A report published by the Energy Saving Trust last month claims that our love of electronic gadgets, such as flat screen TVs, tablet PCs, Smartphones, electronic toothbrushes and big fridges is leading us away from reaching our emissions targets and that we should be weaned off them.

The government has set down a target to reduce domestic electricity emissions by 34% by 2020 but the Energy Saving Trust says that we will fall far short of this is we don’t cool our love affair with gadgets.

The number of domestic devices and appliances in the average UK household increased by three and a half times between 1990 and 2009, according to the report, and overall energy consumption from consumer electronic goods rose by more than 600% between 1970 and 2009.

Reported in The Guardian last month, a spokesperson for the Trust pointed out that consumers would never buy a car without checking out its fuel-efficiency first and yet we are happy to fill our houses with electronic consumer good without sparing one thought for their electricity consumption and how much it will cost. “People need to be educated about these things.” She said.

It’s not just consumers either. In business many people now work from home or use equipment at home and in their personal time that is provided for business use, such as laptops, smartphones, GPS navigation systems (that require home charging), tablet PCs and so forth. Between 2000 and 2009, electricity use from home computing more than doubled and the number of devices in Britain’s homes rose from 30,000 to 65,000.

Five years ago, the Energy Saving Trust issued a report The Rise of the Machine, which found that the number of electrical appliances, products and gadgets people typically own had trebled since the 1970s. Although such appliances are more efficient now, electricity consumption has doubled between 1970 and 2002.

The Energy Saving Trust does good work, no doubt about that, but trying to get we -the people – to give up our love of gadgets is akin to King Canute trying to hold back the tide. As we move ever deeper into the technological age, our love of (and use of) devices will continue to rise and unfortunately gadgets these days are mostly electronic. It’s up to the electronics industry and technology inventors to ensure they are the most energy efficient they can be, but I agree, users should be more aware of the implications of using such implements on electricity consumption and educated as to responsible energy use.

If you would like to know more about energy efficient UPS, or any of our comprehensive range of power protection products and services, visit Riello AROS UPs’s website.

According to a report published by CRN.com earlier this month, data centre power consumption is not as high as it was expected to be. Rather than attributing this to better data centre design and the work by data centre managers (DCMs) that has gone into implementing strategic efficiency measures, the slow-down is being accredited to the fact that the installed server base seems to have levelled off.

How unfair is that?

Nowhere do we see energy efficiency being placed higher on the list of priorities than amongst our data centre customers! Alongside TCO (total cost of ownership), energy efficiency ratings and PuE scores are top of the agenda for DCMs.

The European Union issued an analogous document in 2007 with regard to UPS devices, prepared in collaboration with the CEMEP, the European Committee of Manufacturers of Electrical Machines and Power Electronics, of which Riello UPS is a member. Towards the end of 2008, the Union disseminated a Code of Conduct for improving the energy efficiency of Data Centers. Riello has set itself the target of being the most environmentally friendly power protection company in Europe. We are at the forefront of UPS research and development in terms of finding ways to improve UPS operating efficiencies and reduce their dependence on and usage of consumables such as batteries. To that end, Riello UPS developed the unique ECO Energy rating system – a clear method of identifying how Riello UPS products comply with and exceed the European Code of Conduct.

Findings in CRN’s report suggest the total consumption within data centres from servers, communications, storage, cooling and power distribution equipment accounts for between 1.7 and 2.2 percent of the total electricity used in the USA in 2010. A year prior, it was anticipated that it would be 3.5%.

I think the emphasis should be on decreasing power consumption, alongside increasing efficiency. UPS and cooling equipment perform at their most efficient at full load and this is not something data centres should do. Superbikes are designed for maximum performance and optimum efficiency but operating at maximum cannot be sustained indefinitely. A UPS is a critical piece of equipment and so reliability must take top priority. So, therefore, using efficiency on its own as a measure of success in reducing energy consumption, although important, is misleading. If you decrease load, efficiency will drop but then you will also be consuming less electricity.

In terms of lowering costs and energy consumption, the key to data centre design is to ensure you build flexibility in from the start. In terms of UPS, that might include installing flywheel UPS instead of battery banks to reduce the use of floor space and preserve it for revenue-earning servers. Flywheel UPS also offers greater efficiency and lower lifetime costs than battery equivalents. Instead of ripping out and replacing your UPS system every five years as your requirements outgrow it, you may also want to look at installing modular UPS, which gives you the option of increasing system capacity by bringing in additional UPS modules as you need them and simply slotting them into the system.

There are many ways you can reduce energy consumption in data centres and I think this report is testament to that fact. That’s what DCMs have been doing. Efficiency is but one way of doing that.

The Confederation of British Industry worries the proposed Carbon Price Floor will drive big business out of the UK

On 12^th July, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne delivered his much-anticipated white paper on Electricity Market Reform (EMR). Setting out coalition measures to keep the lights on, consumer bills down and shift the economy away from a high-risk, high-carbon future.

Here at Riello, we feel it’s our duty to comment on energy market issues.

Key elements of the reform package, as we understand it, include:

• The introduction of a Carbon Price Floor (essentially a regulatory/taxation policy demanding polluters pay a minimum amount of money to pollute). The aim is to reduce investor uncertainty, put a fair price on carbon and provide a stronger incentive to invest in low-carbon generation.

• The introduction of new long-term contracts to provide stable, financial incentives to invest in all forms of low-carbon electricity generation.

• Introduction of an emissions performance standard (EPS) set at 450g CO2/kWh to reinforce the requirement that no new coal-fired power stations are built and to ensure the necessary investment in gas.

• Development of a capacity mechanism, which will safeguard future security of energy supply.

The Government intends to legislate for the key elements of the EMR in 2012 and for it to reach the statue book by spring 2013.

Since the reforms were announced, there has been a backlash of criticism (unsurprisingly) from the Labour party but also from the UK business sector. Research by the Federation of Small Businesses highlights that 81% of small firms are worried about the rising cost of energy and are concerned that electricity generators will pass on to them the extra costs associated with EMR.

Small businesses consume similar amounts of energy as do domestic energy users but they do not receive the same regulatory safeguards and are unable to negotiate contracts the way larger companies can.

Any investment in new technology in electricity generation and distribution infrastructure is bound to result in price increases, especially as electricity is such a necessary commodity. Some of this is unfair i.e: generators hiking up prices to capitalise on market demand, but some is necessary: we desperately need new investment in what is essentially an outdated national grid. So, in my view, businesses large and small need to put their focus on using less energy rather than hoping for prices to fall in the fulness of time.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry, which represents 240,000 businesses, is worried that the Carbon Floor Price (which puts £16 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted on to large businesses) will drive manufacturing, engineering and industry out of the UK.

There is still a lot to be decided before the new reforms start to bite but one thing is clear; energy costs will continue to rise, which is why many companies are now taking measures to reduce energy consumption and install new energy efficient technologies. Today’s UPS are highly efficient. Check out our energy efficiency figures.

Riello UPS are pleased to be a sponsor of the 3rd Annual Data Centre Dynamics Efficiency Summit, to be held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, on 1^st April.

Through a series of keynote presentations, case studies and panel discussions, this years’ summit will look at ways to drive energy efficiency, maintain performance and reduce the carbon footprint of modern data centres.

For more information, click here to visit the Data Centre Dynamics Efficiency Summit website.

See you there!