in the cloud, the group believes, especially since in off-peak times machines that aren’t doing anything, or services that aren’t in use, could be spun down.
The approach to power saving is straightforward: instead of all transceivers in a network operating at the same rated power, the CEET device adapts its power to the link, adjusting the transmitter down from maximum optical power to whatever is sufficient to maintain a transmission.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charger zero load to near zero
On February 2016, after the 5-watt chargers are no longer at no load connected consume more than 0.1 watts of power. Socket for power supplies values are defined in the new Energy Star standard VI.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2097:laturin-nollakuormitus-lahelle-nollaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Coal Plants Get New Lease On Life With Natural Gas
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/11/21/0255255/coal-plants-get-new-lease-on-life-with-natural-gas
Christina Nunez reports in National Geographic that in the past four years, at least 29 coal-fired plants in 10 states have switched to natural gas or biomass while another 54 units, mostly in the US Northeast and Midwest, are slated to be converted over the next nine years. By switching to natural gas, plant operators can take advantage of a relatively cheap and plentiful US supply. The change can also help them meet proposed federal rules to limit heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, given that electricity generation from natural gas emits about half as much carbon as electricity from coal does.
A Slew of Coal Plants Get New Lease on Life—With Gas
“Repowering” projects in New York and elsewhere are provoking battles.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/11/141120-coal-plants-repowered-with-natural-gas/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prospects Rise For a 2015 UN Climate Deal, But Likely To Be Weak
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/11/23/1345221/prospects-rise-for-a-2015-un-climate-deal-but-likely-to-be-weak
“A global deal to combat climate change in 2015 looks more likely after promises for action by China, the United States and the European Union, but any agreement will probably be too weak to halt rising temperatures.”
Prospects rise for a 2015 UN climate deal, but likely to be weak
http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/1-front-top-news/206427-prospects-rise-for-a-2015-un-climate-deal-but-likely-to-be-weak.html
OSLO: A global deal to combat climate change in 2015 looks more likely after promises for action by China, the United States and the European Union, but any agreement will probably be too weak to halt rising temperatures.
Delegates from almost 200 nations will meet in Lima, Peru, from Dec. 1-12 to work on the accord due in Paris in a year’s time, also spurred by new scientific warnings about risks of floods, heatwaves, ocean acidification and rising seas.
After failure to agree a sweeping U.N. treaty at a summit in Copenhagen in 2009, the easier but less ambitious aim now is a deal made up of “nationally determined” plans to help reverse a 45 percent rise in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990.
The new, looser model for a deal is a shift from the U.N.’s existing Kyoto Protocol, which obliges the European Union and a few other rich nations to cut emissions until 2020. But Kyoto only represents about 14 percent of global emissions.
Last month, the European Union set a goal of cutting emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, shifting from fossil fuels towards renewable energies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World Bank Group Energy Lending Focuses on Poorest Regions – Boost in Renewable Energy Financing
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/09/05/boost-in-world-bank-renewable-energy-lending
Out of an almost record lending total of $9.445 billion, over two-thirds of the World Bank Group’s energy financing for FY14 was concentrated in regions facing the largest energy deficits – Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It was also another very strong year for Bank Group renewable energy financing with a total of $3.6bn in investments.
“If we are to end extreme poverty, we must tackle energy poverty,” said World Bank Senior Director for Energy & Extractives Anita Marangoly George. “With 1.2 billion people still living without electricity across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, it’s clear where our work will be focused for the foreseeable future. Our priority is to find the cleanest energy solutions to meet local needs in the smartest ways possible.”
The increase in the Bank Group’s renewable energy lending reflected growing demand – particularly from IDA countries. Much of the increase on FY13 renewable energy lending was due to approval of a number of large-scale hydropower projects, but it also represents strong continuing investment in solar, wind and geothermal energy
A considerable proportion of World Bank Group renewable energy financing also went towards building the policies and institutions countries need to manage a sustainable electricity supply as well as the smart transmission and distribution systems that connect people and industry to energy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy and Poverty: Myths, Links, and Policy Issues
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTENERGY/Resources/EnergyWorkingNotes_4.pdf
SUMMARY
Bringing modern energy services to the poor is an
enormous challenge. Today 1.6 billion people lack
access to electricity, and 2.4 billion rely on
traditional biomass fuels for cooking and heating.
By 2030, if present trends continue, 1.4 billion
people will still lack access to electricity—only 200
million fewer than today. And more than 2.6 billion
will still rely on traditional biomass fuels—an even
larger number than today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Renewables Are Now Scotland’s Biggest Energy Source
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/11/28/0342217/renewables-are-now-scotlands-biggest-energy-source
Government figures revealed that Scotland is now generating more power from “clean” technologies than nuclear, coal and gas.
