Power Protection and UPS Blog

I’ve been reading about Energy Star, a joint labeling initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy and I wondered if such a system would catch on in the UK?  Energy Star is a voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products. In 1992, the EPA introduced it and computers and monitors were the first products to be labeled. Over the past decade, it has been a driving force behind the more widespread use of such technological innovations as LED traffic lights, efficient fluorescent lighting, power management systems for office equipment, and low standby energy use.  Is energy-efficiency enough of an initiative to influence purchasing decisions on computer equipment? To date it would seem not with processing power more likely to be the top criterion and energy-efficiency somewhere near the bottom. However, experts are now saying that the lifetime cost of running high-end computer equipment may equate to as much as five times its capital cost. With our UPS products, we ensure energy-efficiency is top of the list. The Energy Saving Trust (funded by the UK Government) developed a scheme for household white goods, which has been embraced by manufacturers as a marketing and sales tool. But what really makes consumers and business managers take notice, it would seem, is money.  The reason why the Energy Star initiative is so successful is because it enables purchasers to apply for rebates on their capital purchases and energy bills. Results are already adding up. Americans, with the help of Energy Star, saved enough energy in 2006 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 25 million cars — all while saving $14 billion on their utility bills.

A rash of power cuts around the UK have hit the headlines in recent days:

In the South, between Basingstoke and Reading, 800 homes experienced a total loss of supply just after 6am on 15th October. On October 19th, thousands of people in North West London were without electricity for six hours when a fault in a local power substation led to electricity failure. Canon Park Tube station was also affected. Then, on October 21st, it was Lancashire’s turn with a 133,000-volt electricity cable catching fire on a bridge over the river Calder near a former power station. It led to the closure of roads in the area and houses having to be evacuated.

Three in seven days - and these are only the ones that hit the headlines. Is this unusual?

Anyone needing to justify a UPS purchase need only take a look at the following statistics: according to The Secretary of State’s Second Report to Parliament on Security of Gas and Electricity Supply in Great Britain - July 2006, published by the DTI (http://www.berr.gov.uk/), between April 2005 and March 2006, the total number of customer interruptions was around 21 million and the total number of customer minutes lost 1,966 million.

Our ever-increasing demand for electricity suggests that the situation will only get worse - not better.