You may be forgiven for thinking that sizing a UPS system is straightforward. There are, after all, many hundreds of online tools, tables and calculators available to help you do it. However, there are a number of items to bear in mind when sizing a power protection system and a little time spent at the outset of planning it will pay dividends in the long run.

If a UPS is oversized (grossly), it will run inefficiently. Conversely, if it is undersized for its application and thus having to run at (or close to) full capacity, it will be akin to driving a family saloon at top speed continuously – it will very soon wear out!

Of course, it is common practice to oversize a UPS (by around 25% larger than the total capacity required by connected loads) and this is because the system needs to be able to cope with potential overload conditions that can be caused by certain types of load and the characteristics of the electricity distribution network within the facility.

If you’d like more information on this, and to understand a little more about load size and type, UPS energy efficiency and sizing for redundancy and autonomy, click here to read a blog post on Riello UPS’s corporate site. Riello also offers free site surveys that enable UPS system right-sizing.

Anyone with energy efficiency high on the agenda might be interested to read an article on Riello UPS’s corporate blog. It’s about ISO 150001 on Energy Management and it explains what the standard is, why it matters and what the benefits are.

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 Then, when the product comes to the end of its useful life (which all technology products do) or is superseded (which all technology products are at some point), ensuring it can be removed, dismantled and/or recycled easily, efficiently and with minimal environmental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.

Electricity generated from renewable energy sources in the UK has increased 50% in the past year, according to statistics released by DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) in October 2011.

Electricity from renewables comprised 6.3% of the UK’s total energy consumption when the figures were announced in April 2010 and that figure rose to 9.6% this year, a healthy 50% increase.

Supplies from hydro and wind rose by 74.7% and 120% respectively but renewables still only supply around 10% of the UK’s total energy needs and that has got to change if we are to meet our carbon reduction targets alongside our growing energy needs.

However, the wind industry is making a tremendous contribution to the nations energy supply and is now providing enough power to supply nearly 3.25 million homes in the UK.

Electricity sourced from nuclear generation accounted for 21.3% of total according to DECC. So, despite the massive rises in low carbon energy and encouraging growth in the renewables industries, we are still relying on fossil fuels for two thirds of our energy needs.

As you know, here at Riello we are big fans of renewable energy and have developed our range of UPS and ancillary products to support renewable energy installations such as Solar (with our AROS solar inverters). We are continuing to bring products and solutions to market that support the drive towards renewables.

In his speech at the Conservative Party Conference earlier this month, Chancellor George Osborne gave a strong signal that sorting out the economy is a higher priority than cutting emissions.

Britain’s businesses must not be jeopardised by the country’s low carbon commitments he suggested. “We must have investment in greener energy.” He said. “And that is why I gave the go ahead for the world’s first Green Investment Bank but we are not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business.” he added.

Compared with other world-leading economies such as China and America that combined have a 40% share of the world’s carbon emissions, Britain’s is only 2%. Chancellor Osborne said that we should not cut our carbon emissions any slower but also not any faster than any of our fellow countries in Europe. He went on to mention the recent carbon budget, which came out earlier this year and put a floor price on carbon. Lobbyists and business leaders have warned it will drive business out of Europe, and the UK in particular. The CBI (Confederation of Business and Industry) has asked for major energy users to be exempt from the so-called ‘carbon tax’.

What’s interesting is the potential rift in the cabinet that may arise out of the apparent polarisation in priorities between the fiscal needs of the economy and the rebuilding of the UK power sector in order to meet increasing demand for electricity. Earlier on at the conference, Energy Minister Charles Hendry urged the rebuilding of the sector “in a way that is genuinely low carbon”.

The UK has a legally binding agreement to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 compared with 1990 levels.

Well, there is always going to be a conflict between what’s best for the economy and what’s right for the planet and I am only glad that I am not the Chancellor or Energy Minister. However, Riello has made it our business over the past decade or so to ensure that our UPS products and power protection solutions offer the highest levels of efficiency and lowest total cost of ownership as possible. The UPS you buy today can actually go a long way towards saving you money in the future and using less energy. To find out more visit our website.