Renewables are now Scotland’s biggest energy source
http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/27/renewables-scotland-green-energy/?ncid=rss_truncated
The combination of wind, solar and hydroelectric, along with less-publicised sources such as landfill gas and biomass, produced 10.3 terawatt hours (TWh) in the first half of 2014. Over the same period, Scotland generated 7.8TWh from nuclear, 5.6TWh from coal and 1.4TWh from gas, according to figures supplied by National Grid.
Renewable sources tend to fluctuate throughout the year, especially in Scotland where the weather is notoriously volatile, but in six-month chunks the country has consistently increased its renewable output.
Germany’s reliance on renewables is increasing
output from the rest of the UK, especially England, is on the rise
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Develop “Paint” To Help Cool the Planet
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/11/27/2238217/scientists-develop-paint-to-help-cool-the-planet
Engineers at Stanford University have developed an ultrathin, multilayered, nanophotonic material that not only reflects heat away from buildings but also directs internal heat away using a system called “photonic radiative cooling.” The coating is capable of reflecting away 97% of incoming sunligh
Stanford engineers invent high-tech mirror to beam heat away from buildings into space
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/november/radiative-cooling-mirror-112614.html
A new ultrathin multilayered material can cool buildings without air conditioning by radiating warmth from inside the buildings into space while also reflecting sunlight to reduce incoming heat.
“This is very novel and an extraordinarily simple idea,” said Eli Yablonovitch, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a pioneer of photonics who directs the Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science. “As a result of professor Fan’s work, we can now [use radiative cooling], not only at night but counter-intuitively in the daytime as well.”
The researchers say they designed the material to be cost-effective for large-scale deployment on building rooftops. Though still a young technology, they believe it could one day reduce demand for electricity. As much as 15 percent of the energy used in buildings in the United States is spent powering air conditioning systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Under the Iron Sea: YES, tech and science could SAVE the planet
C’mon, hippies … at least LOOK at this sensible energy option
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/30/the_google_bods_tell_us_that_renewable_energy_just_isnt_going_to_work/
Back last week we had the news from Google bods (almost but not quite boffins) telling us there’s no way to make renewable energy fuel in an advanced industrial society.
Our esteemed editor here at El Reg then pointed out that we’ve got a reasonable and cheap method of producing all the power we need: nuclear.
The frustration comes from the fact that those who insist that we’ve got to have some non-carbon-emitting energy system are exactly the people who also insist that we should not be using the one non-carbon emitting (OK, low carbon, nothing is actually “zero carbon” as such) energy technology that we do have.
This brings me to another useful technology from the same subject: one the powers-that-be in the environmental movement seem to insist that we cannot use.
The technology I’m talking about is iron fertilisation of the ocean. It works, to some degree at least. It’s only an increase in the occurrence of a natural process, but not only do we have people opposing its use, we’ve got laws stating that even researching it is illegal. It is almost as if some people don’t actually want a solution.
One guy did a private experiment on this and claims great results. He dumped some iron-y stuff off British Columbia, Alaska, and claims that next season’s salmon run was massive as a result. While I like his style, it’s not really scientific proof.
I have tried to get those researchers to give me an accurate cost number per tonne CO2 sequestered and they’ve all been very cagey. They do confirm, absolutely, that it works. But pricing….well, let’s say they didn’t demur when I said $1 a tonne CO2 maybe, and started sucking their teeth when I said perhaps as much as $10?
Works, cheap, effective: and there’s even a rather more controversial claim that that famous cooling of the planet (1940 to 1970 or so) came from this effect.
Our real boffin researchers have said publicly that they’re simply not going to do any more research. And in conversation they point out that it’s the bureaucratic hoops that you’ve got to jump through to be able to dump anything over the side that make it so. In fact it’s worse than that even. We’ve got laws against doing this. That ferrous sulphate, because it’s a waste product, cannot be used in such a process because that’s dumping waste at sea.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You’re Doing It All Wrong: Solar Panels Should Face West, Not South
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/12/02/176226/youre-doing-it-all-wrong-solar-panels-should-face-west-not-south
In the U.S., a new solar project is installed every 3.2 minutes and the number of cumulative installations now stands at more than 500,000. For years, homeowners who bought solar panels were advised to mount them on the roof facing south to capture the most solar energy over the course of the day. Now Matthew L. Wald writes in the NYT that panels should be pointed west so that peak power comes in the afternoon when the electricity is more valuable
But point them to the south to maximize total output, and when the electric grid needs it most, they are producing only 15 percent of peak.
