But how far have we come and where exactly are we now?

For more on this story, there’s a blog post at Riello UPS explaining more but if you want to know if our products are smart grid ready – well, yes they are.

Our UPS have advanced features that enable them to play a key role in the smart energy infrastructure and save our customers significant amounts of money in energy bills and operating costs. Operating efficiencies will reduce energy consumption and wear and tear on consumables such as batteries, fans and capacitors. Many of our products are smart grid ready. We can help you become smart grid ready too.

Many of you will be familiar with BS 16001 for Energy Management, well, ISO 150001 was introduced by the BSI on 15^th June 2011 and is expected to replace the out-dated standard completely sometime this year (2012).

The International Standards Organisation states that ISO 150001 could influence as much as 60% of the world’s energy use and it is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes.

Riello UPS was one of the first UPS companies to latch onto the energy efficiency initiative and we have spent years investing in researching and developing the most energy efficient and yet robust and reliable power protection products available. We’ve not stopped at efficient operation either, for us efficiency is not just about electrical consumption. It’s about the lifetime of products and beyond. Running costs should be minimised and design life maximised. Then, when the product comes to the end of its useful life (which all technology products do) or is superseded (which all technology products are at some point), ensuring it can be removed, dismantled and/or recycled easily, efficiently and with minimal environmental affect.

Read more about ISO 5001 on Riello UPS’s corporate blog. It also mentions our Multi Guard modular UPS, which enables an N+X parallel UPS system to be created out of multiples of 15kVA, individual UPS modules. It incorporates a drawer style design inside a standard rack cabinet – excellent for right-sizing a UPS system for today, whilst allowing for easy expansion tomorrow – and achieving high operating efficiency.

Osborne described The Carbon Reduction Commitment (established by the previous government) as “cumbersome and bureaucratic” and said that it imposes unnecessary costs on business.

Green groups criticised the Chancellor for giving scant support to the cutting-edge, clean tech industries that are spearheading economic recovery in other countries such as Germany and that his lack of support for ‘Green’ flies in the face of Prime Minister David Cameron’s promise to “build a clean future”.

Riello UPS is placing the environment high on the agenda of the products and service we manufacture and supply. From eco UPS, to alternative sources of electrical energy and energy storage to licensed and environmentally sensitive recycling and disposal of old, out-of-date power protection products including UPS batteries.

For a fuller report of the 2012 UK budget and the energy sector, visit Riello UPS’s corporate blog.

The power cut in the North terminal, which disrupted luggage carousels, happened at around 3:30am and lead to flight delays and some passengers having to leave without their luggage. Extra staff had to be called in to move bags manually before engineers were able to get the belts working again at 10:30am.

The fault was in an electricity sub-station, which developed a fault, causing a power surge and a series of power cuts. Electricity was restored quickly but the power cut had already caused a massive backlog in the handling department. Charter flights to some destinations were held back to allow bags to be loaded. 148 flights were scheduled to leave on Saturday, involving 22,500 passengers. Twelve flights were delayed for two hours and one for three hours. A total of 2,000 bags were left behind and forwarded on subsequently available flights.

Queen Mary II power failure – all lost at sea

A power cut on the luxury ocean liner, Queen Mary II, left it without propulsion in the North Pacific. But it wasn’t the first time. The ship, with more than 3,600 passengers (many of whom had paid in excess of £130,000 for their cruise) and crew onboard was left without electricity during two power cuts within days of each other. One incident happened as the ship sailed from Australia to Japan. One passenger was stuck in the lift for 10 minutes and had to be rescued when the electricity failed.

A spokesman for Carnival, which owns the 1,132 foot long ship dubbed “the Queen of the Seas” in the Daily Mail, confirmed that there had been brief power outages but claimed they occurred during routine maintenance and happened as expected until back up systems kicked in. He said that passengers would hardly have noticed as at all times there was full lighting and all controls were effective and operating normally. He stated that passenger safety was not at risk.

