Power Protection and UPS Blog

I was reading yesterday about how the UK Government has been ‘blue-skying’ the future of energy - Nuclear or Wind Power? Centralized v distributed supply? It got me thinking about the future of UPS and I decided to do a bit of blue-skying myself:

Examine any technological innovation over the years and what usually happens is that all efforts, once it has been invented, turn to ‘miniaturization’. UPS is no different. The uninterruptible power supplies of the future - even in huge industrial applications - will be tiny in comparison to today’s units. Transformers, inverters, filters, conditioners, fans and all internal elements in a UPS are being continually downsized.

Alongside an increasing upsurge in demand for energy, ‘income-per-squarefoot’ is something business managers are trying desperately to increase, which is why essential equipment like UPS needs to be smaller, take up less space, be more energy efficient and at the same time more sophisticated, faster and better than before.

The challenge for us as UPS manufacturers in blue-skying the future is to develop products that meet these demands whilst at the same time ensuring reliability, quality, innovation, resilience and ease of use. To me, the best definition of progress is development towards an improved or more advanced condition. So, to borrow the phrase from a well-known advert - “more forwards please…………….”

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.

According to this week’s news, it’s doom and gloom for the future of food. We’re running out of wheat, rice, soya - and  curry Chefs!

That last one’s a real problem for me (he says jokingly)! Apparently, changes in the imigration laws in the UK (in particular), are making it difficult for Indian restaurants and Balti houses to source genuine, authentic and experienced cooks! Yikes! 

As far as grains and pulses go, climate change and global warming are being blamed for poor harvests around the world but an even darker threat is lurking just around the corner. Yes, you guessed it - Biofuels!

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which became law in December, mandates the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 and almost half of that will come from grain-based (corn and wheat) ethanol. In North American this is great news for the corn-growing states that will now, I fear, intensify production but not for food for fuel, easier to produce, less regulated and (I imagine) more profitable. My worry, which I have touched on before in this blog, is that food production will suffer at the hands of politics and capital gain from Biofuel production where it is being produced to replace fossil-fuel derived products (Petrol and Diesel) for vehicles.

What has this got to do with power protection? Well, firstly, did you know that the processes currently used to produce ethanol are energy intensive and thus add to, not negate, the issue of increasing demand for energy? Secondly, biofuels are being used in fuel cells, which can replace UPS batteries as an alternative back-up source. The technology is available now and whilst the origins of the fuel may be questionable, they offer a number of key advantages: harmless emissions, longer design life, less maintenance, reduced heat output and in many cases cheaper lifetime running costs.

The Power Protection Guide talks about fuel cells and their use in UPS installation.

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 disappointed to learn that the UK’s first Energy Saving day ended with no noticeable reduction in the country’s electricity use. Disappointed but not wholly surprised.

E-day, which started at 1800hrs on Wednesday 27th February 2008 and finished at the same time on 28th was supposed to encourage people to switch off electrical devices they did not need but instead National Grid recorded a 0.01% increase in electricity consumption despite the event being backed by campaign groups such as Greenpeace, Christian Aid and the RSPB, plus major energy companies EDF, e.on and Scottish Power.

I’m not surprised it was a flop for several reasons; firstly, it received little publicity. Secondly, why schedule it in the middle of winter and in the middle of the working week!? Other than not leaving the TV, or other electrical equipment on standby, what devices, machinery or equipment can people do without during their normal working life? It is a symptom of modern society that everything is powered by electricity and most professionals and businesses are unable (and unwilling) to go back to manual operation.

Thirdly (and this is contentious one), I believe that saving the planet from global warming is too big an issue for people to swallow and is therefore not the right one to ‘incentivise’ them to save energy. Of course, I care about the environment (many of my blog entries lay testament to that) but I believe people’s apathy towards this event is very telling. Do they really believe it’s possible to save the planet? Or, do most people feel it is too late anyway, the damage has already been done? The pleasures of living in an ‘always on/always connected’ world are too strong to worry about tomorrow. Some people think saving the planet is not up to us but in the hands of ’the Gods’, a religious icon or ethereal power?

I believe the best and only way to ‘incentivise’ people, particularly business people, into saving energy is through the wallet. Make the core issue saving money and the secondary issue about the planet and you will more likely motivate the masses. Environmental issues are far more of a pr story than money saving ones but the people behind such initiatives as this need to ask themselves why they are doing it - is it really to save the planet or to get publicity? and there lies the rub I fear.

At Riello UPS we take energy saving seriously from an environmental perspective and economic one. Many of our customers, particularly large data centres, are demanding that energy saving innovation be incorporated into UPS technology and we’ve responded by designing units with low input current distortion, maximum input power factor, progressive rectifier start-up and battery care systems to optimize performance that will all combine towards savings in running costs and total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the product. We feel this is a practical step towards saving the planet.