Why More Solar Panels Should Be Facing West, Not South
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/why-more-solar-panels-should-be-pointing-west-not-south.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Community > Blogs > Outside the box
Peak oil in retrospect
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/outside-the-box-/4437749/Peak-oil-in-retrospect?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20141201&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20141201&elq=b8217711aa564904a150dc744bb39581&elqCampaignId=20415
It is the year 2004. With record high prices at the gas pumps and what seemed like a largely oil-explored world, it was an occasion to do what engineers do best: identify technical problems and devise solutions. With what seemed like a real “peak oil” energy shortage looming ahead, the need for reduction of electric power use had a direct impact on electronic design, resulting in the emergence of low-power circuit design. Is that emphasis still required?
While some decry the demise of the ecosphere due to the burning of hydrocarbon fuels, an equal problem is the anticipated inability to supply those fuels to meet the growing world demand. This article looks in retrospect at the problem, largely through comments from senior oil engineers inside the industry, and then surveys what happened.
Alternative Energy Solutions
As the existing large-scale solution to the problem of supplying electric power falters, the prospects for alternative energy solutions grow more promising, and they all lead to a need for power and control electronics. Here is a list of what I see as the most interesting possibilities, with some technical comment on them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solar sandwich cooks at 40 per cent efficiency
Boffins claim world record with three-tiered PV rig
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/08/unsw_boffins_set_pv_system_record/
Australian solar trailblazer Professor Martin Green’s group at the University of New South Wales is claiming a world record in solar efficiency, and this time it’s not the usual half-per cent incremental improvement.
The Australia-US Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics that Green directs says its combination of off-the-shelf solar cells and optical bandpass filters has achieved a conversion efficiency of over 40 per cent.
Key to the system performance is the use of optical bandpass filters to improve capture and conversion efficiency, along with mirrors to focus the sunlight.
Professor Green told Vulture South that current “power tower” system efficiency (using sunlight to heat steam for conversion to electricity) is around 22 per cent
Tomi Engdahl says:
What It Would Really Take to Reverse Climate Change
Today’s renewable energy technologies won’t save us. So what will?
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Turn to nuclear power to save planetary ecology from renewable BLIGHT’
Boffins plead against ‘perceptions of what is green’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/16/turn_to_nuclear_power_to_save_planetary_ecology_from_renewable_blight/
Sixty-six heavyweight boffins active in the field of biodiversity conservation have pleaded with the world’s greens to get over their objections to nuclear power, pointing out that renewable energy means terrible losses of endangered animals and plants.
“Biodiversity is not only threatened by climate disruption arising largely from fossil-fuel derived emissions,” says Professor Corey Bradshaw from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute. “It is also threatened by land transformation resulting from renewable energy sources, such as flooded areas for hydro-electricity, agricultural areas needed for biofuels and large spaces needed for wind and solar farms.”
Nobody doubts that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Nonetheless there are many reasons to be sceptical about the idea that humanity faces a disastrous 21st century of hugely accelerated sea level rises, crop failures etc if carbon emissions aren’t massively cut. The fact is that the amount of warming to be expected is poorly understood, and the impacts of that possible warming are even more poorly understood. There may very well not be all that much urgency about moving to a fully-electrified low-carbon energy system. It may well make more sense to worry about asteroids or pandemics or some other thing – or indeed just to calm down a bit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Holistic Disconnection
https://www.basen.net/#/page?name=NBlog_blogentry_051214_0&source=wiki
Due to living on the countryside, my home includes quite a few pieces of relatively complex equipment, performing vital functions such as heating, water supply, air conditioning, sewage treatment, auxiliary power and surveillance/alarm system.
I’ve painstakingly connected most of these devices, talking very different digital dialects, into BaseN Platform. To my surprise, this has yielded major flaws in firmware programming, usually causing extra power consumption, incorrect operation or sometimes even environmental damage.
I have corrected most of these flaws and inefficiencies by augmenting local logic programming with better algorithms and controls from BaseN Platform. Without too much effort, I’ve lowered the total energy consumption by 20% while being free from nasty surprises like pumping untreated chemicals to nature.
I do not believe in a socialist model that all this technology should come from a single provider. However, we should pay increasing amount of attention to resource efficiency through interoperability and continuous improvement. Pieces of critical software and hardware should never again be forgotten islands, waiting to fail at an unexpected moment.