Although this type of incident is unfortunate for the operators of Airports and cruise ships, thankfully it happens rarely. However, the fact that both of these stories made it into the papers tells me several things, primarily that power cuts – no matter how small and seemingly insignificant – are no longer tolerated and that any organisation that does not place power continuity high on its agenda is risking its reputation (and perhaps even health and safety). Chances are, it’ll get in the papers!

Riello UPS has installed a number of uninterruptible power supplies for marine and leisure applications including luxury cruise liners and in Airports. Often in these environments, what’s required is huge power capacity, reliability and redundancy, which our industrial UPS offer.

Think of energy as if it were money. There are few people who do not manage their money – particularly businesses. There are plenty of people who would own up to not being very good at it but most have some way of keeping a check on how much they earn and how much they spend – even if it’s just checking bank statements once a month.

Most people have an idea about how much money they have at their disposal at any one time; how much they use on a monthly basis to pay the bills, where it is being spent and what they are getting in return for that money. And many people at various times in their life implement some form of money saving initiative that helps them spend less on certain things and even save money for the future. Everyone knows money is a finite resource and that we need to take care of our supply, not be wasteful or irresponsible and to ensure we keep it secure.

The same is true of energy supplies but consumers don’t think of them in the same way they think of money, that energy is a finite resource, until they have to through legislation, to meet carbon reduction targets, or implement energy efficiency measures, reduce costs, secure energy supplies, or for a variety of reasons.

But what exactly is energy management?

There are a variety of definitions for energy management. At its most fundamental, the goal of energy management is to produce goods and provide services with the least cost to the business and least environmental impact. Other definitions include:

The judicious and effective use of energy to maximize profits (minimize costs) and enhance competitive positions. Guide to Energy Management. Fairmont Press 1997.

The strategy of adjusting and optimizing energy, using systems and procedures so as to reduce energy requirements per unit of output while holding constant or reducing total costs of producing the output from these systems. Source unknown.

So, basically, by applying effective energy management, businesses are trying to minimise energy costs and waste, without affecting productivity and quality, whilst also minimising environmental impact.

Just as with managing finances effectively, firstly, energy consumers need the data and intelligence that will allow them to implement clear and effective energy management, planning and efficiency measures and energy security procedures.

For a single business, operating out of one site, gathering such intelligence and data may not be difficult. Depending upon the size of the business, and if it’s a large, dynamic and energy hungry facility such as a data centre, energy management may even warrant the full-time employ of a dedicated Energy Management operator. If not, it may fall under the auspice of either the facilities or IT manager. If the business is distributed, throughout a chain of branches, multiple sites and locations such as retailers, restaurant chains, supermarkets, the task becomes more difficult. In either scenario, it often makes economic and business sense to buy in the expertise of specialist energy management consultants or to outsource remote energy management to a specialist supplier that is established to provide a dedicated service.

A good energy management system and service will be:

• Simple to install and use and not require any onsite, bespoke programming or configuration. All configuration should be able to be done centrally.

• It should offer customers secure web access to online and historical data (such as site reports, results of system tests, etc.).

• It should seamlessly integrate with other energy management equipment and devices such as meters, controllers and so on.

• It should be cost-effective and offer fast ROI (return on investment) through proven and quick savings from reduced energy costs, better operation and reduced downtime.

• It should offer good and accurate data capture and reporting, preferably in real-time and should offer remote monitoring and automatically adjust parameters to account for seasons, weather and energy strategies.

• A system should enable automatic alarms and events that can be sent by SMS, MMS or email.

• It should offer remote configuration of all system parameters.

• Data analysis should be available by day, week, month and year with customisable reports.

• By implementing it, it should extend equipment design life and play an active part in any on-going or preventative maintenance.

Riello UPS offers several monitoring and surveying services with energy management at their core. Power Disturbance monitoring, for example, will help identify and counteract the problems that can and do occur in every electricity power supply before they cause system damage or interruption. Power disturbances can include sags, surges, brownouts, transients, spikes and harmonics.

