Power Protection and UPS Blog

As technology converges to Power over Ethernet (PoE) and VoIP, there is a far greater need for power filtering, conditioning and surge protection, which you typically get from UPS installation.  

As an enterprise technology, Ethernet has resided inside a building where it only has to contend with minor surge-related issues like cable discharge and disconnect events. PoE expands use of the technology and takes it outside to security cameras, WiFi access points, or fiber-to-the-home. Suddenly it becomes more prone to lightning and other, more serious, surge-related issues. In emerging countries like China, Russia, or India, were power is not as tightly controlled as it is in Western Europe and North American, serious power surges can be a real problem.  

An effective UPS solution will contain filters and frequency conditioners that shield and protect upstream equipment and loads from power quality problems. But power protection should always begin with a power quality review to asses the actually quality of mains supply and the level required. This should also include future demands, sources of alternative power on site and priority-based load shedding and shutdown.  

For more information on power quality issues and how they can be addressed through the strategic use and implementation of UPS, see The Power Protection Guide, written by Robin Koffler and Jason Yates of Riello UPS and published by entiveon, or visit Riello UPS at Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) - Riello UPS Ltd - Power Protection.

Did you know the UK’s National Grid (and I should imagine most other energy utilities the world over) employs a team of people who do nothing other than demand forecasting?

Electricity is one of those things we take for granted. You come into the office, switch on the lights, computer, kettle and - hey presto - it all works! Simple! So why a whole team to manage and forecast demand? Well, too much electricity entering the Grid can cause problems like overloads, circuit-breaker tripping and even blackouts. Too little and the frequency of supply falls, causing sags and brownouts. It’s great that we can sleep at night knowing there is someone out there taking care of all this so that we don’t have to! Or do we?!

With demand for energy so high and supply increasingly challenged, isn’t it time, particularly as business people, we started to adopt a more proactive stance towards energy consumption?

Measuring true electricity usage, particularly by businesses, is not straightforward but nor is it rocket science. There is a science to it, which, with a bit of professional guidance is within the grasp of most business professionals. But imagine what you could do armed with that information? Firstly, you’d have greater ability to consolidate you energy bills with your supplier and get a cheaper rate perhaps. With a better idea of peaks and troughs in consumption you could even consider money saving initiatives like ‘Peak Lopping’, which is a way of reducing energy bills and securing supply during peak times. It is the practice by which the user has a contractual agreement with their energy supplier to switch from mains to back-up generator during peak periods. In return for this ‘interruptible’ supply, the user gets a significant reduction in their energy bill. A by-product is that the power continuity plan, UPS and back-up supplies are being utilised and tested under load conditions. And if you have an accurate graph of energy consumption, you will have an accurate idea of power protection requirements in terms of sizing your generator and back-up UPS.

At the moment, most companies are happy to leave this in the hands of their utility supplier to ‘guess at’ and manage but how do you know that their ‘assumptions’ or readings about how much energy you use are accurate and that they have your best interests at heart? The time will come I believe - and in the not too distant future - when demand forecasting and energy consumption management will be mandatory practice for big business. But you might as well start now so that when it does happen, you’re ahead of the game.

For more information about demand forecasting and measuring energy consumption read The Power Protection Guide.

I was asked to write an article last week about choosing the right UPS provider and it got me thinking about all the issues  to be considered as well as the all important price. Too many business managers are forced into selecting on price when doing so could actually cost more in the long run if it results in a less than perfect installation. Does the provider understand the mechanics and characteristics of your business, for example? There is a vast difference between protecting the critical systems of a healthcare establishment and a retail operation, for example. Do they add value to the installation by offering consultancy, site surveys, extended warranty, monitoring and maintenance, and so on, which reduce the overall running costs and total cost of ownership of the equipment? Does their culture match yours? Will you find their engineers lounging about reception, smoking and loudly regaling about last night’s football or will they be smartly but appropriately dressed, polite and professional whenever they are onsite?

Price, of course, is important but it should reflect criticality of the installation as well as value for money from the UPS itself and the benefits of the long-term partnership that the provider brings. UPS is critical to continuity of operations in the event of a power failure. It, therefore, needs to be given the same consideration as any other critical equipment in my view and a provider chosen because of their knowledge, sector expertise, ability to add value and product innovation.

For more informaiton on selecting a UPS provider visit: Riello UPS 

Last week I read with interest that more than half (60%) of UK companies are considering certification on the new British Standard for business continuity – BS 25999, according to a survey by Business Continuity Expo 2008. 

It would seem that UK plc is waking up the fact that downtime, of any description, is no longer excusable - particularly on the world stage where the nearest competitor in many business sectors is merely a click away.

I wonder, however, how much emphasis is being placed on certification rather than development of true business continuity practices and implementation of continuity solutions, like power continuity? Without electricity these days there is no business continuity.

I am all for the British Standards and think it is a good thing that so many organizations are planning to take BS 25999 seriously. My concern is that they do not adopt a ‘shortcut to compliance’ attitude as I fear so many of their competitors will.  Anyway, in terms of power continuity, here are a few tips:

1. Obtain a true measurement of your energy use and power capacity. This will highlight areas where you can implement energy efficiency measures whilst enabling you to size power protection equipment such as UPS and generators.
2. Identify systems that can be affected by power problems and categorise them into critical, essential and non-essential loads.
3. Assess typical power quality problems in your area: sags, brownouts, surges, electrical interference, harmonics, blackouts and possible applicable solutions.
4. Consider UPS power protection and emergency back-up power generation (diesel generator, flywheel). Build in maximum levels of reliability and resilience.
5. Develop monitoring and maintenance plans. Consider remote monitoring of UPS by a reputable provider like Riello UPS as an option. Build in a test schedule whereby equipment can be tested under load conditions to ensure it is working.