For more information about energy saving UPS visit: Riello UPS

With this year’s DataCentreWorld conference and expo approaching, I’m reminded of the difference an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) footprint can make in a data centre where every square metre must earn its keep. Had you noticed how much data centre development is happening in The Channel Islands – well, as much as pressure on building land and the constraints of a few hundred square kilometres of beautiful sea-worn rock allow! As well as the usual resilience and power imperatives, one particular comms multinational was set on the smallest possible UPS footprint. And not just because space was tight either; this particular ‘big ask’ was driven by their awareness of the commercial benefits from a 35% space saving realised by their chosen power protection installation. It’s easy to focus on savings – in this case space. But how much more positive to take a bullish gains perspective instead – and imagine the customer’s delight on realising how many more revenue-earning client racks they could get into space that might otherwise be filled with essential, but bulkier, UPS kit. It’s a salutary tale and one I’m sure I’ll re-tell more than once as I leave my footprint in Barbican Hall 1 next week.

The argument over bio fuels is raging. It centres on two key points: on the one hand bio fuels are said to be good for the environment because they produce fewer emissions than fossil fuels and so can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are said to be driving climate change. On the other hand, some organisations believe that bio fuels will do more harm to the environment in the way they are produced unless strict controls are imposed.  

The Royal Society issued a report this week, which followed a 14 month enquiry at the same time as the European Union announced re-examination of its targets for bio fuels because of fears of their impact on the environment. The fear is that forests will be decimated to make way for land on which to grow bio fuel crops.  

It stands to reason that in poor communities where environmental concerns are much less of a priority than putting food on the table, the urge to clear forest to make way for valuable crops would make sense. But it is often not these communities who live on the land who make the decision; it is the Governments and big businesses around the world who will initiate the competition for agricultural land between bio fuels and the crops needed to feed the expanding world population. However you look at it, it would seem trees are doomed and that’s bad news for everyone. It is a well-known fact that curbing carbon dioxide emissions is far easier by restoring and protecting forests.

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.

I read today that British Energy has announced a safeguard of the future of nuclear power stations Hinkley Point B, near Bridgewater in Somerset, and Hunterston B in Ayrshire, Scotland, by five years until 2016. As the arguments for and against nuclear power rage on, no doubt this announcement will be welcomed by pro-nuclear campaigners, those in the nuclear industry and indeed employees at British Energy. Hunterston employs around 670 people and brings an estimated £55m a year into the local economy. However, the UK has still to define its nuclear policy, which the Government has said it will do in 2008. There are those in politics I’m sure who see this as an indication that it has already made up its mind. The way I see it is that in an ideal world we could meet our power needs, maintain energy security and tackle climate change through a comprehensive programme of renewables, energy efficiency and cleaner carbon technology. But that’s the crux - we do not yet live in such a utopia and until we do we need to find a way to meet our expanding energy needs and it is not being done through indigenous production.

Interestingly, British Energy’s announcement came the day after leader of the Department of Business and Enterprise John Hutton revealed plans to install up to 7,000 offshore wind turbines to boost wind produced energy 60-fold by 2020. The business secretary admitted it would change Britain’s coastline, and result in higher electricity bills. However, it would go a long way towards addressing climate change through low-carbon energy production and enable the UK to be more self-sufficient.  Mr Hutton was quoted on the BBC’s website as saying: “I do not want in 20 years’ time to find that whether the lights go on in the morning is down to some foreign government. “I agree! In the meantime, for information about how to protect your supply of energy visit Riello UPS.

After months of wrangling between themselves and the auto industry, it seems USA Congress just can’t reach an agreement over its proposed Energy Bill. Happily, though, the centrepiece was agreed this weekend and it is the first meaningful increase in fuel efficiency standards for cars, light trucks, SUVs and minivans in the USA for over 30 years. The provision raises average fuel economy standards from 25 to 35 miles/gallon by 2020, thus saving 1.1 million barrels of oil a day (equating to half of current imports from the Persian Gulf).

Not everyone is happy about the Bill, however. The utility and oil industries - Washington’s most powerful lobbyists - are firmly holding out against a measure requiring them to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power. Some have said it will cause a dramatic increase in power prices in some areas of the country and that it will slow economic output by 4% by 2030.

I worry more about the definition of the word ‘renewable’ and the danger of having a federal renewable energy standard based on a politically determined definition of that word. Is a municipal waste burning plant renewable, for example? Or a power plant that burns timber waste? Both of these are counted by the Energy Information Administration as renewable. My view is that their environmental benefits are questionable and a definition of what is a renewable source of alternative energy should be debated and determined outside of politics.

What do you think?

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