Energy monitoring will enable Riello UPS to test the reliability of your energy supply, its quality, how and when those two things vary, alongside presenting customers with an accurate and up-to-date overview of how much energy they use and how much they could save by setting in place certain energy saving measures. It’s about being proactive and taking steps towards a cost-effective and secure energy future.

Riello UPS’s Technical Energy Consultant (TEC) team are experts in energy management and can undertake energy surveys to uncover crucial information about power supply management and standby power requirements. They also provide Critical Power Surveys, offering a comprehensive analysis of current power and cooling capacity and utilisation alongside recommendations for the future to enable your business to become more efficient and resilient.

It’s been an interesting week for renewables. Seemingly receiving little support in Chancellor George Osborne’s budget, now it seems everyone who is anyone in business, politics and the energy sector is rallying and having their say.

Analysis of the budget focuses on the fact that Osborne has given a real boost to the gas industry and fossil fuels sectors rather than renewables, which seems to fly in the face of the Conservative’s own aims to be the greenest Government ever. A group (calling themselves the 102 Group) consisting of Sir Richard Branson, Dale Vince and Caroline Lucas have written to David Cameron urging him to recognise the importance of renewables, provide more support for new technologies and asking for a planning system that recognizes the value of a move to local energy.

Raab calls for an end to inefficient tariffs

Conservative MP Dominic Raab, in an article written for the Telegraph newspaper, has called for an end to what he terms the green “boondoggle”, asking the Government to overhaul the energy tariffs and subsidies systems that were introduced by the last Labour Government.

Lego acquires offshore wind farm

In a move to supply all of its energy requirements from renewable sources, toy maker Lego, famous for manufacturing primary coloured building blocks for children, has bought half of a German offshore wind farm from DONG Energy. The wind farm will have 77 3.6MW wind turbines once it is finished.

Riello UPS fully supports renewable energy through all of our UPS products and services and we currently supply a range of quality solar inverters through a strategic partnership with AROS Solar Technology. In the range we have solutions from 1.5kW right up to 500kW for both commercial and domestic use. AROS is an established leader in producing inverters for solar Photovoltaic application. More details can be found by clicking the links above.

I read an interesting article on EnergyLiveNews.com about a document from an organisation called Thinktank ResPublica. Backed by environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth, the organisation has published a paper recommending that the Government opens up the “closed shop” energy market to community energy projects. It reminded me of something I think about every time I turn into one of those large business and industrial parks that many of our customers are based at – why can’t the business park become a producer and generate enough energy for all its residents so that they can be self-sufficient?

It wouldn’t cost the earth to set up, however, it would probably require the establishment of an umbrella company. Once established, payback from revenues on electricity sold would be quick and tie-ins with big utility companies would ensure dual supply could be guaranteed and feed-in tariffs provide a useful reduction in energy tariff – or an income to set aside for future development. In times of high demand, the utility could subsidise the business park and at other times the business park could feed energy into the utility grid. This is the epitome of a community energy project, except that it’s a business park rather than a school, hospital or university campus.

The Government has made several assertions that it is trying to radically overhaul the way energy is generated in the UK. Currently, around 99% of the country’s energy is supplied by the big six energy firms, the Government’s plans for Electricity Market Reform are aiming to redress that balance and industry watchdog Ofgem is also pushing for a more open market.

Thinktank ResPublica’s report suggests that communities could eventually own their own local grid network – why not business parks?

Of course, there are some companies that have facilities as large as business parks, and many of them are coming up with ever more inventive and environmental ways of generating their own energy.

Apple is one such company. Press articles earlier this month highlighted that the company is building the largest end-user solar array and carrying out the largest non-utility fuel cell installation in the USA at its data centre in Maiden, North Carolina.

When completed, the 100-acre, 20MW facility will supply 42 million kWH of clearn, renewable energy annually.