For more information on power protection see The Power Protection Guide.

It’s interesting that people assume the electricity that comes out of the mains power supply is as pure as distilled water. It isn’t. It is contaminated by all sorts of ‘nasties’ that can lead to sags, surges, brownouts, harmonics, flicker, frequency deviations, interference, interruptions, distortion as well as complete blackouts. In turn, these problems can have dire consequences. Firstly, they will shorten the life of equipment by causing wear-and-tear and they can also cause complete breakdown.  

With computer systems, these problems are magnified as equipment tends to be sensitive to fluctuations in voltage current. They can result in data corruption or loss, which for many companies may be devastating in terms of business continuity, reputation and customer service. In extreme cases, harmonics for example, has been known to cause fires.  

What can be done?  

UPS is the answer. Not only does it protect equipment from complete mains power failures, it also contains filters and conditioners that keep the voltage current to within an acceptable level and cushion against many of these problems. This can be helped with a little insight and research into which power problems are most prevalent at your site, their magnitude and frequency. This information will enable you to choose the right solution for you. Large sites may benefit from power monitoring, a service offered by specialist (like Riello UPS) to record disturbances over a specific time period.  

For more information about power problems visit Riello’s website.

I was reading the cover story of December’s InformationAge at the weekend: Crossed Wires – Myths and Misconceptions of IT’s Energy Crisis, and I was horrified by some of the controversial views and opinions expressed therein. In my mind the article fell short of addressing the so called ‘Myths and Misconceptions’ but rather replaced them with even more perilous and unproven ones.  

Basically, it focuses on data centres and how they are wasting vast amounts of energy. There are some companies out there ripping up the rule book, apparently, in terms of cooling requirements, power protection, conversion, and ambient temperature!  

I agree that there is a pressing need to address the problem of excessive power consumption in data centres but to do it by such radical measures as fresh-air cooling, the elimination of UPS and running at temperatures from five to 50 degrees centigrade is going to create more chaos and cost far more, replacing damaged equipment and compensating for down time, in the long run than sensible energy-efficiency measures.  Fresh air cooling, for example, may introduce contamination and even humidity that has the potential to damage sensitive data centre equipment or lead to expensive wear-and-tear.  The argument raised in the article around UPS suggests that it adds to energy wastage as a result of the necessary power conversion back and forth from AC to DC. Some experts believe that data centres can be run completely on DC power to avoid this.  This is not true: firstly, today’s UPS are designed to be hugely efficient and help project the life of computer equipment through conditioning of the voltage current as well as providing essential power protection and continuity of critical systems. Running only on DC power would require unfeasible amounts of copper wiring. The argument about temperature is also flawed: computer equipment can withstand fluctuations outside of the recommended 20-24 degrees centigrade but anything that contains consumables, fans and batteries, will be severely compromised by such practices. Fans will be continually over exerted in high ambient temperatures and batteries will need replacing more frequently at anything above or below this recommendation.  

It doesn’t take much downtime to cripple a business these days. Energy efficiency and intelligent power management should go hand-in-hand with power protection not instead of. See Riello UPS for more information on power protection and energy efficiency.

Increasingly more of the UK’s electricity is being generated from natural gas. Okay, so it would seem we can all breath again now that agreement for gas supplies to Ukraine in 2008 has been signed. Most of Russia’s gas exports to the European Union (EU) are piped through Ukraine so it is important that there is agreement between the two nations. Russian gas currently accounts for one quarter of the EU’s supplies but that could rise in view of the fact that the UK, for example, is expecting to import gas to meet up to 80% of demand by 2020. The agreement on both price and terms of gas supplies to Ukraine will ensure a more stable supply of Russian gas to European consumers. The Department for Business (BERR) wants to allow private firms into gas supply projects to ‘help maintain reliable supplies’ and I think this is a good idea; the less politically motivated suppliers are the more we as consumers are able to extend our influence and thus secure supplies. As I see it, the problem with importing gas is that we have little control over security of supply. If the infrastructure is allowed to break down or an international dispute results in the supply being cut off (as happened in January 2006 to Ukraine), we are powerless to react. We can’t change international politics but we can advise on secure power protection, which is becoming ever more critical in these uncertain times in which we live.

I just came across a new item from LPQI which offers an interesting process to help organisations assess their energy management.

Titled ‘Energy Management: self assessment’ the paper identifies three types of energy use in manufacturing facilities: (1) production of goods, (2) space conditioning and (3) general facility support such as lighting.

The paper comments that besides reducing costs an active energy management process can also improve production output, operations, maintenance and the environment.

Most people are oblivious to power quality and only really notice fluctuations and pollution when their loads begin to malfunction or fail. Power quality cannot be ignored due to the ever increasing instability of our mains supply.

The Leonardo Power Quality Institute (LPQI) are heavily involved in disseminating information on power quality and how to improve it. They run a number of seminars (of which Riello UPS is just one of their guest speakers) in addition to publishing useful guides - such as The Power Quality Application Guide. This provides a detailed overview on typical power problems and discusses the costs of poor power quality.

For details on the next LPQI seminars click here.

A piece in the Guardian Unlimited provides some interesting budget coverage of the Government’s plans to sell most of its assets in the state owned nuclear energy industry. This is part of a wider plan to raise £50bn. I am not sure if this is good news or not. Firstly to whom will the assets be sold ? Secondly have we really seen improvements in the UK’s infrastructure - gas, electricity and water since privatisation under Margaret Thatcher and the great sell off from that period ? Are Labour and Conservative policies converging ?