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Google Calls For Power Supply Design Changes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the reality-would-you-mind-shifting-a-bit-for-us dept.

Raindance writes "The New York Times reports that Google is calling 'for a shift from multivoltage power supplies to a single 12-volt standard. Although voltage conversion would still take place on the PC motherboard, the simpler design of the new power supply would make it easier to achieve higher overall efficiencies ... The Google white paper argues that the opportunity for power savings is immense — by deploying the new power supplies in 100 million desktop PC's running eight hours a day, it will be possible to save 40 billion kilowatt-hours over three years, or more than $5 billion at California's energy rates.' This may have something to do with the electricity bill for Google's estimated 450,000 servers."

5 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. No... by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    google hires experts on Electrical Engineering to figure out how to reduce the power bill on those 450,000 servers. Hell, I'm all for it. Less power means less heat means quieter fans (w/o spending an arm/leg on an Antec Sonata or whathaveyou).

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  2. Re:Big ego department by purpledinoz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would bet a lot of the employees at Google have Electrical Engineering degrees. Don't underestimate the brain power Google has in its employee base. But the power supply issue they're trying to address isn't a technical challenge, but a political challenge.

  3. Re:What in a modern computer actually uses 12V? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Video cards use a ton of 12v power, enough that high-end cards get a dedicated connector featuring two wires of it.

  4. I've wanted this for years. by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The ability to have all my machines powered by a heavy cable carrying 12VDC would be pretty useful for several reasons.

    • The UPS could be integrated into the power supply, avoiding lots of energy lost in converting it up to 110VAC and right back down again.
    • The power supply would then be external, where it could be a fanless brick instead of being inside the case where it adds heat that must be dissipated.
    • A switching power supply is theoretically more efficient than a wall wart. If everything were 12V, all those stupid little outboard devices could draw power off of the same supply source, resulting in better overall efficiency. More importantly, I would never let out the magic smoke when I accidentally plug a wall wart into the wrong device. :-)
    • A 12V system can more easily be integrated with solar panels to reduce load on the power grid.

    *sigh*

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  5. Re:Big ego department by ve3id · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have been saying this for years. We lose 10-20 % of energy charging a battery in a UPS with 117V, we lose another 20-30% in the inverter to get it back to 117V, and then we lose another 10% getting the 117V back to usable voltages for the PC.

    It does not take an expert in electrical engineering, just common sense.

    Can I sue google for stealing my idea?