There is nothing like being self-sufficient where energy production is concerned – provided supply is power protected of course. That’s where we come in. Riello UPS has been providing power protection products, equipment and services for customer’s mission critical systems for over 30 years. We supply a range of emergency standby power solutions from entry-level 350VA to 6MVA. Wherever your supply originates, whether from a utility grid, community power plant, or your own power generation plant – we are here to ensure its power continuity.

Diesel generators provide a tried and proven alternative source of electrical energy in the event of a mains power failure. In power protection scenarios, they are usually installed with UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) to form a complete protection system. As it takes a while for a generator to start and power up to required load capacity, the UPS is there to support protected loads with battery power until the generator can take over.

Data centres support computer systems and provide data access, computation and hosting for many hundreds and sometimes thousands of customers. If a data centre loses power and suffers downtime – so do its customers! It is even more critical then that in this environment, generators are thoroughly tested, for at least eight hours, under load conditions prior to installation. And there are several things to look out for:

Keeping things cool

The power density within a data centre is often many times greater than it would be in an office of a similar size. Due to the density of computer equipment within, cooling requirements are high. Every 1kW of electricity consumed by each computer requires another 2kW of electricity to keep things cool.

Generator load testing essential

Load testing for generators is essential because most of the time the generator sits idle in situ ready for a mains power failure to engage sophisticated control systems that ensure automatic switch over to standby power. There is no way of knowing, until it happens, without load testing, if the generator will:

a) start up

b) perform and operate correctly when it does, delivering consistent reliable power to maintain servers and ancillary equipment.

But how can you load test a generator without causing disruption and data centre downtime for connected loads?

Ideally, it should be done prior to installation but it can also be done out-of-hours, using load banks to simulate the working load. A load bank is a device that develops an electrical load and applies it to a power source (diesel generator). It can be configured to mimic the operational or ‘real’ load but unlike the real load a load bank provides a contained, organised and controllable load that can be used to test the power source.

Service and Maintenance

Like most engine-based machinery, a generator requires regular and routine service and maintenance, which should also include a full load bank test, to ensure it is kept in pristine condition and that its design life is prolonged.

Riello UPS supplies a range of emergency standby power generators suitable for data centre application from leading manufacturer Elcos Generating Sets. With a small footprint and high fuel efficiency, Elcos generators are ideal for dynamic data centre environments in which space is at the premium and scalability a must. We can also offer a fast lead time and full bespoke build and customisation service, including the construction of shelters, containers and enclosures. Elcos gernators can also be fuelled from bio-fuels. Riello also provides managed maintenance, refuelling and remote monitoring services for Elcos generators.

Is liquid air storage the answer to unreliable wind energy?

Earlier this month, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Imeche) became the platform for the launch of the UK’s first demonstrable LAES technology, hailed as the answer to the highlighted weaknesses of wind energy. The fact that turbines produce too much energy when there is heavy much wind and not enough on still days renders them highly inefficient and expensive to operate. Wind farm producers are compensated for switching off turbines in high wind conditions and this is said to have cost the UK consumer £24 million in 2011.

How the technology works is that LAES takes electricity from the grid at peak times, such as on windy days, and uses it to cool air until it liquefies at 196 degrees Celsius. The liquid air is then stored, cheaply and safely, under pressure until it is needed and when brought back to normal temperature it turns back into gas, expands by 700 times and is rushed through a turbine. This then creates electricity, which can be fed into the grid.

UK company Highview Power Storage has been developing the technology in association with Imeche for the past five years and recently completed a successful year-long pilot – the first LAES plant in the world – connected to the National Grid and hosted by Scottish and Southern Energy in Slough, Berkshire, UK.

The energy storage market is said to be worth some $100 billion over the next ten years and could create 100,000 jobs.

Other companies have focused on Battery energy storage using Lithium Ion batteries, which although quick and viable, have been found to be limited and unable to scale to the degree required. Other technologies such as pumped hydro need green belt space and billions of litres of water.

Co-op gives to community renewable energy projects

The Co-operative has pledged £1 million to renewable energy projects run by local communities.

