Power Protection and UPS Blog

The following link provides a really good description of a fuel cell. It is published by the US Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy department. I do not know if there is a British equivalent body but the article and concept makes for fascinating reading, especially after the BBC documentary on Chernobyl last night. The World Nuclear Association website has some useful links on this and a number of related subjects.

Energy consumption is rising at such a high rate in the UK - 19% between 1990 and 2001. This dramatic rate of increase is one of the main reasons why we have a power protection industry and why we as an industry must constantly strive for better operating efficiencies in our UPS.

This is not a rant but why is the UK government now effectively taxing “initiative” ? Car owners (one of the scourges of modern society we are lead to believe) are actually trying to do something that is environmentally friendly and the British government is going tax them for it.

Vegetable oil, the humble catalyst that turns boring potatoes into crispy chips is now to be taxed if you use it to fuel your car. Basically car owners are running their vehicles on waste vegetable oil from pubs and restaurants. The fuel burns well and is very eco-friendly. Read this article by Oliver Duff in The Independent Online. Surely this is not the way to spur innovation and lead to advances in energy efficiency.

This technology called ‘Fuel Cells’ is fast changing and could be one of the big paradigm shifters in how we provide energy in the years to come. To those outside this specialist field, many of the pitfalls and problems are unknown of course. But as any industry starts to move up the life cycle curve greater access is provided to such information.

Here is one such piece. Fuel cells are suspectible to carbon monoxide poisioning which causes a ‘bottleneck’ inside the device. I also did not realise that fuel cells operate with such high internal core temperatures. Nuvant Systems Inc now offers single fuel cells on-line through its e-commerce facility. Are we moving closer to a replacement for the good old sealed lead acid battery that dominates the uninterruptible power supply industry ?

The count down is on to the World Indoor Trials which begin on Sunday 29th January at the Assago Forum in Milan. The Italian Grand Prix run by the Milan Indoor Trial Association promises to provide an unforgettable show.

This year Riello UPS has been chosen as the main event sponsor and is working with Octagon Esedos - a specialist sports championship promoter – to provide trial and motorcycle fans with an even bigger spectacular than last year. The event will be broadcast on the satellite television station Eurosport and in local sport news coverage.

For Riello UPS the event provides an opportunity to sponsor an international event whose winners are able to demonstrate extreme control, stability and continuous performance – similar to that delivered by Riello uninterruptible power supplies each day across the world.

Are people who worry about our energy policy simply ‘doom and gloom’ merchants ? I think not. We have a real energy crisis looming in the UK which has built up specifically through poor decisions and missed opportunities. An article in the Yorkshire Post provides some interesting reading with comments from Dr Dieter Helm of Oxford University who is Britain’s foremost energy-policy expert. Surprising is that in 1997, Labour inherited a fairly stable energy outlook.

There is a race on in the United States regarding who is using the most renewable energy. I am sure that these companies and organisations are using their positions as top users of wind power to differentiate themselves. Whole Foods is now become the largest corporate user of wind power. Whatever the case it is good for the general cause and helps to pour money back into research and testing.

Taking electricity generated from the wind into the national grid and our businesses and homes is no easy task. Uninterruptible power supplies find themselves applications from source to final destination. Whatever the source power protection and stability is not guaranteed.

When I started selling UPS most people did not want one and believed that they could simply plug their new twin-floppy drive PC into the nearest wall socket. The more adventorous bought the latest technology a single-floppy drive with a whopping 10Megabyte hard drive.

Power problems where an unknown issue. How things have changed. The Register, who run various on-line training courses now include power problems and uninterruptible power supplies in their A+ Syllabus Module 3 course - Cleaning and Preventative Maintenance.

The main risk management expo takes place this year on 15-16th March at the EXCel exhibition centre in London. For more information see the Business Continuity Expo website. The importance of this show grows each year as it covers continuity, security and compliance issues.

Some of the key topics this year will include the July bombings in London and what can be learned from them, how to prepare for Avian Influenza, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as well as dare I say it the more mundane issues of resilience in critical inforamtion infrastructures.

Nexus Media Communications are putting together a new Power Supply and Business Continuity Conference with selected partners such as Riello UPS. The event will take place on Thursday 2nd November at The Bayliss Hotel, Slough and is being designed to attract consultants, specifiers and engineers who want to hear from industry leading experts on a wide range of power protection technologies and solutions. Riello UPS will publish more details on its events page when they are known.

I often wondered what the benefits of LPG where and this page at Auto Gas India explains it nicely - more bangs per buck and virtually no emmissions.

LPG technology is also making its way into the world of generators, especially those that can be used with uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Many customers still opt for diesel even though LPG is “greener” and more efficient, and makes a significant contribution towards any company running an ISO14001 accredited environmental management system.