The Community Energy Challenge is an initiative that has set out to summon local community energy co-operatives to come up with ideas for renewable generation. It will offer six to eight of the most ambitious finance and support to get them off the ground.

UK could be the world-leading exporter of wave and tidal power

So say MPs on the Commons’ Energy and Climate Change Committee. It makes sense, as we are and island nation, that the UK could take the lead when it comes to exploiting the power of the sea but is being number one in the world enough of an incentive to get Government and industry backing?

Earlier this month, the Government was called to increase its support for wave and tidal power in a new report from MPs warning that the country is at risk of repeating mistakes, which allowed it to lose its early lead in the development of the wind power industry.

Currently, seven out of eight full-scale prototype marine energy installations worldwide are in UK waters, making us the current world leader in the development of wave and tidal energy technologies.

Marine power could provide as much as 27GW of capacity in the UK by 2050.

An over cautious approach by the Government, say MPs, may allow other, less risk averse countries to steal the UK’s lead. The industry is worried that Government plans for subsidies for marine and tidal only extend to 2017, thus leaving them vulnerable in the future.

According to The Carbon Trust, the first commercial wave farms are likely to deliver energy costing 38-48p/kWh and the first tidal farms 29-33p/kWh, which will require a subsidy if anyone is to be persuaded to pay the premium tariff required to fund investment payback. Obviously, costs will fall as the technology matures but even so, at those prices it will take a while for this to happen.

Whatever form of power generation your supply is made up of, and if you rely on electrical equipment for your very commercial survival, you will need adequate and reliable power protection and that means a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and generator, or some form of protection and back up system (flywheel UPS, fuel cell, batteries, capacitor). To found out more and view our full range of products and systems, visit Riello UPS’s website.

A recent survey by three UK universities identified that nuclear power will be key to meeting both future demand and carbon reduction targets and that it is one of the safest sources of electricity – even when radiological consequences of a large accident are taken into account.

As for meeting carbon emissions targets, the research found that this would only be possible with a huge expansion of both renewables and nuclear electricity. By 2020, renewables would have to contribute 55% to the UK electricity mix (the current government target is 15% by 2020) and nuclear 35% by 2035. The study does warn, however, that there are considerable unanswered questions surrounding the expansion of nuclear power including depletion of natural resources, ozone layer reduction, toxicity and health impacts from radiation.

Milestone for UK’s nuclear power programme

Earlier this year, and following four years of intense consideration involving more than 60 scientists, engineers and regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency granted interim acceptance to the generic designs for both EDF and AREVA UK’s EPR reactors and Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor.

A number of issues and questions have come to light in recent years, particularly in relationship to nuclear safety and these and more were brought into sharp focus by Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March 2011.

The grant for interim acceptance is an important milestone for UK’s nuclear power programme in that it confirms that all the plans on how the industry will resolve the outstanding issues are in place. However, no reactor will be allowed to be built until all the issues have been resolved and this is now in the hands of plant designers.

Fukushima ready to be decommissioned

It has been confirmed that Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant has been stabilised following the earthquake and Tsunami disaster back in March 2011, which means decommissioning can now begin.

The nuclear reactor has reached a state of cold shutdown, which brings an end to the “accident phase”. It will be a long time before the area fully recovers, which reinforces the need for nuclear investors to have in place a contingency fund for the decommissioning of UK plants in the event of a disaster.

China invests in nuclear future

Meanwhile, in support of its burgeoning economy, China is investing in new nuclear with the country aiming for an increase of up to 300GW of power through nuclear coming online within the next 10-20 years (according to a report in China Daily).

The cost of such an increase will be the equivalent of approximately £81 billion.

Safety aside, no method of power generation, distributed through a grid system is ever going to be 100% reliable or a clean source of energy so the need for power protection will only increase in line with our reliance on electrical appliances, devices and equipment. Riello UPS’s website has lots of information for customers, specifiers and power protection resellers, on UPS products, solutions, applications, equipment and services.